AIDSWEEKLY Plus, Monday, December 1, 1997 issue.
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
There have been no new or recurrent Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) infections - so far - in a group of HIV infected patients who stopped their PCP prophylaxis after responding to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
The scientific debate continues over whether increased T-cell counts in HAART patients means that their immune systems have regained the ability to resist opportunistic infections.
Meanwhile, a group of patients at University Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands, are seeing for themselves.
"During the study period, no episodes of PCP have occurred," reported M.M.E. Schneider. "However, the median duration of follow-up was too short to make a final recommendation."
Schneider reported preliminary study findings in a late-breaker session of the American Society for Microbiology's 37th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), held September 28 to October 1, 1997, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
At the time of the report, the 50 patients in the study had discontinued PCP prophylaxis for a median 3.9 months (mean, 6.4 months; range, 0.4 to 30.5 months). Ten of the patients were receiving secondary PCP prophylaxis after a first episode of the disease.
Patients with HIV disease are generally considered at risk for PCP when their T-cell counts drop below 200 cells/(micro)L. All of the patients in the study had at least a 200 cells/(micro)L increase in their CD4 counts after beginning combination antiretroviral therapy including protease inhibitors. The patients' median nadir CD4 count had been 89 (range, 13 to 193) cells/(micro)L.
Forty of the patients had achieved undetectable viral loads after beginning HAART (including three patients on secondary prophylaxis); the other 10 patients had viral loads not greater than 15,000 HIV RNA copies/mL.
The study did not exclude patients with prior antiretroviral therapy. Indeed, only 11 of the participants had never received such treatment.
The empirical study continues to accrue and follow patients.
Copyright (c) 1997 - Charles Henderson, Publisher. Published by Charles Henderson, Publisher. Editorial & Publishing Office: P.O. Box 5528, Atlanta, GA 30307-0528 / Telephone: (800) 633-4931; Subscription Office: P.O. Box 830409, Birmingham, AL 35283-0409 / FAX: (205) 995-1588 All rights Reserved. Permission to reproduce granted to AEGIS by Charles W. Henderson. Authorization to reproduce for personal use granted granted by C. W. Henderson, Publisher, provided that the fee of US$4.50 per copy, per page is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970, USA.
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Copyright © 1997 - Charles Henderson, Publisher. All rights Reserved. Permission to reproduce granted to AEGIS by Charles W. Henderson. Authorization to reproduce for personal use granted granted by C. W. Henderson, Publisher, provided that the fee of US$4.50 per copy, per page is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970, USA.
Published by Charles Henderson, Publisher. Editorial & Publishing Office: P.O. Box 5528, Atlanta, GA 30307-0528 / Telephone: (800) 633-4931; Subscription Office: P.O. Box 830409, Birmingham, AL 35283-0409 / FAX: (205) 995-1588 http://www.newsfile.com
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