Study will break new ground

Article Abstract:

The largest long-term study of the AIDS epidemic in North America was approved in September 1990 by the Department of Health and Human Services. It will be sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and the American Foundation for AIDS Research, a private organization. The study will assess the effectiveness of therapies used in treating patients with AIDS, including agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such as AZT (zidovudine), drugs that are not approved by the FDA, and other types of therapy, such as acupuncture and Chinese herbs. In addition, researchers will analyze new drugs that are being included in clinical trails, such as ddI, ddC, interleukin-2, beta-interferon, and soluble CD4. Thousands of patients, who are being seen by hundreds of doctors, at over 40 clinics in the United States and Canada, will participate in the study. One of the main purposes of this study is to observe how AIDS is progressing in different types of patients. In the past, most AIDS research focused on homosexual and bisexual men, but this study will include women, pregnant women and intravenous drug abusers. Researchers anticipate that the findings will show what kinds of opportunistic infections affect different groups of patients, if the pattern of infection is changing with time, and why there are regional variations in opportunistic infections. It is hoped that the results will reveal the effectiveness of new approaches to treatment and indicate areas where additional research is needed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Finance, AIDS research, United States. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, American Foundation for AIDS Research

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Doubts over ''wonder drug''

Article Abstract:

The proponents of a drug known as kemron, which comes from Kenya, consider it to be a ''wonder drug'' for treating patients with AIDS. The activity of the drug is due to a tiny dose of alpha-interferon. African drug trials indicate that kemron has been beneficial in over 1,000 AIDS patients and that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, which causes AIDS) cannot be found in 40 of these patients. Others are skeptical and think that the drug is worthless. Tests in the United States of a low dose of alpha-interferon revealed a mixed response; while some patients did not improve, others experienced a modest to substantial improvement. Studies using high doses of alpha-interferon for AIDS patients are also inconclusive. Black health officials in Africa claim that the United States has down played the drug because of a distrust of African science. This is refuted by United States health officials, who say that the African drug trials are impossible to interpret because two forms of the drug were tested and a placebo was not used as a control. The World Health Organization commented that it is too early to determine whether or not low doses of alpha-interferon are beneficial for patients with AIDS. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Drug therapy, Africa, Kenya, Interferon alpha, Kemron (Medication)

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AIDS epidemiology: another early case identified

Article Abstract:

The earliest known case of death from AIDS has been found to have occurred in 1959. A study showed that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was found in the tissues of a 25-year-old seaman from northwestern England, who died of pneumonia. Previously, the earliest known cases of HIV infection were in three members of a Norwegian family who developed AIDS in the 1960s and died in 1976. Antibodies to the virus were found in the blood of an individual from Zaire, Africa also in 1959, but it is not known if the patient died from AIDS. This new finding will not affect current thinking on the spread of HIV. From analysis of the infection rates in Africa, it is thought that HIV must have existed in Africa for 30 to 40 years. It is unlikely that the seaman from Manchester represents the beginning of the epidemic of AIDS in England. The presence of HIV in tissues from the seaman was detected using the polymerase chain reaction, where sequences of DNA are amplified to yield large enough quantities of samples for analysis. Unfortunately, very little background information is known about the seaman, such as his medical history and the countries he travelled to before 1959. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

History, AIDS virus carriers, HIV carriers

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