New Studies Back Use of Anti-HIV Retrovirals in Africa

Two news studies have confirmed the stunning effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs in Africa, dealing a blow to critics who claim the continent is ill-equipped to administer the powerful AIDS treatments. The research, reported at the AIDS conference underway in Burkina Faso, strongly backs the usefulness of the AIDS drug cocktails that are common in rich countries but have so far reached only a tiny number of people in Africa, which bears the brunt of the global pandemic.

One study was carried out in Senegal by a Franco-Senegalese team coordinated by Ibrahim N'Doye of the Senegalese National Committee for the Fight Against AIDS, and Eric Delaporte of France's Institute for Research in Development. The researchers enrolled 58 people in a 22-month course of treatment between 1998 and 2000 involving a classic regime of three HIV-inhibiting drugs taken three times daily. The patients had high rates of HIV infection, and 85 percent had already developed AIDS. Virus levels plunged from 100,000 copies per milliliter of blood on average to fewer than 500, and CD4 white blood cells rose on average from 100 per cubic millimeter to 179. Few patients reported negative side effects, and only two showed resistance to the drugs. And a very high portion -- 88 percent -- complied fully with the drug-taking regime throughout the trial.

"This has demonstrated the feasibility of access to treatment in an African context as well as the effectiveness and tolerance of these drugs," said Delaporte, adding that the next stage was to widen the project to include large numbers of volunteers.

A French-Ivorian study, also reported on Tuesday, examined 717 Ivory Coast volunteers with low CD4 counts and compared outcomes of those on antiretrovirals to those who were not. Eighty-five percent of those in the drug group were alive after one year, compared to only 40 percent of the non-drug group.

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