Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - February 15, 2002
Dr. Gayle Baldwin, a co-author of the UCLA study, said the same phenomenon probably occurs in humans. But proving it would be difficult; she and others said such a study in humans would be unethical.
Using specially bred laboratory mice infected with HIV, the researchers found those injected with cocaine had 200 times as much of the virus in their bloodstreams as did mice that received a placebo. After 10 days of daily liquid cocaine injections in doses comparable on a weight basis to those of human users, the mice also had twice as many HIV-infected cells.
"It's a challenge now for human biologists to tell us is this or not important," Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, senior scientist at the American Foundation for AIDS Research, said of the study released Thursday in the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Researchers have long suspected that drugs such as cocaine and heroin can suppress the immune system and accelerate the spread of the virus.
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