Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Chicago Tribune - April 8, 2000
Two global health groups, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, on Wednesday urged that African nations use the antibiotic, best known by the brand name Bactrim, to reduce the secondary infections of AIDS. Such treatment could cost as little as $8 per patient per year, a tiny percentage of the tens of thousands of dollars spent each year by individuals using the three-drug "cocktail" regimen often prescribed in this country to combat HIV infection.
With a staggering load of 70 percent of the world's HIV-positive population and economic problems severely limiting their governments' health-care budgets, African leaders might see availability of an inexpensive antibiotic as a godsend. Certainly anything that allows a victim a longer, better life is welcome. But Bactrim is at best a palliative, not a cure.
Speaking medically, HIV is the viral infection that relentlessly destroys the human immune system, while AIDS is any of a set of complications--diseases in themselves--that result from that destruction. The expensive cocktail of medicines has proven it can battle HIV to a standstill for an extended time, preventing the opportunistic complications from occurring. The inexpensive antibiotic, on the other hand, can cure some of the complications, alleviating suffering and extending life for months or years. But it does not protect the immune system, and its users will almost certainly die of some complication of AIDS.
Bactrim, therefore, represents a different standard of care: real help, but not real hope of survival. It is a standard below what is available to Western, wealthier patients. And neither is a cure.
Africa's medical needs are great. The recommendation of these international health organizations promises to ease the agony of many. But it must not be an invitation to let up in the search for a final answer, a cure.
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