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February 28. 2003 Serving the Carolinas' Gay & Lesbian Communities Since 1979 Volume 24 Number f AIDS Risk, Death Fall for People with HIV oy uamei u. Haney Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Seven years into the modem era of AIDS treatment, the outlook for people with HIV infections continues to improve. Encouraging new European data released Friday show that the risk of developing full-blown AIDS or dying of the disease is still falling. . • In 1996, treatments became widely available that abruptly ~rrhanged the prospects for people with HTV. These people once faced • almost certain death, but the com binations of drugs have made HIV a treatable and largely survivable infection. diui, many nave wonaerea now long these benefits would last. Currently, 16 AIDS drugs are on the market, and many more are in development. Yet some patients have resistant forms of the virus that flourish despite shifting com binations of pills. Others have worrisome side effects, such as ris ing cholesterol levels. However, figures presented Feb. 14 at the 10th Conference on Retroviruses show that despite all the drawbacks, the drugs continue to work well, and their benefits have not been exhausted. Dr. Amanda Mocroft of Royal Free and University College Medical School in London out lined the outcomes of 9,803 people diagnosed with HIV in Europe between 1994 and 2002. Between 1994 and 1998, their risk of AIDS or death fell by 80 percent. Since then, improvements have continued. Between September 1998 and 2002, the risk of AIDS or death has fallen 8 percent each six months. "Even though therapy is not perfect, it's working," Mocroft said. The continuing decline in death and AIDS is a surprise, she said. "An awful lot of people expected the curve to bottom out or even rise again, but it's still going down," she said, "which is very encouraging." The outlook’is worst-when-peo Former President Bill Clinton drivers the keynote address during the 10th annual Retrovirus Conference in Boston, Monday, Feb. 10, 2003, in Boston. Over 3,900 researchers and clinicians from around the world met in Boston from Feb. 10 through 14 for the AIDS conference. AP Photo/Angela Rowlings pie have high levels of virus and few of the blood cells that HIV attacks. Mocroft's team found that survival has significantly improved in recent years among people who start treatment with low blood counts but not among those with higher levels. * "It's quite remarkable. You have to wonder what the end of the story will be," said Dr. Kevin DeCock, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's program in Kenya. In the United States, the CDC • has- followed <*1>,769 > Americans diagnosed with HIV since 1994, and "we have data that corrobo rates what the Europeans are say ing," said Dr. Scott Holmberg, a senior epidemiologist. The first goal of treatment is to drive down the vtTtts so it falls below the ability of detection'on standard tests, which* can find-25 copies of HIV in a milliliter of blood. In the mid-1990s, many worried that virus levels would ' begin to rise again as resistant forms of HIV evolved, but Holmberg said the opposite has vW,v'w ’ ^Y^conMnawi on page 4 •; Nation’s Oldest AIDS Service Organization Criticizes VaxGen for Obfuscation of Trial Results of Its S 'AIDS Vaccine WOtefltS®‘ ‘ -r. ,4;, .. 4 V NEW YORK — Gay Men s Health Crisis • (GMHC) has criticized VaxGen, the maker of f the AIDS vaccine candidate, AIDSVAX, for obfuscation of its trial results- Despite show >ing no effect overall in protecting against infection with HIV, the company highlighted - _ a subset of results which seemed to show . efficacy in African-Americans and Asians. GMHC looks forvyard to the day when ,, HIV will be a preventable. disease and isafcg strong supporter of AIDS vaccine researmll .^including ' ■ VaxGeri’s •" research efforts!** .' However, the conduct of vaccine 'research'" * must be held to the highest standards of - ethics and accuracy, as millions of lives:! depend on the results of these scientific stud ies. : ■ I "Subset analyses ale problematic in -the A best of cases. With small nuiribers of African-Americans and Asians in the trial... and wide confidence intervals associated ^ •-with the results, making any statements’ , ly premature," said Gregg Gonsalves, • Director of Treatment and Prevention g • Advocacy at GMHC. VaxGen's assertions of sits vaccine's efficacy among blacks are based'ii ;-.«i 13 infections in this population in a trial " of more than 5000 participants. The a$sef-::' tions about efficacy among Asians are based on only 4 HIV infections in the study. ■ GMHC is particularly worried that | "spin" of these results will sow confusion 1 communities particularly at risk in Ptfrtited ■ States,' specifically Africa i, and is asking the company f Jts statements oh the subset analy 4 i-Amerfcaris and Asians, pa fits claims of efficacy for this populating is calling on the media to look ' ’ at the data before drawing any < 1C also has concerns that Va ation of its resultswilT also provicj hopes in Africa and Asia, where of HTV infection are highest; in rid, and which wili be the major mat| t AIDS vacdnes. vaccine in, this study did not
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