World AIDS day falls on December 1 :

AIDS discrimination hampers HIV detection

by Nilma DOLE

"When we see the discrimination and social stigma that comes with the plight of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) victims, do we ever want to check and see if we have been affected by the HIV(human immunodeficiency virus)? asks President of the Sri Lanka College of Venereologists Dr. G. Weerasinghe. "Instead of facing a society that isn't merciful to AIDS victims, people continue to indulge in risky behaviour and often know that they could be at risk of AIDS but don't check themselves making them potentially dangerous to others," he said.Moreover, sex education is still a taboo in Sri Lanka with conservative culture encouraging abstinence until marriage but this isn't the case in modern society. It's not easy to prevent many youth from experimenting with sex and doing things without any proper knowledge and it is the duty of parents to protect their children from the dangers of AIDS and STDs (sexually-transmitted diseases) by informing and guiding them properly. Isn't it better to overcome the taboo of talking about sex to protect your children instead of finding out they have the disease and are shunned by society?

Speaking to the Sunday Observer about the spread of AIDS in Sri Lanka, Dr. Weerasinghe explained that it is estimated that there are 3000 people living with HIV. "From the end of the last year, we had 1196 AIDS cases detected which increased to 1285 which was detected in the third quarter of this year (September 2010)," said the doctor.

He said that they are already working with sex workers who come to the clinics to get their free condoms but people still have misconceptions. "Often some partners think that their lovers don't trust them with the use of a condom and there are issues where the police have used condoms as a motive to arrest sex workers who engage in prostitution," said Dr.Weerasinghe. He said,"We have to diversify our education and awareness programs because we can't reach the upper class society of Sri Lanka who know about the risks but don't take any preventive measures due to a fast-paced and glamorous lifestyle," he said. At present, the main centre for NSACP (National STD and AIDS Control Programme) is located at 29, De Saram Place, Colombo 7 while there are 29 clinics around the country with 19 partner clinics to do HIV testing. "The AIDS tests done in the public sector with the NSACP are 100 percent free of charge and 100 percent confidentiality guaranteed," said the doctor. However, many don't use the benefit of the services until they detect the disease very much later in life. "The problem with AIDS is that the victim can lead a perfectly normal life as the first signs of HIV virus multiplication begins in about seven years but it takes a good 10 to 15 years for symptoms to really show," he said.

Talking about the implications of the disease itself, the doctor said,"The problem is that AIDS is a series of diseases that weakens the human immune system and takes a long time to affect the patient. However, it can multiply up to billions of copies of its virus so it's important to treat the patient with drugs to stop the multiplication of the disease without it affecting the rest of the patient's body." After the treatment period with these drugs, there is a six to nine month gap where one can't detect the HIV due to various reasons. "There is only so little the treatment can do and prevented from taking over the body so observation and honesty from the patient's side is vital in treating AIDS," he said. There are only five places where antiretroviral drugs are available - Colombo, Colombo-North, IDH, Colombo-South and Kandy. "Sadly, we need specialists to administer the antiretroviral drugs so we're training our doctors to help these patients," said Dr.Weerasinghe.

The doctor-patient relationship fosters understanding where the AIDS patient should disclose the fact that they have HIV to their immediate partners who they can trust and who they think could be infected. "We ask the patients to disclose the fact that they have HIV but we don't push them. But if someone knows they have AIDS and purposely doesn't tell the other person and transmits the virus to them, the other party can file a lawsuit against them which can be upsetting for both parties," said the doctor.An AIDS patient gets special treatment for any of the concurrent diseases that occur when AIDS takes its toll on them. "The availability of antiretroviral therapy was done free of charge since December 2004 and our doctors personally accompany AIDS patients to get the services because they are not to be discriminated," he said. The good news is that if an AIDS patient is pregnant and is at risk of transmitting the HIV virus to her baby, Sri Lanka's medical (public and private) facilities can prevent the baby from contracting the virus. "We have special measures to ensure that the mother's blood and the baby's blood are not mixed and we get an alternative way of giving milk to the baby because of the risk of the baby getting HIV," said the doctor. It has been reported that an estimated 35 children are living with HIV in Sri Lanka and 46 cases have been detected which has resulted in some deaths.

According to Dr.Weerasinghe, the international theme for AIDS this time is 'Universal access and human rights' which focuses on reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. "The protection of human rights is fundamental to combating the global HIV and AIDS epidemic and everyone should be responsible for helping and treating AIDS patients without discrimination," said Dr. Weerasinghe.

A special AIDS walk and discussion will be held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on December 1 and banners and leaflets will spread the message of checking yourself for AIDS. So do yourself a favour and save not only your life, but someone else's as well by checking if you have HIV or not.

Peanuts during pregnancy may lead to later allergy

The children of mothers who eat a lot of peanuts while pregnant may be at an increased risk of developing an allergy to the nut - and the more peanuts the mothers ate, the greater the chances, a study found.

But it still is not yet clear if a mother's consumption of peanuts can actually cause the serious and potentially fatal allergy that appears to be on the rise, currently affecting about 1 percent of children. Scott Sicherer of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and a team of colleagues at five locations across the United States studied more than 500 infants between 3 and 15 months old who likely had a milk or egg allergy but not known peanut allergy. Most had not yet tried to eat peanuts.The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that more than a quarter displayed a strong reaction in a peanut "sensitivity" test, with children of mothers who had consumed peanuts during pregnancy having nearly three times the odds of showing this potential indication of an allergy.

The more peanuts a woman ate while pregnant, the greater her child's chance of a positive test - although consuming peanuts while breast-feeding did not appear to have a significant impact.

Reuters

'Air pollution, low birth-weight also cause diabetes'

by Jaya Shroff BHALLA

"While bad lifestyle and poor eating habits are major causes for diabetes, air pollution, low birth weight babies, protein malnutrition in the mother have also been identified as causes for the disease," said Dr. Edward S. Horton, professor at Harvard Medical School and head of the section on clinical research of Joslin Diabetes.

Wasim Akram

Experts on diabetes speaking at the HT leadership summit on Friday expressed their worries on diabetes fast gaining pandemic proportions- as they quoted predictions which said by year 2025, diabetes is expected to affect 333 million people worldwide.

"In 2000, there were about 194 million people living with diabetes worldwide but in 2003 it was predicted that the figures would rise to 333 million diabetics by 2025-a hike of almost 72 per cent," said Dr Horton.

"Diabetes is a dual epidemic as it also comes with the burden of obesity," he said. Experts also said that the spread could be prevented only with changes in lifestyle. "Studies on diabetes risk reduction have shown 58 per cent efficiency with changes in lifestyle and only 31 per cent by use of metformin (medication)," said Horton.

"Both exercise and diet control are equally important if one wants to reduce diabetes and associated complications like hypertension and heart attacks," said Dr. Anoop Misra, director of department of diabetes and metabolic diseases at Fortis Hospital, New Delhi. Dr Misra has been instrumental in defining new guidelines for physical activity for the Indian population. He stressed on the need for one hour of daily physical exercise as a measure to tame the disease of the pancreas.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan cricket captain who was diagnosed with type-I diabetes in 2003, when he was at the prime of his career also shared his experiences of living with diabetes. "I went on to take 250 one-day wickets and 200 test match wickets after being diagnosed with the disease. I was successful only because I was particular about my eating as well as exercising habits," said Akram.

"Although I was taking three insulin jabs a day, it did not prevent me from doing my regular exercises.

"In fact I broke the myth, that if you are a diabetic you get tired easily as I was working out a lot more than my team mates to stay fit," he said.

-Hindustan Times

HIV pill heralds new era in fight against AIDS

by Jeremy LAURANCE

Scientists announced last week the first anti-HIV pill to provide effective protection against the disease that affects 33 million people globally.

Gay men at extremely high risk of HIV who took the oral pill daily cut their risk of contracting the infection by almost 44 per cent. Aids organisations and researchers said it heralded a new era of Aids prevention. After the failure of almost 30 large-scale trials of protective therapies, recent positive results for an Aids vaccine and for a microbicidal gel suggest progress. "This discovery alters the HIV prevention landscape for ever," said Jim Pickett of the Aids Foundation of Chicago. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases - which provided two thirds of the $43.6m (£27.6m) cost of the study - said: "The results are extremely important." Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, said the trial opened "exciting new prospects".

Almost 2,500 men from the US, South Africa, Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru took part in the study. They were highly sexually-active, reporting an average of 18 partners over 12 weeks, with 60 per cent saying they had receptive, unprotected anal intercourse during that time, the riskiest sexual activity for HIV.

Half the men took the pill, called Truvada, containing an antiretroviral medicine, amongst whom there were 36 infections after 14 months. There were 64 infections among those who took a placebo, amounting to a 43.8 per cent reduction with Truvada. All the men received regular advice about how to reduce their risks, a supply of condoms and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. Kevin O'Reilly, an HIV prevention specialist at WHO, said the results were "somewhat weaker than had been hoped". Many of the men did not take the drug regularly and protection was highest in those who had the most consistent use.

He said side-effects were minor and compared the treatment to the use of oral contraceptives by women.

"It is only one ARV and the most easily tolerated compared with three taken by people who are HIV-positive and on treatment. Its safety has been very well studied." The preventive strategy is also being trialled in heterosexuals in Africa and injecting drug users in Thailand and the results are expected next year.

The Independent