Washington Blade - September 21, 2001

Symptoms of syphilis vary depending on the stage of illness. The first stage is marked by the appearance of a single round and painless sore, known as a chancre, at the spot where syphilis entered the body. Rashes, fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, muscle aches, and tiredness follow, with late-stage symptoms including paralysis, numbness, blindness, and dementia.

Anal pap smears to test for cancer recommended

NEW YORK -- Men who have sex with men should have routine anal pap smears to screen for human papillomavirus infection, which can lead to anal cancer, according to Dr. Stephen Goldstone, Salon.com reported. Anal sex is the primary risk factor for anal HPV infection and those living with HIV are at greatest risk for the disease. Dr. Joel Palefsky at the University of California at San Francisco has estimated through studies that about 65 percent of HIV-negative gay men and close to 100-percent of HIV-positive men carry HPV in their anal canals. "As far as anal cancer, the incidence in HIV-negative gay men is 35 per 100,000, which is about what the cervical cancer rate in women was before doctors began doing routine Pap smears," Goldstone told Salon. "The incidence of anal cancer among HIV-positive gay men is estimated to be about 70 per 100,000.

These may seem like tiny numbers, but they are actually very significant because this is a disease we never really used to see. And it's becoming more widespread, like all sexually transmitted diseases."

Breast cancer not reduced by hormone intake

UNION CITY, Calif. -- Levels of phytoestrogens commonly consumed by non-Asian women in the United States do not appear to protect against breast cancer, even though several studies have suggested that phytoestrogen consumption may lower the risk of the disease in Asian populations, Reuters reported. The American Journal of Epidemiology published a study in its Sept. 1 issue in which Dr. Pamela L. Horn-Ross from the Northern California Cancer Center in Union City and colleagues compared the phytoestrogen intake of 1,326 women who developed breast cancer with that of 1,657 women randomly selected from the general population.

The breast cancer group included African American, Latina, and white U.S. women, 35-79 years of age, who were diagnosed between 1995 and 1998, the authors reported. The researchers found no correlation between total phytoestrogen intake and breast cancer risk. Soy milk and soy burger consumption was linked to a reduced risk of breast cancer, but only a small percentage of case and control subjects consumed these products.

HPV cervical smears are prelude to cancer

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- According to a study in the Aug. 3 issue of the British Journal of Cancer, baseline cervical smears of women who go on to develop cervical cancer usually contain high-risk human papillomavirus DNA before any abnormalities are identified, Reuters reported. Dr. G. D. Zielinski from the University Hospital Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and colleagues assessed the presence of high-risk HPV DNA in cervical smears from 57 women who developed cervical cancer and from 114 age-matched control women. Among case women, 57 percent of baseline smears contained high-risk HPV DNA, whereas only 6 percent of smears from control women demonstrated this finding, the researchers reported. "This study unambiguously demonstrated the presence of the same HPV type in indisputable normal and subsequent abnormal smears until diagnosis of cervical cancer, and thus showed that high-risk HPV detection precedes the development of abnormal cytology," the authors stated.

AIDS vaccine clears phase III hurdle

BRISBANE, Calif. -- VaxGen Inc. reported recently that the fifth review by the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board found the company's AIDS vaccine still safe after 23,000 injections in phase III trials, according to Bioworld.

The DSMB is expected to review efficacy in November. AIDSVAX, which is made from a synthetic protein, is the only preventive AIDS vaccine to reach this stage of testing. Trials have been conducted in North America and Europe, with approximately 8,000 volunteers participating. The subjects are mostly at-risk white males. Participants are counseled not to assume they have protection against disease, a company spokesperson told Bioworld. A trial is also under way in Bangkok, Thailand, using a different vaccine strain specific to that region's HIV subtype.

-- From staff and wire reports

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