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Second-line drugs for PLHAS from September

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Second-line drug free to combat AIDS

27 Jun 2008, 0356 hrs IST, Kounteya Sinha,TNN

NEW DELHI: There's some cheer for HIV patients who have become

resistant to the first-line anti-retroviral therapy (ART) - the only

known treatment that suppresses the HIV virus.

The National AIDS Control Board (NACB), headed by health secretary

Naresh Dayal, in its meeting on June 11, decided to roll out life-

saving second-line ART drugs free to HIV patients in Delhi, Kolkata,

Ahmedabad and Hyderabad from September.

The hospitals identified to provide the treatment include Maulana

Azad Medical College (Delhi), Gandhi Hospital (Hyderabad), School of

Tropical Medicine (Kolkata) and B J Medical College (Ahmedabad).

NACB also cleared four states - Manipur, Karnataka, Chandigarh and

Uttar Pradesh - where second-line drugs will be rolled out from

December. Experts from these eight ART centres are being taken by the

WHO to Thailand to study operational issues relating to second-line

therapy.

The National AIDS Control Organisation targets to put 3,000 such

first-line ART-resistant HIV patients on second-line treatment by the

end of 2008. India rolled out second-line therapy for the first time

early this year. The announcement was made by health minister A

Ramadoss on World AIDS Day on December 1.

As a pilot project, two centres - Mumbai's J J Hospital and Chennai's

Tambaram ART centre - rolled out the treatment from January. Nearly

200 patients were evaluated by an expert panel and 110 were found to

be eligible for second-line treatment with low CD4 count and high

viral load.

At present, 79 HIV patients are on second-line treatment in these two

centres while the rest are being counselled. Speaking to TOI, Dr B B

Rewari, Naco's national programme officer (ART), said, " Three rounds

of counselling are mandatory for all HIV patients being put on second-

line therapy under which patients have to consume seven tablets a day

instead of two when they were on first-line drugs. They also

experience more side-effects like nausea, vomiting and loss of

appetite. We want to be sure the patient will adhere to the treatment

regimen. "

Naco estimates that at least 3% of patients undergoing first-line

therapy would have become resistant to first-line drugs, mainly due

to poor adherence to the treatment regimen. If not put on second-line

immediately, most of these patients would die within a few years.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/Second-

line_drugs_free_to_combat_AIDS/articleshow/3170106.cms

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