Cheap Antibiotic Works Well with HIV Children

[leftchick]

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=6868251

~snip~

LONDON (Reuters) - A low-cost antibiotic which has performed well in tests should be given to all HIV children in developing countries to prevent infections such as pneumonia and reduce deaths, scientists said on Friday.
Dr. Diana Gibb of Britain's Medical Research Council said a trial involving HIV-infected children in Zambia was stopped early because it was so successful.

A daily dose of the drug co-trimoxazole nearly halved the death rate in youngsters taking it compared to those given a placebo.

"We believe that our results can be generalized to a policy that could be applied universally to children with clinical features of HIV infection in Africa and elsewhere," Gibb said.

.....and you know the chimp* won't fund this because the drug is "low cost"! :grr:

[sui generis]

1. unfortunately giving a drug like that requires rigorous

financial commitment as well as a strict adherence to taking it. Any human who is consistently exposed to a pathogen, particularly pathogens that impact the respiratory system while taking an antibiotic improperly can help develop anti-biotic resistant strains, and respiratory pathogens are the easiest to spread through aerosols from coughing and sneezing.

It needs to be done of course, but it needs to be done right so that it is effective, and that requires serious commitment and forethought.

[Avalux]

4. While you are correct

this scenario is a bit different so the rules of antibiotic resistance don't really apply. Pneumocystis carnii pneumonia is caused by fungus, not bacteria. It is the most common opportunistic infection individuals with HIV-weakened immune systems can get and it can be fatal. A healthy individual will not contract this disease since the immune system can successfully fight it off when exposed.
A maintenance dose of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole once every M/W/F is adequate to protect - perhaps for years. The key here is prevention as this disease is almost totally preventable.

[WildClarySage]

5. (This isn't what I'm hearing YOU say, but what I've heard others say)

It smacks of ethnocentrism (and worse) when I hear people say that it is ineffective to give AIDS medications to HIV positive Africans because they won't follow the regimens these drugs require. As if Africans are too lazy, or too uncivilized, to make proper use of life-saving drugs. Behind it, I suspect, is the value that Africans by virtue of not being white, don't deserve them.

[Avalux]

6. Yep

As if they are some group of animals who can't be taught properly. The mindset of "civilized" folk is appalling.

The people who think this way don't understand that one of those African children, if given the proper environment, might cure HIV someday.

[Avalux]

2. Sad isn't it?

This drug (or combination of drugs - trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole) - has been around for ages and HIV-positive adults already take it to prevent pneumonia (pneumocystis carinii). Now it's been shown to be just as effective in children.
It's VERY inexpensive - drug companies don't make a profit therefore the chimp won't fund it.
The pharmaceutical companies are in control here. Bottom line is MONEY. Saving children's lives means nothing.

[leftchick]

3. yes indeed...

the pro-life pres... :puke:

[SoCalDem]

7. The pro-life pres.. does not care about HIV infected Africans

adult or child..

It works to the advantage of the rightwing "domination theory" if a LARGE group of the population dies..they younger the better so that they do not reproduce before they die..

Africa has lots of natural (unexploited) resources that the PNACers are salivating to get control of..

The only thing standing in the way.. the pesky people who live there and who "need" things.

An AIDS pandemic solves their "problem" perfectly. Untreated, it kills rapidly, and orphaned children have little chance of survival, so in a generation, the population of some of the richest areas of Africa are just witing to be plucked like feathers on a dead chicken.

The pity is that those resources should be used right now to enrich the poor countries of Africa, but because of politics, the wealth is all being funneled into corrupt corporate raiders and the even more corrupt leaders who the US supports.

[Trillo]

8. If this drug works so well,

why shouldn't it be given to ALL HIV children in ANY country?

Why does this article's first sentence say given to all HIV children in developing countries?

More PsyOps?

Edit: typos

[Avalux]

9. Here's the thing -

If HIV infection is controlled with medication and the immune system remains intact, then adults and children alike are not succeptible to this pneumonia. African children do not receive proper treatment with antiretrovirals in the first place, their immune systems become compromised (AIDS) and they get pneumonia. Trimethoprim/sulfamethazole is really just a finger in the dyke. The real fight is getting these people proper antiretroviral treatment.

[Trillo]

10. So children in developed countries

already receive this drug?

[Avalux]

11. If they need it

but most don't because they have the means to be treated with an expensive antiretroviral combination for their HIV infection. The kids in Africa don't have that opportunity - that's why they need this drug, to fend off pneumonia once their immune system is destroyed.