AIDS no longer killing all patients, study finds

[Roon]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than a quarter of New Yorkers infected with the AIDS virus are now dying of other causes, researchers said on Monday.

An analysis of 68,669 New York City residents infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, found that of those who died between 1999 and 2004, 26.3 percent died of something other than HIV. That is a 32 percent increase from 1999, when just under 20 percent of HIV patients died of other causes.

Cocktails of drugs that suppress the virus have been credited with allowing HIV patients to lead near-normal lives, and once- or twice-a-day dosing now makes them more manageable.

Nonetheless, AIDS remains incurable and is always fatal in places where the drugs are not available -- notably much of Africa.

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060918/2006-09-18T211724Z_01_N18313048_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-AIDS-DEATHS-DC.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Like diabetes, it seems to have become a

disease that people LIVE WITH, rather than DIE OF.

I guess we need to be grateful for small things.

A vaccine is the next big step. I am afraid an out-and-out cure will probably always evade us, like the situation with Feline Leukemia Virus.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. The depletion of key antioxidants is what really hurts the

human frame... this is true in diabetes as well as AIDS.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/show/NCT00079807?order=2
Official Title: Painful HIV Neuropathy: Treatment With Alpha-Lipoic Acid
Further study details as provided by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):

Expected Total Enrollment: 60

Study start: September 2003; Expected completion: March 2007

HIV is associated with painful distal peripheral polyneuropathy in up to 35-50% of those without AIDS and in more than 70% of those with advanced disease. The condition is progressive but may be halted with disease remission. Disability is often significant. Peripheral nerve axons and sensory neuron cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglia are the principal targets of the process leading to symptoms. Alpha-lipoic acid occurs naturally in every cell of the body. In high concentrations it acts as an anti-oxidant which regenerates other anti-oxidants and promotes glutathione synthesis. Clinical studies for diabetic neuropathy have shown significant benefit at daily oral doses that are well-tolerated.

This placebo-controlled study is designed to evaluate the effects of daily oral alpha-lipoic acid supplements (600mg, three times per/day) plus standard medical care in the treatment of painful HIV-associated neuropathy over a 24-week period in adult subjects. Possible benefits of the study include reduction in pain and disability, reduced use of medications, and enhanced cellular metabolism.

Eligibility
Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years and above, Genders Eligible for Study: Both
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* HIV-seropositive
* Distal peripheral sensory neuropathy as diagnosed by a neurologist with pain or paresthesia, with or without numbness or weakness
* Able to understand and participate in protocol activities
* Able to give informed consent
* Under the care of a UNC ID Clinical physician for at least 2 months
* Able to document pain characteristics, use of pain medications, and other assessment instruments and characteristics
* On stable antiretroviral therapy (or none) for 12 weeks prior to enrollment
* No changes in peripheral neuropathy pharmacologic treatment for 12 weeks prior to enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

* Any significant cognitive impairment or psychosis
* Pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy (women of child-bearing potential must agree to use birth control for the duration of the study)
* Undergoing any current treatment for malignancy, including chemotherapy or radiation therapy within the past year
* Concurrent or prior use of a-LA
* Known non-HIV risk factors for peripheral neuropathy, such as DM, B12/folate deficiency; thyroid dysfunction; hx of exposure to lead, mercury, arsenic, thallium (prior diagnostic tests permitted), other heavy metals or complex hydrocarbons
* Use of metronidazole, isoniazid or other furantoins
* Suspected or documented thiamin deficiency
* Active alcoholism
* Allergy to a-LA
* Hx of ‘significant’ use of anti-oxidant supplements during the two months prior to study entry

[Horse with no Name]

2. One has to wonder if this is being spun

so George Bush can justify cutting funds to AIDS research.

[sofa king]

3. Other things?

As I remember it, HIV doesn't kill anyone. What kills them are the opportunistic diseases that take up house inside a body with no immune system.

Who says that cardiovascular disease isn't be related to HIV? Who says cancers other than the ones already known to be related to HIV are not? Who says the coctail that HIV patients have to religiously take isn't damaging to health as well? Does anyone want to dare tell me that HIV study is funded well enough to conclusively answer those questions?

You want to impress me, tell me that 26 percent of all HIV patients are dying from fighting in Iraq, or being hit by busses, or slipping in the shower. Then I'll be impressed.

[JuniperLea]

4. AIDS patients have always died of something other than AIDS

AIDS does not kill. It's the opportunistic diseases that kill.

I'm suspicious of this.

Two very dear friends of mine died of AIDS related illnesses in the early 90's... I'm sure they would be happy to know that the research they participated in way back in the early days has paid off and there are now other drugs that make life easier. All they had was AZT and it was painful to take.

I'm suspicious, as I said. I don't like how this story was worded.

[ronnykmarshall]

6. My brother died of TB.

In the late 80's there were a lot of AIDS patients that contracted TB.

[JuniperLea]

7. So sad.

One of my friends died of cancer, his partner died after some strange virus attacked his brain which caused him to be bed ridden, and then pneumonia set in. Both deaths were attributed to AIDS. Back in those days, people went from being HIV positive to having full blown AIDS very quickly. Meaning, the suppressed immune system couldn't fight anything off.

I drive past their old house at least once a week on my way to pick up my daughter. I often wonder what life would have been like if we hadn't lost them so young. Both were in their late 30's.

I spent a lot of time with them in the end. After they passed on and people found out what the cause of death was, they freaked a little because I was with them so much. I was constantly saying, if it were that easy to catch, we all have it anyway. I wonder sometimes if the stigma is the same today.

[Berry Cool]

8. I can't speak from personal experience, but I also don't imagine that

taking an AIDS "cocktail" every day of your life is tons of fun. And my understanding is that the drugs are expensive as hell.

This, of course, is assuming they actually work for you. For some people, they don't.

In any case, this is hardly the cure one could hope for. It's like breast cancer. Even if you get rid of the cancer, it can always recur--the chances of recurrence may be high or low, depending on what type it is. They can't really declare you cured of breast cancer until something else kills you first.

[happyslug]

9. Sounds like a return to the 1980s....

In the 1980s NO ONE WAS DIEING OF AIDS, Doctors would put down almost anything other than AIDS as the cause of death (Liberace and other famous Gay men had various causes of Death put on their Death Certificates, any EXCEPT AIDS). This became so bad that a joke was making the rounds about the situation. The joke went this way:

"Did you hear that Liberace did not die of AIDS? No he died of Food Poisoning, he had a bad weiner".

Jokes like this and the reports on the massive level of Cover-up forced the Heath Departments to crack down on Doctors and Death Certificates, but I see the pressure to shirt the truth on Death Certificates is now back in style. To do any good Death Certificates HAVE TO BE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE, for the simple reason we need good numbers on how this disease is spreading and causing problems. Bad Death certificates leads to bad statistics which lead to bad public policy on how to handle AIDS. We need to raise a stink about this problem, are these people dieing of a disease do to being made weak by AIDS, or are their dieing of completely unrelated causes. These Statistics imply the later, but I fear the change has more to do with Doctors wanting to appease family members than any change in what is killing these people.

[nealmhughes]

10. The story's headline is misleading as well as the presumption that HIV

itself, per se, kills one. What killed one in the Early Plague Years was the horrid massive doses of pure AZT that caused one to become a living skeleton, the Karposi Sarcoma, the PCP and other pneumonias.

HAART has stopped most of that: if you live in North America or Europe or Japan or Australia/New Zealand. One rarely sees cases of PCP or AIDS wasting syndrome or AIDS related dementia (its own syndrome) in US or European hospitals that one did in say, 1995. However, a large untreated HIV load can cause sudden stroke, brain lesions and wasting until HAART begins to reverse these effects. Stroke, of course cannot be reversed.

The viral load begins to fall exponentially, but the immune level raises in an arithmetic rate. I began HAART in January 2005 with an HIV level of 150,000 and a CD4 level of 85. By six months, my VL was <50, or "nondetectable" and my CD4 had risen to nearly 300.

Unfortunately, I had a sudden stroke from a completely blocked left carotid artery in February and it has taken me months to relearn to type/shave/write/other basic things as I am right handed. I still cannot hold much weight in my right hand, but am building up my left.

I have lesions on my brain from the former massive HIV levels I had and this caused dementia and short term memory loss. I have to write down passwords, bookmark websites, write down all telephone numbes, etc. even though I can still conjugate all the obscure French and Spanish verbs and remember everything prior to the fall of 2004 as well as I can spell my own name, but I may not remember a new acquaintance's name or the word for an object...

My personality has not changed, except that I have become intensely political rather than "culturally vaguely leftish." I don't care about anything beyond my family, my dogs, my friends and my former students and professors -- besides blogging and working for PDA. My life has taken on a new urgency to see a decent Congress and President in office as rapidly as I can, to try to convince the government not to cut my drugs and someone to hire me as an academic librarian. Right now I cannot get SSDI, and am an incredibly complicated appeal process. The admin law judge ruled me 51% capable to work -- as a WalMart greeter or a photo finisher. I burst into tears when he told me that: I reminded him I had 2 masters degrees, one research and one professional, was on fellowship for 4 years in grad school and had a solid teaching and professional background, was a six year Navy vet who ran a reactor on a submarine, etc. and who wanted a one armed Modern Day Leper without a Helper Monkey or walker to demonstrate their diversity? No answer. Humiliation. No SSDI. No Medicaid or Medicare. Free drugs and food from Uncle Lyndon's food stamps. I only have a roof over my head because my family took me in to their home.

I sometimes don't want to get out of bed or ever drink water or eat a bite again, like some sort of modern day Cathar, but then I see how much work there is to do out there...and a dog barks and a bird sings. And I have it good in the USA! At least I have meds and food, but have to ask my mom to buy me toilet paper, soap, or for $5 to get a hamburger with my rare friends' outings with me. Imagine life in Africa? Lying on a rug, covered with flies waiting to die.

The government treats one with HIV as if we were pariahs, the general public are frightened of contact and potential employers of purple splotches and sunken cheeks (like this Reuters article seems to suggest) instead of people in the prime of their life who are ready, willing and able to work, to contribute, to have a life. People in Africa and most of Asia don't have even a hope of any of the above.

This is the cruelest disease of them all: it takes the vitality of people in our youth and expects us to sit and wait for the trumpets to sound...even if we are very much alive, and healthy overall. Oh well, hell awaits us, evidently, so why bother? Well, to hell with hell and the right wing corporate Talibangelists!

Why do we spend all this money on deadly toys for the Pentagon when a large population who are capable to be brought back to the humanfold await a few simple things: medicine and jobs?