ddI boosted by cheap gout drug
Levels of didanosine (ddI) can be boosted with allupurinol - a cheap drug used in the treatment of gout - researchers from Belgium report. If confirmed by clinical trials, the usual dosage of ddI could be halved when allupurinol is used alongside. Researchers suggest future use of ddI and allopurinol might be explored in combination with 3TC and nevirapine as a convenient once-daily combination for resource-poor settings.
Wasting still associated with death risk - despite HIV drugs
Weight loss is still associated with an increased risk of death in people with HIV, even when anti-HIV medication is used, according to a report from Tufts University in the USA. Over a five-year period, 552 people were monitored at six-monthly intervals. In that time, 40 people died from an Aids-related condition and investigators found that even when HIV treatment was taken into account, adjustments were made for CD4 count, social status and drug use, wasting remained a strong predictor of an increased risk of death.
Vitamins help halt mum-to-child transmission
Multivitamin supplements may help HIV-positive women reduce the risk of passing on the virus to their children, according to US and African researchers. However, they also found that a supplementation of vitamin A alone actually increased the risk of mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy or while breast-feeding. In the study, half of 1,078 women were given vitamin A, while the others were given multivitamins without vitamin A. Women who took vitamin A were 38 per cent more likely to transmit HIV to their children. The multivitamins offered benefit to women with low levels of white blood cells - an indication of advanced disease - who were 60 per cent less likely to infect their children.