The Washington Blade; Friday, November 14, 1997
Lisa Keen

Generally speaking, cancer is not thought of as a disease that can be transmitted from one person to another. But a study by Danish and Swedish researchers found that 88 percent of 388 people with anal cancer (both men and women) also had HPV in their cancer tissue specimens. Control groups of more than 500 people who didn't have cancer and 500 people who had rectal cancer showed no signs of HPV infection.

Interestingly, while past studies have associated anal cancer with men having sex with men, only 15 percent of the men with anal cancer in this study reported having had "homosexual contact" with another man -- the same percentage as women who reported having had "anal intercourse" with a man. But because no man without anal cancer reported "homosexual contact," the researchers concluded that this evidence and a few other peculiarities (such as being unmarried, no history of hepatitis) "strongly support the idea that male homosexual contact is a risk factor for anal cancer." (By contrast, of the women who had engaged in anal intercourse, 15 percent had anal cancer, 10 percent had no cancer and 6 percent had rectal cancer.) The investigators said they also found strong evidence to link "heterosexual promiscuity" to the likelihood of having anal cancer.

The study, said the researchers, "suggests that most anal cancers are potentially preventable."

Soft saq approved for the market

The Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 7 approved a soft gel formulation of the protease inhibitor saquinavir for marketing.

Marketed by Hoffman-LaRoche under the trade name Fortovase, the new formulation delivers more drug than the original hard tablet form (which is marketed as Invirase) and is considered a much better dose for treatment of HIV infection. Some AIDS activists criticized the company in December 1995 for rushing to market with the lesser-dose version -- making it the first protease inhibitor to gain approval -- rather than spending the additional time to come out with the truly effective dose first. According to an Associated Press report,

Hoffman-LaRoche will sell the new stronger dose version at the same price as the original and plans to take the older version off the market in about six months. But the company said it would make the older version available to patients whose doctors advise against any change in their medications.

In brief ...

TRIPLE DRUG, TRIPLE BENEFIT: A study Nov. 7 in the British Medical Journal indicates that people with HIV who started taking triple-drug combinations that include protease inhibitors between 1995-96 have experienced a 65 percent reduction in risk of mortality compared to people with HIV who take no drugs. Two-drug combinations, according to the Swiss researchers who made the report after studying almost 5,000 people with HIV and their therapies, reduced the risk of mortality by 31 percent.

THRUSH ALERT: The National Association of People With AIDS issued an "Alert" this month to warn people that recent studies have found a form of the organism which causes thrush which is resistant to the standard drug to prevent and treat the opportunistic infection. The organism Candida albicans can cause thrush (also known as oral candidiasis) in people whose immune systems are badly impaired. The drug fluconazole is frequently prescribed both to prevent thrush from developing and to treat it once it has developed. The NAPWA's November O.I. Alert suggests that people with AIDS consider discontinuing or delaying use of fluconazole until their CD4 counts drop below 200 or using intraconazole or amphotericin B. The Alert also notes that this drug-resistant form of Candida can be transmitted between people with HIV.

HEAD ATTACK: In a first-of-its-kind report, scientists in Italy say they believe a man became infected with HIV after having his head butted by another man during a traffic altercation. In the Nov. 7 issue of The Lancet medical journal, doctors at a scientific institute in Milan said the virus was apparently transmitted from one man when he smashed his head against that of another man who was wearing steel-framed glasses. The impact caused the glasses to cut into the victim's forehead and cause heavy bleeding. Because the victim tested negative for HIV antibodies for three days after the attack, then tested positive, and because the virus in both men looked very similar, the scientists concluded the HIV must have been transmitted by the head-butting. HIV transmission is generally thought to require much more intimate contact, such as sexual intercourse or blood transfusion.

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WB9711

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