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Health

Future of drug-free AIDS treatment is uncertain

Patient
Deal took 31 pills a day for three years. He is now off anti-HIV drugs after his virus levels fell to extremely low levels.  
February 4, 1999
Web posted at: 6:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT)

From Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen

CHICAGO (CNN) -- More and more patients are trying to get off powerful anti-HIV drugs. But the drug-free future they face is uncertain and untested.

Although the array of drugs available to patients infected with the HIV virus has helped to cut the number of AIDS deaths across the country, the drugs are also toxic.

"These are chemotherapy-like agents," said internist Bruce Rashbaum. "They can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, abdominal distress and diarrhea."

Patient Mark Deal has been off his anti-HIV drugs for about a month. He stopped taking his medication after his virus levels fell to extremely low levels.

"I was recently taking 31 pills a day. That had been for the past three years," Deal said.

There are no studies on the safety of stopping the drugs. The question is: can someone stop therapy and have the virus remain in that low a state of existence?

 MORE CONFERENCE NEWS:
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  • AIDS activist Mary Fisher ends anti-HIV treatments
  • Drug combinations changing the face of pediatric AIDS
  • AIDS virus came from chimps, doctors conclude
  • This week at the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Dr. Franco Lori of the RIGHT Institute, reported on the so-called "Berlin" patient, a German man who went on and off drugs several times and then two years ago, quit completely.

    "He's doing very well," Lori said. "He is perfectly fine clinically."

    At the conference, doctors reported on several attempts to take people off such drugs. Some have worked, and others have not.

    Doctors hope that going on and off the medicines will boost the immune system so it can fight the virus on its own without any drugs.

    "So the enthusiasm and excitement is there," Lori said. "It's a new way to see therapy for HIV."

    But doctors are quick to add that patients should not go off medications without first talking to their physicians.

    Both Mark Deal and the Berlin patient are in carefully controlled clinical trials.

    "We are not ready to recommend this [no-drug regime] to patients, and I think most patients who try to embark on this are going to be disappointed," said Dr. Douglas Richman of the University of California at San Diego.

    Currently, several studies are underway to try to figure out who should go off such therapy and exactly how it should be done.


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    June 30, 1998

    RELATED SITES:
    6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections
    University of California at San Diego
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    'Kitchen sink' therapy last resort for some HIV patients - February 3, 1999
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