As for failure rates, hospitals in the UK such as
North London's Royal Free have recently reported that 80 per cent of
their patients on treatment maintain undetectable viral loads - up from
only 50 per cent three years previously.
Why, then, do the US studies report success rates three times lower, and
resistance rates four times higher, than European studies?
Keith Alcorn, writing in www.aidsmap.com, points out that Richman selected
patients who were already receiving HIV treatment in 1996. They would
tend to be long-term survivors, with histories of taking substandard one-
or two-drug regimes.
But Alcorn also told Positive Nation: "There may also be a real difference
in HIV drug resistance on the two sides of the Atlantic, because anti-retroviral
use was more common in the USA in the early 90s."
See also this month's Q&A
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Giving blood may be good for you. An old treatment for Aids may come back into fashion after it was shown that regular blood donations can improve the immune system and slow or stop CD4 cell decline. Passive Hyperimmune Therapy (PHI) was designed to benefit people with Aids. It involves receiving a boost of T-cell-rich blood from other positive people with high counts. A study from America has now shown that donors benefit as much as recipients. A group of positive New Yorkers who
donated a pint of plasma a month made new anti-HIV antibodies after each
