Biomedical subjects

B Grodeck

Publications and source records attributed to B Grodeck.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

On the herpes front.

The virus that causes genital herpes affects 20 percent of the World's population. Among people with HIV, the incidence may be as high as 90 percent. All herpes viruses are formal candidates for the cofactor effect promoting HIV infection. People with unrecognized disease may account for many new cases. Only 20 percent of herpes seropositive persons recognize their herpes symptoms, 60 percent have unrecognized symptomatic disease, and 20 percent have subclinical, asymptomatic shedding of virus. Acyclovir shows promise of being effective in reducing herpes transmission, however, people with herpes should abstain from all sexual activity during symptomatic outbreaks, and at all other times use some sort of barrier protection. Acyclovir, in combination with AZT, is associated with survival benefits for people with AIDS, but new generations of antivirals may prove more effective in treating herpes. A post-infection vaccine, several of which are in development, may be even more promising.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

PubMedDate not supplied

AZT plus 3TC produces best results to date.

According to two European clinical trials, antiretroviral therapy with AZT and lamivudine (3TC) shows long-lasting improvements in surrogate markers such as T-cell counts and viral load compared to any combination therapy studied to date. The studies assessed only laboratory markers of HIV disease and not clinical endpoints. In the French study, 129 patients who have never received antiretroviral therapy were examined in a 48-week study. Patients receiving the combination gained T-cells over baseline values in comparison to patients receiving only AZT, who lost cells. However, patients who switched to the combination showed an increase of cells above baseline values. A German study tested the combination in 223 patients with previous long-term AZT use. Patients receiving the combination gained cells above baseline values; those taking only AZT declined an average of 27 cells below baseline. The data from these studies is also noteworthy because patients tolerated the therapy well and the effects persisted throughout the study.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Triple combination superior to double combination.

Patients taking a triple combination of AZT, ddI, and nevirapine appear to have better surrogate markers than those taking the double combination of AZT and ddI, according to 241 AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) researchers. The triple combination resulted in a 40 percent increase in T-cells over baseline, which persisted through 40 weeks of the study. The triple combination also produced greater decreases in the viral load. Although the trial was not designed to evaluate clinical endpoints, there appeared to be no difference in clinical endpoints except in patients with fewer than 50 T-cells or where there was a trend toward fewer clinical endpoints with the triple combination. Nevirapine, an investigational nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase, is available only through clinical trials.

Antiviral Agents↗

PubMedDate not supplied