diff --git a/litellm/llms/azure.py b/litellm/llms/azure.py
index 208c02678..b269afec7 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/azure.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/azure.py
@@ -262,7 +262,10 @@ class AzureChatCompletion(BaseLLM):
             exception_mapping_worked = True
             raise e
        except Exception as e: 
-            raise AzureOpenAIError(status_code=500, message=str(e))
+            if hasattr(e, "status_code"):
+                raise e
+            else:
+                raise AzureOpenAIError(status_code=500, message=str(e))
 
     def streaming(self,
                   logging_obj,
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
index 5dcb782c4..c5f99f28c 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_exception_mapping.py
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ def test_chat_completion_exception_azure(client):
         # make an openai client to call _make_status_error_from_response
         openai_client = openai.OpenAI(api_key="anything")
         openai_exception = openai_client._make_status_error_from_response(response=response)
+        print(openai_exception)
         assert isinstance(openai_exception, openai.AuthenticationError)
 
     except Exception as e: