Health experts look to new weapons to battle AIDS

[Guest guest]

Health experts look to new weapons to battle AIDS By Maggie Fox,

Health and Science Correspondent

Tue Aug 15, 6:56 PM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Many new tools could join condoms and counseling

programs in preventing AIDS, but not enough is being done to prove

they work and then get them to the people who need them most, experts

told the International Conference on AIDS on Tuesday.

Although circumcision, antiviral creams or gels and diaphragms can

all help combat the spread of the deadly disease, the ultimate goal

of a vaccine is still far away.

" An AIDS vaccine is the only tool that can end the pandemic, " said

Dr. Seth Berkley of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

" All evidence suggests that a vaccine is possible. There is progress

being made. It's slow but it's steady. "

In the meantime, every prevention method possible needs to be used,

according to the report by the Global HIV Prevention Working

Group, whose members work at the World Health Organization,

the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the European

Commission, the World Bank and elsewhere.

" Only one in five people have access to the things we have available

today. While we continue to look for new approaches, there is a lot

more that we can do today, " said Dr. Helene Gayle of the aid group

CARE and an organizer of the AIDS conference. That includes condoms

and counseling.

One obstacle: a lack of health-care workers to test and treat HIV

patients, and to counsel people on ways to protect themselves.

Trained workers are hired away by richer nations desperate for their

skills while many in the most affected countries themselves succumb

to AIDS, according to a WHO report.

While good progress has been made getting treatment to adults with

HIV -- 1.3 million people in developing countries -- Medecins Sans

Frontieres said only 5 percent of the 660,000 young children in

urgent need of treatment were receiving it.

The United Nations AIDS agency UNAIDS estimates that

$11.4 billion will be needed annually for HIV prevention by 2008,

more than twice what is now spent.

The AIDS virus infects more than 39 million people globally, more

than 60 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. It kills more than 4

million people every year.

LITTLE PLANNING

" Despite the fact that some new HIV prevention methods could be shown

to be effective in the near future, virtually no planning or

resources have been dedicated to ensuring future access to new

prevention approaches, " says the report from the Global HIV working

group.

They include:

-- Circumcision: A study in South Africa showed circumcised men were

60 percent less likely than uncircumcised men to become infected with

HIV from female partners. The foreskin of the penis contains many of

the cells HIV can easily infect.

-- Cervical barriers: Diaphragms and similar birth control methods

might block the virus from reaching the cervix, which in women is the

area most susceptible to the virus.

-- Pre-exposure prophylaxis. Research in animals suggests taking one

or two HIV drugs a day could protect people at high risk of infection.

-- Herpes suppression: The herpes virus, which infects up to 70

percent of people in some areas, creates lesions that make HIV easier

to acquire and transmit, but can be suppressed with several antiviral

drugs.

-- Microbicides: A gel or cream, perhaps containing an HIV drug,

could be applied to the vagina or rectum to reduce HIV transmission.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton told the meeting much

progress had been made in beating down the price of HIV treatments

and getting them to the people who need them most.

Four years ago, Clinton said, a course of treatment with generic

versions of first-line HIV drugs cost $400 a year. " We were able to

lower this price to just $140 a person a year, " Clinton said.

And leaders who had refused to recognize the extent of the AIDS

problem have signed on to fight it, he added. " China, once in a state

of denial, deserves all of our respect for turning on a dime and

recognizing the problem, " Clinton said.

He also praised Pakistan. " They deserve a big pat on the back for

saying Islam does not require denial in dealing with AIDS, " he said.

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