Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
 |
The San Francisco Examiner - Wednesday, Jan. 22, 1997
Lisa M. Krieger of the Examiner Staff
AIDS researchers who made a breakthrough by combining three drugs into a highly effective "cocktail" treatment are now looking at a two-drug mix they say could be an even more potent attack on the virus.
Unlike the three-drug cocktail, which works by striking the virus at different junctures in its replication process, the two-drug treatments combine two brands of the same class of drugs, protease inhibitors.
There will be new data on combinations of saquinavir / ritonavir, saquinavir / indinavir and saquinavir / nelfinavir. Saquinavir was the first protease inhibitor to be approved, but was soon surpassed by more effective drugs in the same class. Since then, scientists have gone back to the lab and improved it.
Also presented will be:
*Updated data on the triple-drug mix of AZT, 3TC and indinavir in patients with advanced AIDS.
*An analysis of how long it will take for all HIV-infected cells to die off.
*Data from samples of seminal fluid to see if "no-detectable-virus" in blood tests really means that no virus lurks elsewhere.
*Insights into the biology, epidemiology and clinical impact of the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated virus, called HSHV.
*The status of the HIV epidemic throughout the world.
Vaccine trials
In April or May, doctors in several U.S. cities will inject the first of about 400 volunteers with a second-generation experimental AIDS vaccine, ending a 2-1/4-year de facto U.S. moratorium on human trials of vaccines against the disease, according to the Boston Globe.
If the vaccine appears safe, tests of its effectiveness will begin in as many as 3,500 people next year. Meanwhile, researchers are laboring on an alternate approach in case this vaccine, based on a canary pox virus, flops.
Top health officials and scientists hope the trial will help reinvigorate the moribund effort to find a vaccine to prevent the spread of HIV.
Most recent attention and funding - governmental and commercial - has focused on new AIDS treatments. But a dogged group of vaccine advocates points out that costly treatments will never halt the AIDS pandemic. In the worst scenario, treatments might even augment the spread of AIDS if resistant strains of the virus got into circulation because patients did not comply with demanding dosing schedules.
HIV prevention
Prevention money must be targeted to groups at greatest risk of HIV infection to prevent the greatest number of people from getting infected, according to a UCSF study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. James G. Kahn, the author of the UCSF analysis, found that aiming prevention efforts and dollars to higher-risk groups - such as young gay men and injection drug users - prevents up to 200 times more HIV infections than aiming to low-risk groups.
Immune patterns
Patterns in the immune system that appear soon after HIV infection may predict how the disease will progress, report federal scientists.
The body tries to fight the invading virus with certain white blood cells, known as CD8 cells. The pattern of those cells can foreshadow the disease's progression over the next 12 to 18 months.
People whose immune system mobilized only one type of CD8 cells were in worse health than those who mobilized several subtypes, reports Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
News briefs
*An HIV-positive man from New York is accused of seducing dozens of Finnish women while knowing that he had the AIDS virus. The trial of Steven Thomas, 35, begins this week in Helsinki. He is being held without bail.
*A surgeon with AIDS has almost certainly infected a patient during an operation at a hospital near Paris, the French Health Ministry says.
If confirmed, it would be the second known case of a doctor infecting a patient with HIV during a medical intervention. A dentist from Florida is believed to have passed HIV to six of his patients, one of whom died.
*Needles with safety sheaths or blunt tips may be health-care workers' best defense against the AIDS virus and other diseases, two government studies found.
Drawing blood caused 20 of the 51 documented cases of AIDS infection on the job in the United States.
Events
*Volunteers are invited to help at the AIDS Memorial Grove on Jan. 25. The workday begins at 9 a.m. at the east entrance to deLaveaga Dell, on Bowling Green Drive, and usually last until 3 p.m. Call (415) 750-8340.
*Project Inform will have a town meeting featuring a report on the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections on Feb. 3 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at UC-San Francisco's Laurel Heights Conference Center, 3333 California St. (415) 558-8669.
* "An Introduction to HIV Treatment Options," sponsored by Project Inform, will be Feb. 5 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Project Inform office, 1965 Market St., Suite 220. Call (415) 558-8669.
The toll
Frank Naccarato, 53, who served two years in Vietnam, managed Xerox's Pacific Rim territories, and was active in the Haight-Ashbury Improvement Association and other community groups . . . Rexford M. Palmer, 42, a merchandising manager for Shreve and Company . . . Armando Gabriel Arreola, 32, who helped develop a support group for AIDS clinics in Guatemala.
Date
reported / Cases / Deaths
S.F. 1/1 23,841 16,604
Calif. 1/1 97,690 63,063
U.S. 1/1 548,102 343,000
WHO(rprtd) 1/1 8,400,000 6,400,000
Figures are cumulative since June 1981.
To contribute to AIDSWEEK, call (415) 777-7867.
970122
SE970106
Copyright © 1997 - San Francisco Examiner. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the San Francisco Examiner, Permissions Desk, 110 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 7260, San Franciso, CA 94120.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, iMetrikus, Inc., John M. Lloyd Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1997. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 1997. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .