AZT still on trial
Article Abstract:
After reviewing the data from a drug trial involving treatment of asymptomatic individuals infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with the drug zidovudine (AZT), a committee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stopped the trial and began AZT treatment of individuals who had been given placebos during the experiment. The committee felt that the trial showed very positive results in delaying the onset of symptoms of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in infected individuals. Nine percent of the patients who were not treated with AZT developed the symptoms of AIDS within a year, while only half of the AZT-treated group developed symptoms. However, after reviewing the data from the US trial, European researchers decided to continue a similar drug trial that has been going on in Europe. European physicians are allowed to prescribe AZT, but are requested to monitor patients for long-term effects. The trial in the US was only for one year, so long-term effects are not known. Since approximately 90 percent of HIV-infected individuals, even without AZT treatment, do not develop the symptoms of AIDS within a year, it is questionable whether the AZT treatment is advisable, especially without knowing long-term effects. There are data showing that viruses develop that are resistant to AZT. Therefore, early treatment may do more harm than good. The Veterans Administration is also conducting a trial of AZT in asymptomatic patients. If the patients who have been given a placebo instead of AZT develop low numbers of CD4 cells, lymphocytes that are necessary to mount an immune response against the AIDS virus, they will be given AZT. The number of CD4 cells is an indication of the development of the symptoms of AIDS. If the symptoms of AIDS can be delayed in these patients, the study could show when AZT treatment should begin.
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1989
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New weapon in the war against schistosomiasis
Article Abstract:
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection that affects approximately 200 million people in Third World countries. Schistosoma is a parasitic fluke, or flatworm, that lives in the blood vessels of the gastrointestinal tract and in the liver. The parasite can block blood vessels and cause cysts, areas of inflammation and infection, and scar tissues in many organs of the body, such as the liver, brain, and lungs. The eggs of the parasites leave the body through urine or feces and can then infect water snails, where they move into the next stage in their life cycle. The United States Army has developed the compound niclosamide, which kills the snails; it also works in humans as a drug to kill the parasite. The drug has now been shown to work as a lotion, that when applied once to the skin, blocks Schistosoma from penetrating the skin for seven days or more. Niclosamide actually binds to the chemicals of the outer layers of skin. The lotion works without problems in animals. Clinical trials will begin to determine if the drug causes any adverse effects in people. Future trials are scheduled in Egypt and Brazil to see if the chemical prevents infection. It remains unclear, however, whether the lotions and drugs will be made available to the people of the Third World. The people are too poor to buy them and probably would not use the lotion for prevention, as it has to be applied regularly and carefully. The drug could be put into a soap, which the people would use more readily. In any case, the drug can still be used to treat the disease and to eliminate the snails. At present the company that worked with the Army to develop the drug, Miles Laboratories, has no plans to make it widely available. Niclosamide will be used primarily by Army personnel stationed in infested areas of the world. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1989
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East Germany struggles to clean its air and water
Article Abstract:
East Germany is suffering under a legacy which placed economic self-sufficiency above all else. Brown coal, locally mined, is burned in huge quantities, despite the fact that it releases six million tons of sulfur dioxide and two millions tons of dust into the air each year. In the industrial city of Leipzig, 7.4 percent of the population do not have a health problem caused by sulfur dioxide. The rivers are in more serious trouble than the air; obsolete factories continue to churn out pollutants as fast as they make chlorine or aluminum. Only 20 percent of the nation's waste water can be made drinkable with normal technology, and a full 45 percent cannot be made potable by any technology at all. The problem boils down to money. Rebuilding the basic industries of the nation and developing the proper waste treatment facilities will require huge capital investments. Right now, the nation needs to settle on a stable form of government. Then, it may be able to begin the enormous job of building, and cleaning. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1990
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