Estimated Aids related deaths in South Africa:1 641 218 at noon on Tuesday,December 13, 2005.
Think zinc: Adding zinc to the diets of HIV-positive children helps protect them, researchers report.
The South African scientists say zinc supplements are a safe, simple and cost-effective way to reduce illnesses such as diarrhoea, a major cause of death in poor communities.
Until now there had been fears that the virus would thrive on zinc. ‘The HIV virus needs zinc for its structure and function,” says William Moss of the United States-based Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. ‘We were worried that giving zinc to children with HIV could enhance the virus’s replication.”
The study was carried out in children with HIV because they are most at risk from opportunistic diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The trial, published in the medical journal Lancet, involved 96 South African children aged between six months and five years. They were randomly given either 10mg of zinc sulphate or a placebo for six months.
The levels of HIV in children receiving zinc did not rise, indicating the supplements are safe, say the researchers.
Source: SciDev.Net
Estimated Aids-related deaths in SA: 1 635 526 at noon on December 7 2005
India under fire: India’s Health Minister, Ambumani Ramadoss, has described his own country’s main Aids body as ‘visionless”.
India, which reported its first case in 1986, now has more than five-million people infected with HIV.
In addition, a report criticising the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has been published by the Indian Network of Positive People, accusing the authorities of inadequately enforcing guidelines, critical gaps in treatment and no links between tuberculosis and HIV programmes.
The report also said that India’s patent laws, amended this year to comply with World Trade Organisation requirements, made it difficult to increase the production of generic drugs.
According to Health Ministry officials, India is providing free medication to 15 000 HIV patients. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 770 000 people need the drugs. — SciDev.Net
Lack of Aids drugs in Swaziland: A group of HIV-positive Swazis is considering taking the government to court for an alleged erratic supply of anti-retrovirals (ARVs), but officials insist that the lack of drugs is a matter of perception rather than reality.
‘Government should prepare itself for a lawsuit,” said Hannie Dlamini, secretary of a five-man committee tasked by the group to challenge the government on the country’s ARV distribution.
The yet-to-be-named organisation of ARV users, formed recently, has given the government until December 24 to offer a reliable drug distribution programme. If it failed to do so, the group said it would press ahead with court action, Dlamini said.
Dr Derek von Wissell, director of the National Emergency Council on HIV/Aids, said: ‘The World Health Organisation projected 13 000 people on ARVs this year; by September, we had 14 500 people on the programme, so if there were shortages it is a measure of our success.” — Irin/Plusnews
Estimated Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 628 887 at noon on November 30 2005
Bilharzia threat: Treating bilharzia can benefit people with HIV/Aids, according to researchers.
They say the finding suggests that bilharzia, often caused by people drinking or bathing in stagnant water, suppresses our ability to fight the infection. This might mean that HIV/Aids progresses faster in patients who are also infected by the worms.
Research suggests that the worm suppresses the immune system, rendering those infected vulnerable to viral infections such as HIV.
The precise extent to which bilharzia speeds the development of Aids is still unknown, the researchers say.
The irony is that although bilharzia remains responsible for illness among some 2,5-million people in South Africa, it has been overshadowed by its disease ‘cousins” malaria and HIV/Aids — and yet treating the one may well help fight the others.
Source: Priya Shetty and Christina Scott, www.scidev.net