AIDS alarm hits Hub

[JulianLondon]

Just reported in the Boston Herald - worrying new development?

 

In an emerging public-health threat, Massachusetts doctors are seeing HIV patients whose high resistance to drug treatment is similar to a New York City case that has sparked widespread concern among disease experts.

 

``There is global concern that there may be an increasing amount of patients who have a (drug)-resistant virus,'' said Dr. Gregory Robbins, an infectious-disease expert at Massachusetts General Hospital.

 

Robbins said doctors at Mass General have treated several HIV patients in recent years with early resistance to two of the four most commonly prescribed drugs used to treat infection.

 

 

 

Concern about the threat of drug resistance spiked last week with the discovery of an HIV patient in New York with immediate resistance to three classes of HIV drugs. The man's infection progressed to AIDS within three months.

 

It is unclear whether the man's case marks the presence of new strain of the HIV virus, but public-health officials nationwide are closely monitoring the case to determine the extent of the threat. The victim had had unprotected sex with hundreds of men.

 

``This isolated instance is a wakeup call to show where resistance is going and why we need to make sure people don't get HIV infections in the first place,'' said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, director of communicable disease control for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

 

DeMaria said state health officials, long concerned about expanding resistance to HIV treatments, are launching a study to examine resistance patterns in newly diagnosed patients.

 

One of the issues doctors are examining is the connection between drug use - specifically methampetamine abuse - and patients diagnosed with highly resistant strains of HIV.

 

The New York City man, who has not been identified, had been having sex with other men often while using methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

I'm not sure I see anything new here. Nor have I seen any change of late in the Hub Alarm level beyond news of the new NY strain. This article seems to be just restating the local status quo along with a mention of the NY case. I suspect the Herald is just trying to fill its columns with startling article banners to hawk sales. The Herald has something of an 'ambulance chaser' image. In this case, excitement by association is the best they could do.

 

Now our other paper... that's a winner too. x(