Overselling Stem Cell Treatment Cure For HIV

German doctors claim that they have cured a patient of HIV using stem cell treatments carried out in conjunction with chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

Timothy Brown, an American living in Berlin, was given stem-cell therapy and chemotherapy in 2007 to treat leukemia, a condition that developed after he was infected with the AIDS virus.

Three years later, doctors believe the 42-year-old has been cured of both cancer and HIV.

"Our results strongly suggest that cure of HIV has been achieved in this patient," wrote study author Kristina Allers in this month's issue of the medical journal Blood.

Doctors say they treated Brown with stem cells and bone marrow from a healthy individual with a genetic predisposition to resist HIV.

Doctors believe Brown is the first person ever to be cured of HIV and say the treatment could pave the way for a new approach in fighting the virus.

The treatment was not without side effects. Brown developed neurological problems that caused temporary blindness and memory problems as well as difficulty with coordination and speech.

Dr. Gero Hutter, the lead doctor overseeing Brown's treatment, told the German magazine Stern his team has "overthrown the dogma that HIV can never be cured".

I don't think anyone thought that HIV could never be cured. This particular treatment isn't going to be the cure although it might lead to new treatment paths. The doctors had essentially killed the patients existing immune system and rebooted it with the bone marrow transplant and stem cell treatment, but that's not a feasible method of curing the disease as it is dangerous, tremendously costly and time consuming.

Doctors, including noted AIDS research Anthony Fauci, say that this particular treatment is costly and dangerous, but that it could lead to other treatment paths. Moreover, the patient is now trading one set of expensive medications for another equally expensive and dangerous set of medications - retrovirals are replaced by immuno-suppressants to prevent rejection of the donated tissues.

Headlines blaring a possible cure here are overselling the circumstances of the treatment. Headlines touting the stem cell treatment aspect are likewise overselling the nature of the treatment. It gives false hope to millions living with the disease.

San Francisco Contemplates Circumcision Ban Even As US Funds Circumcision Efforts To Curb AIDS

A San Francisco loon named Lloyd Schofield think that circumcision should be banned. He's busy circulating an anti-circumcision petition to get on the November 2011 ballot. All that's needed are just over 7,000 signatures. The proposal would also impose penalties of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail for circumcising individuals under the age of 18. He calls it genital mutilation even though it is a central Jewish tenet (bris) of God's covenant with the Jewish people. Of course, this ignores the reams of data showing that circumcisions provide health benefits including reduced infections and even has been shown to reduce the spread of AIDS.

Public health experts have seen that circumcision is a useful tool in fighting the spread of AIDS. The US is funding circumcision efforts across Africa and that includes Zimbabwe. These are circumcisions being done on an adult population when the risks for pain and complications are much higher but the benefits are notable:

Nurses unpacked one of 60,000 single-use circumcision kits allocated by USAID — forceps, disposable scalpels, needles and gauze — and administered local anesthesia while surgeon Shame Dendere exchanged cheerful banter with Marokwe.

He was told to expect minor pain after the anesthetic had worn off, to abstain from sex for six weeks and to come back three times for follow-up treatment.

The procedure complete, Marokwe dressed and headed to a bus stop to ride home, saying "I'm going to tell all my friends."

The clinic conducts more than 40 procedures a day and expects demand to grow to as many as 180 a day as word spreads.

If the program can circumcise 1.2 million Zimbabwean men by 2017, 750,000 new HIV infections can be averted, Jansen said. The organizers envisage a future stage for the program with circumcision at birth. At present more than 10 percent of Zimbabwean men are circumcised, mainly in tribal ceremonies during early childhood.

While condoms and fidelity remain essential, circumcision helps because the foreskin is more vulnerable to the AIDS virus.

According to Population Services International, an independent family planning and sexual health organization, Zimbabwe's infection rate is about 13 percent of the population, but rises above 20 percent in the 13-30 age group.

The circumcision is free, with USAID picking up most of the cost, helped by the international Population Services group and health care charities, but a nominal fee is being considered because "when something is free, there is a tendency for people not to attach any value to it," said Roy Dhlamini, a PSI social worker.

Note the part I put in bold. 750,000 AIDS cases could be averted through the circumcision campaign. That means 750,000 fewer cases that require long term medical care and life-long medication that puts a significant drain on the economy of Africa and Zimbabwe in particular.

Uganda Considering Extreme Measures For HIV Positive Homosexual Conduct

Uganda appears to be considering legislation that would provide the death penalty for those men who are HIV positive and engage in what is considered aggravated homosexual conduct.

While any attempt to reduce the spread of AIDS and HIV should be welcome, this is the absolute wrong way to approach matters. In fact, it criminalizes homosexuality and treats homosexuals. Some Americans have gotten into the fray, including pastor Rick Warren, who happened to conduct President Barack Obama's invocation during his inauguration in January.

The conservative pastor who delivered President Barack Obama's inaugural convocation address won't condemn a proposed Ugandan law that punishes homosexual acts with death.

His position is raising eyebrows, not the least of which was Newsweek, which noted his position Sunday. Warren has been supportive of a Ugandan pastor behind the legislation, Martin Ssempa, hosting him during visits to the United States at his Saddleback church.

Warren tried to distance himself from Ssempa in October, saying, "Martin Ssempa does not represent me, my wife Kay, Saddleback Church, nor the Global PEACE Plan strategy."

But this month, asked on whether he opposed a measure under which homosexual acts are punishable by life in prison or sometimes death, Warren refused to condemn the proposal.

"The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator," Warren remarked. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations."

Warren weasels out of having to take a stand on the death penalty and the treatment of homosexuals.

There are quite a few disturbing provisions within the proposed legislation:

Under current Ugandan law, homosexuality is a crime punishable by life in prison. The proposed law would not just condemn HIV positive gay men and "repeat offenders" to death, it would also jail for three years anyone who knows a gay man but refuses to report them to authorities. Further, anyone who defends in public the rights of gays and lesbians would be subjected to a seven year prison term.

This is an affront to anyone concerned about human rights.

At the same time, NPR and other sources are linking a group known as the Family to the Ugandan legislative effort. I'm not sure there is any concrete evidence on this group's operation and role, but NPR and others are allowing a writer, Jeff Sharet, to spread his theory which details the group's role in the conservative movement in the US in support of his book sales.

Dawkins Versus the Pope

It's the age old issue of whether abstinence or condom usage is the appropriate means of reducing the spread of AIDS. Richard Dawkins, a prominent biologist and an avowed athiest, is more than willing to claim that millions will die as a result of Pope Benedict's stance on condoms:

Richard Dawkins yesterday called the Pope 'stupid' for claiming that condoms have made the Aids epidemic worse.

The outspoken biologist - a prominent atheist - said that Benedict XVI would end up with the blood of millions on his hands if they took his words seriously.

On his first visit to Africa a fortnight ago, the Pope said that Aids was 'a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem'.

To play Devil's Advocate, one could also make the claim that if people abstained from sexual relations outside marriage, the incidence of AIDS would be lessened.

The real message that should be spread, both by the Church and people like Dawkins is that you need both abstinence and condom usage to reduce the spread of AIDS - preventing the disease from spreading further than it already has in decimating much of Africa. Both policies should be complementary to each other. It's not an either/or all or none solution, but a combination of the two that will help get AIDS under control.

I understand the Pope's position that as Church Doctrine, abstinence is the method to be used because they do not condone extramarital sexual relations. However, even there, the Pope and Church must take into account human frailty and weakness (sins of the flesh), and contemplate something that will ease suffering for millions.

Advocating a policy that is solely based on abstinence or condom usage isn't the right approach. One that stresses the need for abstinence, but one that suggests condom usage should you find yourself in that position, is not unreasonable.

Iran Convicts UAlbany Student In Secret Trials

I've previously reported on this story, but word comes now that Iran has convicted the Alaei Brothers in a sham secret trial. The two men, a University at Albany public health doctoral student, Dr. Kamiar Alaei, a prominent AIDS expert from Iran, and his brother Arash Alaei, were sentenced to three years and six years, respectively for plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime.

Physicians for Human Rights spokesman Jonathan Hutson told the Times Union Tuesday the doctors don't know all the charges on which they were convicted.

The doctors were interrogated for six months and possibly coerced, Hutson said in an e-mail. The prosecutor then "paraded them through a one-day trial on New Year's Eve without informing them of all the charges against them, and without disclosing all the evidence," Hutson wrote.

"If due process means anything, it means the right to know the charges, hear the evidence, and face the accuser," he wrote. "The doctors did not receive a fair trial, either by standards of international human rights law, or even by Iran's penal code."

Iran, Free the Doctors, notes that this is likely Iran's way of testing the Obama Administration.

In the wake of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Iran has signaled that the espionage trial of two world-renowned AIDS doctors is a bellwether for the future of US-Iranian relations.

The Washington Post reported on Jan. 19 that an unnamed Iranian senior counter-intelligence official warned the new Obama administration that the case of Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei exemplifies a “full fledged intelligence war” between Iran and the US.

“If Kamiar and Arash are engaged in any war, it’s the battle against HIV/AIDS,” said Sarah Kalloch, Director of Outreach for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). “They traveled the world to share the Iranian model of HIV prevention, and to learn from other countries about innovations in infectious disease treatment. Treating AIDS is not a crime—it is good medicine.

Expect to see more tests in coming days. Iran could care less about human rights, due process, or other freedoms that we in the US take for granted. This is a naked display of power and a test to see how Obama responds.

UPDATE:
Amnesty International doesn't have a current statement out, only that the trial occurred on December 31 and didn't meet international standards. I'm sure they'll have something to say now that the verdict has been rendered.

Indonesia Expresses Curious Method of AIDS Prevention

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day. Indonesia, which has previously sought to prevent US doctors from helping an Indonesian man who suffers from an ailment that turns his hands into essentially tree stumps and wants to control access to potential virus strains prevalent in the country, has come upon the solution to the AIDS crisis.

Stoning.

This would be in accordance with Islamic law, of course.

“We strongly feel that condoms can't prevent people from getting AIDS. The pores of the latex are bigger than the virus itself,”he told Adnkronos International (AKI), adding that in his view the campaign was harmful and morally wrong.

“AIDS prevention should start by implementing Islamic laws and punishing rule breakers, infidels and those who engage in pre-marital sex.

"In Islam we normally throw stones at them,” said al-Anshori. The MMI is a Muslim umbrella organisation whose member groups promotes sharia law in Indonesia.

UPDATE:
Fixed error in first paragraph - Jersey City is celebrating World AIDS Day today, but the official day is tomorrow.