Compiled by Gus Cairns
medical notes
Circumcised men ‘strikingly’
less likely to have HIV
Circumcised men are 11 times less likely to have HIV than uncircumsised
men, according to a Kenyan study. Another Indian study found an eight-fold
reduction in HIV infection among circumcised men. Derek von Wissell, director
of Swaziland’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/Aids, said
cicumcision should be looked at as a preventive measure as it was was “almost
as effective as a vaccine.”
Viral load lower in women on vitamins
A US study of women using complementary therapies found they were significantly
more likely to have a viral load under 1,000 than women who didn’t.
Sixty-one per cent using vitamins had a low viral load compared with 48 per
cent of non-users. But the survey of largely poor black women found vitamin
users had had more Aids-related illnesses. Vitamins might not have a direct
effect on viral load but might be taken by more treatment-experienced patients
who’d learned to look after themselves better.
Hep C protease inhibitor progress stalled
A protease inhibitor that works against hepatitis C has produced impressive
results, last month’s Gastroenterology journal reports. The drug produced
a 100- to 1,000-fold reductions in hep C viral load in 51 patients, regardless
of their stage of liver disease or the subtype of hep C virus. But fears about
toxicity has put the development of the drug BILN 2061 on hold pending long-term
animal studies after animals, given large doses for four months, developed
heart problems.
Truvada receives European approval
Truvada, Gilead’s fixed-dose combination pill of tenofovir and FTC,
received European marketing approval on 18 November. Approval follows data
presented to the ICAAC conference last month that showed FTC and 3TC were
equally effective. Early results also indicate the one-pill, once-a-day combo
might be a more potent nucleoside ‘backbone’ for HIV drug regimes
than AZT/3TC (Combivir).
Vaccine ‘could prevent 70 per cent of
cervical cancer’
A vaccine against the two most common types of cancer-causing human papilloma
virus (HPV) has been found to protect against 95 per cent of new infections
and 100 per cent of re-infections. HPV causes genital and anal warts, but
certain subtypes (16 and 18) are much more likely than others to cause cervical
and anal cancer. The VLP vaccine stops infection with these. Manufacturers
GlaxoSmithKline said: “Vaccination against HPV 16 and 18 could prevent
development of up to 70 per cent of cervical cancers worldwide.”
Doctors warn of ‘chlamydia with claws’
Doctors are warning gay men about a rare sexually transmitted infection that
can cause severe bleeding and inflammation in the lower gut. Ninety cases
of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) were recorded in gay men in the Netherlands
in 2003-4. LGV is caused by a variant of the bacterium that causes chlamydia
and is treatable by antibiotics. “You can get really sick with this,
but it doesn’t present like an STD, and neither clinicians nor patients
will be thinking of an STD,” said Dr Stuart Berman, chief of STD
epidemiology at the US Centers for Disease Control.
Septrin works for kids and super-bug
UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation have recommended all children with
HIV in developing countries should get the cheap antibiotic co-trimoxazole
(Septrin) after a Zambian study found it almost halved the risk of death.
The drug is familiar as an anti-PCP drug, but it’s not clear why the
children benefited. Meanwhile, another study has found Septrin works against
the community-acquired ‘super-bug’ MRSA (methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus). This bug, normally only seen in
hospital settings, was reported as a sexual infection among gay men in the
US last year.
