AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 3 Jul 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 3 Jul 2001
----------------------------------------------

* New York Times' Lawrence Altman Recounts 20 Years of HIV/AIDS Re-
  porting
* Nigerian Faith-Healer Says He Can 'Cure' AIDS, Attracting Thousands
  of Patients
* Microbicide Development Slow But Moving Forward


--
New York Times' Lawrence Altman Recounts 20 Years of HIV/AIDS Report-
ing

On the 20th anniversary of the day his first article on the disease 
that became known as AIDS ran in the New York Times, medical corre-
spondent Lawrence Altman recounts 20 years of covering the disease in 
a Times health section piece. Since he first reported on a "rare can-
cer" seen in 41 homosexual men in New York City, Altman has written 
more than 500 articles about the disease, chronicling the early "ar-
rogan[ce]" of doctors who denied that AIDS could be caused by an un-
known virus, the "poorly prepared" medical system's struggle to keep 
up with the disease, the medical community's lack of early communica-
tion about the disease with the public and activists' attempts to get 
the media to pay more than "scant attention" to the new "public 
health emergency." He also recounts the denial and "ang[er]" he saw 
when first reporting on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Altman con-
cludes that last week's U.N. General Assembly special session on 
HIV/AIDS marked the "growing realization that the joining of scien-
tific skill and political will holds the best promise" for control-
ling HIV/AIDS.


--
Nigerian Faith-Healer Says He Can 'Cure' AIDS, Attracting Thousands 
of Patients

Thousands of HIV-positive Nigerians, hoping "to escape a disease the 
rest of the world says is incurable," visit faith-healer Temitope Ba-
logun Joshua, who claims he can "cure" HIV/AIDS, but critics dismiss 
Joshua as a "scam artis[t]," the Associated Press reports. Joshua 
goes to local churches and "heals" individuals with HIV and other af-
flictions by touching their heads and saying prayers. He is reported 
to have performed over 11,000 "miracles" over the past eight years, 
and many Nigerians who seek his services have heard about him on TV 
and radio. But critics, "particularly aid workers trying to fight 
AIDS with scarce resources," have "accuse[d] Joshua of preying on the 
ignorance of AIDS sufferers." Tim McLellan of the Society for Family 
Health, said, "Who wouldn't want a cure for HIV? We'd all be in favor 
of that. But the promotion of these remedies without scientific proof 
to back them up has been damaging to the overall effort of AIDS pre-
vention in Nigeria." Although international drug firms have recently 
reduced the prices of antiretroviral drugs in Africa, the treatments 
"remain inaccessible to all but a wealthy few," leading many Nigeri-
ans to seek other sources of remedy (Pitman, Associated Press, 
7/2).Joshua's Web site features the testimonies of several Nigerians 
who say they were cured of HIV/AIDS as a result of his healing and 
depicts their negative HIV test results next to their former positive 
ones (The Synagogue, Church of All Nations Web site, 7/2).


--
Microbicide Development Slow But Moving Forward

Ten years after UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot called for the 
development of a microbicide, a topical substance that would protect 
women from STDs such as HIV, an effective product remains "elusive," 
the New York Times reports. The "need" for microbicides is great be-
cause "not only are [women] more susceptible" to HIV infection, but 
many women are unable to negotiate condom use with their partners. 
Attracting interest from pharmaceutical companies has been the "main 
challenge" to microbicide development because any microbicide would 
need to be inexpensive to be accessible to those in developing na-
tions and in the United States, where a recent survey by the Alan 
Guttmacher Institute showed that American women's interest in the 
product would decrease as the price increased. A $50 million invest-
ment is needed to develop a "successful" microbicide, the Alliance 
for Microbicide Development estimates. And a drug company can expect 
only a 5% return from sales in developing countries as opposed to an 
18% to 20% return in developed nations. A lack of interest from major 
pharmaceutical firms has prompted advocates to seek money from gov-
ernments and private foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation and 
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Despite the lack of funding, re-
searchers and women's health advocates are "more optimistic than 
ever" about the odds of developing a successful product. Sixty poten-
tial microbicides are currently in development. Four of the "chemical 
candidates" that will enter the last phase of human testing in the 
next two years are outlined below:

* Pro-2000: This gel made by Massachusetts-based Interneuron would 
  "disrup[t]" both HIV and the herpes virus by "binding" with viral 
  particles to prevent infection. The gel, which also "shows promise" 
  as a contraceptive, will begin its last round of trials in January;

* Buffer Gel: This gel changes the acidity in the vagina to "kil[l] 
  pathogens";

* Ushercell: This "big sugar molecule" blocks the entry into cells of 
  HIV and the bacteria that cause gonorrhea and chlamydia;

* Carraguard: This compound being developed by the Population Council 
  contains a seaweed-derived substance to prevent viral infection by 
  "coating" the walls of the vagina.

Another microbicide, Savvy, is being developed by Biosys, a small 
Philadelphia-based biotech firm. The cream, which has the "potential" 
to block HIV and pregnancy, as well as syphilis, gonorrhea and chla-
mydia, is in the safety trial stage and could enter the final phase 
of clinical testing by next summer (Lerner, New York Times, 7/3). 

--
The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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