Health: medical report

Health: medical report

Washington Blade - August 17, 2001

Health warning on shellfish issued following deaths LOS ANGELES (AP) - County health officials issued a warning to people with weakened immune systems and chronic diseases to avoid eating raw shellfish after two deaths were linked to a rare bacteria found in oysters. Two men have died in Los Angeles County of Vibrio vulnificus this month and three other people have been hospitalized in the county with the infection since June. The bacteria is generally found in raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico and most severely affects people with AIDS, cirrhosis, hepatitis, cancer, and diabetes. Heavy drinkers and people undergoing chemotherapy are also at risk. Officials said all five people with the infection had liver disease. The infection, which is fatal in 50 percent of all cases, can cause septic shock, skin lesions, and gangrene that can require the amputation of limbs. Healthy people suffer such symptoms as diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting but generally recover.

Quadruple therapy helps some after HIV drugs fail

NEW YORK - Quadruple therapy that includes several types of antiviral drugs can control HIV levels in many patients who have failed treatment with an earlier class of drugs, a new study shows. But the benefits of quadruple therapy must be weighed against the risk of serious side effects and the possibility that the quadruple treatment may limit future treatment options if a patient's HIV levels rebound, the study's authors cautioned in the Aug. 9 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Drug combinations containing protease inhibitors or non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors - two HIV drug classes - can cut HIV levels in the blood for as many as 90 percent of patients, Reuters Health reported. But the drugs are less effective for individuals who have already taken one or more HIV drugs called nucleoside. The results of the study "confirm the importance of prescribing, whenever possible, at least two drugs of new classes for patients who have already received treatment, so as to increase the likelihood of a sustained virologic response," according to Dr. Julio S.G. Montaner of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and Dr. John W. Mellors of the University of Pittsburgh.

Study: Group intervention reduces risky behavior

MILWAUKEE - Group intervention can reduce risky sexual behaviors by HIV-infected patients, according to a report published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Reuters reported. Dr. Seth C. Kalichman of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and colleagues studied 332 HIV-infected patients, with each receiving a five-session group intervention program on safe-sex practices or a similar program in which safe-sex practices were not addressed. According to the study, after six months, significantly less unprotected sex and greater condom use was noted in the safe-sex group compared with the control group. Sexual behaviors that may endanger a non-HIV-infected partner were also significantly lower in the safe-sex group, the authors noted.

U.S. representative reintroduces mastectomy bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), an advocate for women's health, has re-introduced the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy, according to lifetimetv.com. The bill is designed to eliminate the so-called "drive-through mastectomy" in which women are sent home hours after surgery against the wishes of their doctors, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached. Last year more than half of House members signed on to the bill, but it was never brought to a vote. Lifetime Television has put information about the bill on the company's Web site with a petition drive and has collected more than 225,000 signatures.

HAART prolongs time without CMV retinitis

LONDON - Researchers reported in the July issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology that highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, can significantly prolong disease-free intervals in AIDS patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis, according to Reuters. Suzanne M. Mitchell, of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, and colleagues reported that in some patients "the lack of CMV retinitis reactivation after stopping anti-CMV maintenance therapy has been attributed to the use of HAART." Researchers conducted a study of 1,292 people with AIDS receiving HAART that included one or more protease inhibitors. In total, 53 patients developed CMV retinitis before starting HAART and 13 patients developed the condition after starting HAART. The researchers concluded that HAART "significantly prolongs the disease-free intervals in patients with pre-existing disease."
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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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