AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 13 Dec 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 13 Dec 2001
-----------------------------------------------

* Malaria Drug May Reduce HIV Vertical Transmission Through Breast
  Milk, Study Finds
* New York Times Editorial Calls on Congress to Appropriate Full $750
  Million to Global AIDS Fund

--
Malaria Drug May Reduce HIV Vertical Transmission Through Breast 
Milk, Study Finds

A "cheap and widely available" anti-malarial medication may be able 
to reduce the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according 
to research results published in a recent issue of the journal AIDS, 
Reuters Health reports. In laboratory tests, Dr. Johan Boelaert of 
Algemeen Ziekenhuis St-Jan in Brugge, Belgium, and his colleagues 
found that the drug chloroquine, which has been found to slow the 
replication of HIV in previous research, "accumulates in high concen-
trations" in breast-milk cells. The research indicates that women 
with HIV could take the drug to reduce the level of HIV in their 
breast milk, therefore lowering their risk of passing on the virus to 
their children. Breastfeeding may account for "up to half" of all 
vertical transmissions of HIV. Dr. Andrea Savarino of Italy's Univer-
sity of Turin, who authored an earlier study connecting the anti-
malaria medication to its anti-HIV properties, called the results 
"encouraging." Boelaert and his research team are currently planning 
a study to be conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa examining the effect of 
the drug on the levels of HIV in the breast milk of HIV-positive 
women. If chloroquine does indeed reduce the risk of vertical trans-
mission of HIV through breast milk, as future studies may show, it 
would have a significant impact on the AIDS epidemic, Savarino 
stated. "Chloroquine is the cheapest of any drug having anti-HIV ac-
tivity and could therefore be afforded by developing countries where 
breastfeeding is an important route of HIV transmission," Savarino 
said. The study authors stated that in addition to being inexpensive, 
chloroquine is also widely available and causes relatively few side 
effects. Finally, because the malaria treatment does not "carry any 
social stigma" related to AIDS as antiretrovirals do, Boelaert said 
that he hopes HIV-positive women who wish to breastfeed can use this 
drug without fear of revealing their HIV status (McKinney, Reuters 
Health, 12/11).


--
New York Times Editorial Calls on Congress to Appropriate Full $750 
Million to Global AIDS Fund

"It is critical that Congress actually appropriate the full $750 mil-
lion" that the House authorized this week for the Global Fund to 
Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with the passage of the Global 
Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Education and Treatment Act (HR 2069), 
a New York Times editorial states. The $750 million appropriation 
made by the House would more than double the current U.S. contribu-
tion to the fund, which to date has received only $1.5 billion out of 
an estimated need of between $7 billion and $10 billion. Those dona-
tions could "dry up" if the project does not take action soon, the 
editorial says. The fund's planning commission, "under pressure from 
donor nations," is in "danger of making the wrong choices on several 
important fronts," according to the editorial. Under the current 
plan, grants would go only to governments that request funds. How-
ever, some governments in the worst-affected areas, like South Af-
rica, "deny that they have a problem." According to the editorial, 
independent groups in countries where governments are "shirking their 
responsibilities" should be able to apply for money. The fund must 
also provide money for antiretroviral drugs, according to the edito-
rial, which goes on to say that without available treatment, people 
have little incentive to get tested and prevention efforts are less 
likely to take hold. The fund "could provide a major service by nego-
tiating for the lowest possible prices on behalf of countries too 
small and poor to have clout" with drug makers, the editorial notes. 
However, if lower prices cannot be negotiated, the fund should also 
consider using generic copies of patented AIDS drugs, "so as to help 
the most people," the editorial states. "AIDS must be treated as the 
emergency it is -- a plague the likes of which the world has not seen 
since the Black Death seven centuries ago," the editorial concludes 
(New York Times, 12/13).

--
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.

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org