Treatment-Resistant
AIDS
Spreading,
Bolstering
Case
for
Syringe
Exchange
7/2/98
A report released this week (7/1) at the 12th International AIDS Conference in Geneva said that new strains of the AIDS virus have appeared which are resistant to protease inhibitors as well as to medications such as AZT. "We are seeing the emerging edge of a new aspect of the epidemic," proclaimed Dr. Frederick Hecht of the University of California. Ever since the development of protease inhibitor therapy, researchers have worried that patients who miss even a few doses on their strict medication regimen would face the possibility of the emergence of a mutated virus, resistant to all known treatments. Many believed, however that such viruses might not replicate or be transmitted as easily. The report issued this week indicates that this is likely not the case. Keith Cylar, founder and co-executive director of Housing Works, a New York City AIDS and harm reduction service provider, told The Week Online, "This report underscores the absolute necessity of stopping the spread of this disease through proven strategies like education and syringe exchange. It is just incomprehensible to me that in this day and age, there are cities and states where syringe exchange is still illegal. There are politicians, elected leaders like Governor Whitman in New Jersey, who talk about what message we send by allowing syringe exchange. Well, exactly what message are we sending when we fail to take adequate steps to insure the public health, the lives of citizens? Truly, truly, I don't know how some people live with themselves." Dawn Day, director of the Dogwood Center in Princeton, New Jersey, and author of the "Health Emergency" AIDS Report told The Week Online, "The human tragedy is that the findings of this report will likely be used to justify the withholding of treatment to the addicted and other drug users. There has always been a sense among the AIDS treatment community that they cannot hold to complex regimens of medication. Before this report, the fear of the development and spread of untreatable strains was hypothetical, but now that has been reinforced. This information is another reason why it is imperative to stop the spread of this disease among that population."
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