Washington Blade - June 23, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - The excitement over a novel class of drugs being developed to fight HIV has been dampened by fears they could pose serious safety risks, including the possibility they might actually speed the progression of AIDS. The new drugs, called CCR5 receptor antagonists, block a secondary but crucial doorway typically used by the HIV to enter cells. Researchers have known for more than a decade that people who lack a working version of that doorway, called a receptor, are, at best, highly resistant to infection by HIV and, at worst, slow to develop AIDS once infected. But researchers are worried that the drugs could accelerate a shift from one variant of HIV to a second, which is most often seen in the sickest AIDS patients. It also is unclear whether the drug would provide the same protection as occurs naturally in some people.

Washington state to begin tracking HIV with names

SEATTLE, Wash. - The state Board of Health unanimously approved a new rule June 14 to keep names on file for people who test positive for HIV, even if they don't have symptoms. The change in reporting is necessary to avoid losing an estimated $3 to $5 million in federal funding for AIDS services, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention notified states in July 2005 that HIV records must be recorded by name, rather than the code system Washington had been using since 1998. In March, a temporary version of the names-based reporting was met with mild opposition from AIDS service organizations. The "CDC is basically holding the state hostage," said Ania Beszterda of Lifelong AIDS Alliance, the Post-Intelligencer reported. She expressed dismay that none of the organizations' concerns, including possible security breaches of the HIV name files, was addressed in the new policy.

Many South African officials believe HIV/AIDS curable

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A "shockingly" large number of public servants believe HIV and AIDS is curable, the Public Service Commission has found. "That even a minuscule proportion of the public service believes there is a cure for HIV and AIDS should be viewed gravely," said a PSC report based upon a survery, the South African Press Association reported. More than 40 percent of public service respondents to the survey fell in the high to very high risk category of contracting the disease. Respondents were classified according to their perceptions on issues like precaution, whether they believed HIV and AIDS could be cured, and whether infection was preventable. The main obstacle was not availability of condoms, but usage. "Often the condoms are taken as mere novelty items or simply to fool around with," the report said.

Scientists identify genetic cause of HIV virulence

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Scientists say they've identified the genetic mutation that makes the AIDS virus so deadly. The loss of one function of one gene in HIV-1 is responsible for the virus' virulence, according to a report that compared the human virus with its close relatives, a family of viruses called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which infects primates, HealthDay News reported June 15. Dr. Frank Kirchoff of the University of Ulm in Germany, lead author of the report, said the faulty gene, designated Nef, lowers the immune system's response to infection, reducing the production of protective T cells. A mutation causes the immune system to literally work itself to death, overproducing T cells, Kirchoff said. "At some point, the capacity of the immune system is exhausted, and the infection becomes AIDS," Kirchoff said, reported HealthDay News.

Calif. high court to hear lesbian's claim against fertility doctors

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court agreed June 14 to hear a case that will determine whether doctors can deny treatment to patients who offend their religious beliefs. The justices decided to review the case of two Vista fertility doctors, Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton, who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian. The conservative Christian doctors do not object to treating married patients requiring insemination. "These physicians do not believe that it is necessarily appropriate for a woman to have a baby out of wedlock," the doctors' attorney, Robert Tyler said. Jennifer Pizer, with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund who's representing the plaintiff, Guadalupe Benitez, said it's discrimination under state law for the doctors to refuse treatment. The core issue, she said, "is whether religious beliefs provide a free pass, or an exception to the civil rights law."

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