Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - Wednesday, December 11, 1996
Lisa M. Krieger, Examiner Staff
The UC team offers:
*Tests to find out if someone really has been infected. These are viral tests that detect HIV early, rather than the standard antibody tests.
*Anti-viral drug treatments to help reduce the amount of virus.
*Referrals for counseling and clinical care.
Early HIV infection feels like the flu, with symptoms of fever or chills, rash, aching muscles, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes.
The Options Project is seeking people who recently had sex with no condoms, whose condoms came off or broke, or who shared used syringes with other people.
The project is dedicated to learning about the best ways to treat people with new HIV infection.
The first stage of infection often goes unnoticed - but is an important "window of opportunity" in combatting HIV, the team believes.
New research suggests that treatment with anti-viral drugs right after infection may make a big difference in long-term health. At the International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, B.C., last July, it was reported that a potent combination of drugs eliminated HIV from the blood of nine newly infected patients.
Experts think it is important to catch infection early because the immune system is still healthy and because the virus has not yet spread, genetically diversified and formed resistance to drugs.
If you think you've been recently infected, call (415) 502-8100 immediately for help.
For general information about the Options Project, call (415) 476-4082, ext. 119.
Therapies prompt merger
Two organizations, AIDS Benefits Counselors and Positive Resource, have merged to create a better range of services for people with HIV.
Medical advances are significantly changing the kinds of social services needed by people with HIV, according to executives with the two organizations.
The merger creates a single program to help 2,500 people a year, so that clients at any stage of HIV disease can obtain disability benefits or employment counseling.
AIDS Benefits Counselors helps people with HIV obtain and use benefits like disability, health insurance, life insurance, Social Security and MediCal.
Positive Resource is an employment services program for people with HIV.
For information, call (415) 558-9845.
News roundup
*While people with AIDS are at substantially higher risk for suicide than the general public, people who test positive for HIV aren't necessarily, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
*California's AIDS Drugs Assistance Program faces a $10 million shortfall and is in risk of going broke.
ADAP is funded equally by the state and federal governments. This fiscal year, ADAPs will spend $145 million buying drugs for 65,000 Americans. That includes an extra $52 million in emergency funds President Clinton allotted this spring in anticipation of the crisis, $18 million of which goes specifically to California.
Legislators in Sacramento offered no corresponding increase.
This year's California ADAP budget is $37.4 million, but spending on expensive new protease inhibitors will push up the budget $10 million over expectations.
*Drew Barrymore's latest television role is promoting safer sex for women around the world. The actress will appear in a TV commercial next year for the nonprofit Female Health Foundation.
Also, NBC's show "ER" will focus on an HIV-infected health care worker on Thursday night and on Dec. 19.
Vaccine research
The private-sector search for an AIDS vaccine is grossly under-funded and a low industry priority, asserts the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition in a 35-page report, "Industry Investment in HIV Vaccine Research." The coalition is a San Francisco-based group founded in 1995 to advocate for the development of a safe, effective and accessible HIV vaccine.
Based on interviews with top researchers at 23 biotech and pharmaceutical companies, the group calculated that less than $40 million of the $135 million spent on HIV vaccine research worldwide came from the private sector.
While 268 therapies for HIV have entered clinical trials, only 17 potential vaccines are being tested in humans, and none has been deemed to merit wide-scale testing, it reported.
The primary obstacle to investment is the problematic state of vaccine science, the group found. While most industry scientists were convinced that a vaccine for HIV was possible, they were not always certain of their next scientific steps. In every case where a company downsized or eliminated its HIV vaccine program, scientific obstacles were the primary factor.
Benefit with growth hormone
AIDS patients who took daily injections of human growth hormone gained a significantly greater amount of weight, particularly lean body mass, than patients without the drug, according to a UC-San Francisco study.
Other therapies, such as appetite stimulants, can cause weight gain but do not restore lean tissue. So-called "wasting disease" can be fatal to AIDS patients.
The researchers also found that it boosted stamina, as measured by treadmill tests.
The toll
Thomas Billups, 41, who worked at the Villa Hotel in San Mateo . . . Michael Mears, 49, who graduated from Cal State Hayward and whose passions included playing basketball, running, and traveling around the world . . . Scott Zimmerman, 38, manager and scorekeeper for the Stormy Leather Hides softball team.
. . . . . Date . . . . . reported / Cases / Deaths S.F.. . . 12 / 1 23,432 16,358 Calif.. . 12 / 1 96,690 63,063 U.S.. . . 12 / 1 548,102 343,000 WHO(rprtd) 12 / 1 8,400,000 -- Figures are cumulative since June 1981. To contribute to AIDSWEEK, call (415) 777-7867.
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