AIDS Treatment News No. 20 (San Francisco Sentinel) - December 19, 1986
John S. James
Last week, researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) published two landmark scientific papers on AIDS; summaries appeared in last week's SF Sentinel. One of the papers (Walter and others, 1986) reports a finding likely to be one of the most important of the year. This article examines the impact on this finding on two alternative treatments -- DNCB, and lentinan.
AIDS Treatment News No. 019 (San Francisco Sentinel) - December 7, 1986
John S. James
A network of guerrilla clinics, from San Francisco to New York, has sprung up to treat AIDS/ARC patients with a chemical compound called DNCB (dinitrochlorobenzene), a relatively common compound that has been used by a San Francisco physician, Dr. Bruce Mills, to treat AIDS patients since 1984. In 1980 Dr. Mills, while doing research at Stanford University, found that DNCB was successful in treating a form of warts.
AIDS Treatment News No. 019 (San Francisco Sentinel) - December 7, 1986
John S. James
Shiitake is a kind of edible mushroom traditionally cultivated in Japan, and now used as a delicacy in cooking throughout the world. Lentinan (pronounced lentin'an), a substance found in shiitake, has important effects on the immune system, and is now widely used in Japan for treating cancer.
The third human drug trial of AZT is beginning now. About half of people with AIDS will be allowed to use AZT in this trial. The rules about who can and cannot get AZT can seem bizarre; and physicians are not allowed to override them even when urgently necessary for the best interest of the patient. We here reprint the entire patient selection criteria, normally sent only to physicians, so that you can tell in advance whether you or a friend probably would or would not be allowed to use AZT at this time.
AIDS Treatment News No. 017 (San Francisco Sentinel) - November 5, 1986
John S. James
In the last few weeks, Japanese researchers have found that a component of ordinary licorice can stop the growth of the AIDS virus in test tube cultures of human lymphocytes. Many substances can stop the AIDS virus in the laboratory. But this discovery, by a joint project of researchers at Fukushima Medical College and Yamaguchi University Medical School, is particularly important for the following reasons
AIDS Treatment News No. 016 (San Francisco Sentinel) - October 21, 1986
John S. James
Naltrexone is an experimental treatment which physicians can use now. It is inexpensive, and a gentle treatment which mobilizes the person's own healing power. It has no known side effects or dangers. About 20 physicians and several hundred persons with AIDS or ARC -- most of them in the New York City area -- are now using naltrexone.
AIDS Treatment News No. 015 (San Francisco Sentinel) - October 3, 1986
John S. James
Four months ago when this column first reported on AZT, the problem was digging out the information. Now the problem is digging out from under the avalanche of press coverage released by a public-relations juggernaut that may be unprecedented in medical history. The current campaign for AZT involves a major drug company, several agencies and branches of the Federal government, and a number of major medical centers -- all working in a concerted push planned months ago, even before the test results were i
AIDS Treatment News No. 014 (San Francisco Sentinel) - September 24, 1986
John S. James
There's more to DNCB than meets the eye. This writer had ignored the story, because it appeared confusing and not very important. But patients using DNCB persuaded me to take a closer look -- and a very different picture emerged. Researchers have not completed rigorous clinical studies of DNCB, so we don't have definitive scientific proof of its effectiveness. But the evidence we do have clearly places DNCB among the most hopeful treatment possibilities currently available.
AIDS Treatment News No. 013 (San Francisco Sentinel) - September 12, 1986
John S. James
We keep hearing more today about AIDS conspiracy theories. While this writer finds problems with most of the germ warfare scenarios, the other kind of allegation -- severe and perhaps deliberate mismanagement of the public-health response to the epidemic -- is hard to refute. The evidence supports an urgent call for action by physicians, scientists, AIDS organizations, church and civic groups, and others. For the real value of a conspiracy theory is to wake us up to today's holocaust and to augment ongoing efforts to save lives.
Twenty five leading physicians, scientists, healers, and caregivers discussed their experience with AIDS last weekend in San Francisco. Several hundred people attended the conference, "Talks on Natural Therapies for Chronic Viral Diseases", sponsored by The Human Energy Church and The Journal of Holistic Health.
Recently we received a 50-page document used in gaining British government approval for clinical tests of the experimental AIDS treatment, AL 721, in England. The anonymous person who sent this document included a simple kitchen recipe, allegedly suggested by persons running the trials, for a stopgap substitute to use until the real AL 721 becomes available. Here are some of the highlights of the document -- and the recipe
AIDS Treatment News No. 10 (San Francisco Sentinel) - August 11, 1986
John S. James
BHT, a chemical used commercially as a food preservative, has also shown antiviral effects in scientific tests. Though no medical uses have been officially approved, many people have used it for controlling herpes, and a few for AIDS or ARC. BHT does cross the blood-brain barrier.
The massive printed program of the International Conference on AIDS (in Paris, June 23-25, 1986) contains over 700 abstracts of papers and oral presentations given at the conference. Doctors and scientists from around the world rushed to get their reports ready for the meeting, making the resulting collection an encyclopedia of what's going on in almost every medical and scientific aspect of AIDS, except for alternative natural therapies.
This writer's research into the experimental AIDS treatment AL 721, and the scientific background behind it, turned up unexpected information that ordinary lecithin, widely available in health-food stores, probably has the same kind of effect as AL 721, and may help to strengthen the body's defenses against certain virus infections, including AIDS
Many persons with AIDS or ARC have had to travel abroad for treatments which are probably helpful but have not been approveed for marketing in this country. The most common of such treatments are ribavirin and isoprinosine, which have been approved in dozens of countries and are often sold over the counter in pharmacies. At this time, Americans are usually allowed to bring in about one month's personal supply of these pharmaceuticals from Mexico.
Several years before the AIDS epidemic, many gay men became infected by intestinal parasites which previously had occurred mostly in the tropics. These diseases -- mainly amebiasis and giardiasis -- started to spread through sexual transmission, to infect as many as 60 percent of gay men. Once infected, persons can carry the parasites for years unless they are treated.
Scientists are using hydrocortisone to stimulate the growth of the AIDS virus in the laboratory. They have published a warning that the drug may be harmful to HTLV-III positive persons. But the warning has failed to reach physicians, their patients, and support organizations.
Later we heard anecdotal reports that several patients in later trials in two cities (not including San Francisco) developed pancytopenia, a serious bone-marrow disease. We called Burroughs-Wellcome Corporation, which is developing AZT; they told us that there have been some changes in hematological measurements in both phase 1 and phase 2 tests, but that sometimes these changes occur in persons with AIDS without any therapy, so more study is necessary before we can draw conclusions.
The basic research has performed very well, compared to the time required to understand diseases in the past. This scientific success, however, does not reflect competent Federal management or public policy. Instead, the scientific achievements have stemmed from the great progress in biology in the last two decades -- and from the dedication and sacrifices of individual scientists who for years managed to carry on their work without proper support.
The first information comes from the development of AL 721, now being tested as an experimental treatment against AIDS in drug trials. AL 721 has been shown to reduce AIDS virus infection of human T-cells in the laboratory (Sarin and others, New England Journal of Medicine, November 14, 1985). It works by changing the cell membrane so that the virus cannot attach itself to receptor sites, and therefore cannot infect the cell.
A pharmaceutical industry newsletter (F-D-C Reports, November 17, 1986) published some results released by Praxis Pharmaceuticals from a trial of AL 721 on eight ARC patients at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. Six of the seven patients tested showed a reduction in reverse transcriptase levels; reductions averaged over 80 percent. No signs of toxicity were found in any patient. New trials with 50 to 80 patients will study AL 721 for later stages of AIDS.
this information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.