This article, “New Regimens to Prevent Tuberculosis in Adults with HIV Infection,” discusses the new ways to prevent people living with HIV form getting Tuberculosis. Since the majority of the time when people have HIV they die from something other than the virus, such as Tuberculosis, this is important. An experiment was done to test three new drug regimens that could be more potent than what they are giving now, which is soniazid. In the experiment people living with HIV in South Africa were given “receive rifapentine (900 mg) plus isoniazid (900 mg) weekly for 12 weeks, rifampin (600 mg) plus isoniazid (900 mg) twice weekly for 12 weeks, isoniazid (300 mg) daily for up to 6 years (continuous isoniazid), or isoniazid (300 mg) daily for 6 months (control group).” Their findings were that it lowered the chances of getting Tuberculosis by 32-64%. These findings may be great, but nowhere in the article did it mention the price that the people would have to pay to get this new regiment of prevention. It may work better, but if it costs too much, or really anything at all in the case of South Africa, the access to these new drugs will not be available. It truly does not matter how much better the drug is than the previous because it is still not accessible to the people. Uneducated people do not know how important prevention is when you have HIV and your immune system is suppressed anyway. They just know people are dying from AIDs. If there was a way to get this to the people for very little or no charge, this would be an amazing thing. Very little people would die from HIV induced Tuberculosis. However, everything costs money, and the regimens have to be maintained and taken for months at a time. There is no way to make sure the regiments are going to be taken properly for 3-6 months. If only there were a way to make amazing new discoveries, like this one, possible to be used to their full potential.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Malaria, and how to erradicate it.
This article discusses how areas, such as South East Asia, are having problems with resistant strain of malaria. The new goal is to eradicate the strain so it is no longer a problem. The WHO and other health organizations are all trying to find a way to do this. One of the actions would be to keep this strain in one specific spot. Like quarantine almost, until the problem is solved. The authors of this article have stated their plan, which seems easy. However, nothing is that easy. In reality, the strain will not simply be kept in one area. Also, bed nets and the usual method of prevention are not working, which will lead to more people being infected. The problem will not be fixed until a new strain of drugs is invented. Although that strain could be eradicated, there will be a new form that will become resistant to that drug also. It is a vicious cycle, that is stressful to keep up with. This specific instance is just for malaria, but this issue occurs for many other viral/bacteria strains.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1108322
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1108322
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Brazil
So tonight I attended a movie for class at the YMCA. The movie was called "The Tenants." In summary, an average Brazilian family's life is changed when new neighbors move in. They are 3 boys that party all night, sleep all day, and have no job. No one will say anything to them, even though they are disrupting everyone. They eventually murder people and shout about it clearly saying they did it. They do what they want and they don't believe in authority. This movie puts into perspective what Brazil deals with from day to day, VIOLENCE. No one does anything about it. To Americans doing something about a problem is the right thing to do, but in developing countries if you were to do that, you are basically asking to be their next victim. No political leadership leads to this, and all it is doing is put people in constant stress of getting through the day. If something does not change fast, there ultimately will not be a way to change; if the government even wants change. The latter is probably true, and the people will continue to live thinking violence is just the way life is.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
HIV and Children
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp1107275
This article discusses the children with HIV due to their mothers passing in on during pregnancy in low-income countries. The children themselves can not do anything about it and are "voiceless". However, the authors mention that there needs to be a batch of first-line drugs available for these children with HIV, and that will solve most of the problem. In all reality, the medication would save some lives of children yes, but it would not solve the problem. This complicated situation will not be solved unless you start with educating women. This could involve changing entire cultures depending on which country is being regarded. Women need to be educated, and told how they can prevent passing HIV to their infants. Also, it is just as important to inform the men as well because they need to understand how important this really is too.
Another issue is access to these drugs and prenatal care for these mothers and infants. The family, no matter how educated, needs access to those before they can even take action to prevention. This all takes MONEY, and that just is not possible for these places that need it the most. All in all, yes new drugs would help out the HIV infected children, but they are virtually useless if there is no access to healthcare facilities, money, or education of the HIV situation. This does not mean, that new drugs should not be created and the effort should just stop, but before we put all of our efforts into these drugs, the real issues need to be addressed.
Danielle Frye
This article discusses the children with HIV due to their mothers passing in on during pregnancy in low-income countries. The children themselves can not do anything about it and are "voiceless". However, the authors mention that there needs to be a batch of first-line drugs available for these children with HIV, and that will solve most of the problem. In all reality, the medication would save some lives of children yes, but it would not solve the problem. This complicated situation will not be solved unless you start with educating women. This could involve changing entire cultures depending on which country is being regarded. Women need to be educated, and told how they can prevent passing HIV to their infants. Also, it is just as important to inform the men as well because they need to understand how important this really is too.
Another issue is access to these drugs and prenatal care for these mothers and infants. The family, no matter how educated, needs access to those before they can even take action to prevention. This all takes MONEY, and that just is not possible for these places that need it the most. All in all, yes new drugs would help out the HIV infected children, but they are virtually useless if there is no access to healthcare facilities, money, or education of the HIV situation. This does not mean, that new drugs should not be created and the effort should just stop, but before we put all of our efforts into these drugs, the real issues need to be addressed.
global health
Pediatric HIV — A Neglected Disease?
Marc Lallemant, M.D., Shing Chang, Ph.D., Rachel Cohen, M.P.P., and Bernard Pecoul, M.D., M.P.H.
(Just in case the link does not work, because I had to subscribe to the New England Journal of Medicine)
Danielle Frye
Friday, September 2, 2011
Good News about Malaria
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/08/31/140069350/a-remnant-from-algae-in-malaria-parasite-may-prove-its-weakness
So I found this article and it is super interesting. It does go along more with biology, but it also could do so much for tropical areas of the world. Most people know of Malaria, a disease from a parasite usually in tropical places, but they really have never pinpointed a way to fight it off completely. Recently, they think they found some way to start trying. It has to do with the metabolic pathways of the parasite. The malaria cells have what is called an apicoplast, which is not in any other bug or it might be but they have never seen it. Scientists were doing some research, and they found that the apicoplasts were they only way for the cells to do metabolic activity. Therefore, if they find a drug that could target and attack the specific part of the cell, the problem would be solved. They are working now on that drug. What would this do for the people of tropical areas? In a perfect world it should save many people from disease. However, would we, as in USA, be able to support getting this drug over to where it is needed? I think it is a great find, and I think it will save lives. I just can't help but think about the people who wont take medicines in different countries because of culture. I like to think optimistically though so overall, I think its awesome!
Danielle Frye
So I found this article and it is super interesting. It does go along more with biology, but it also could do so much for tropical areas of the world. Most people know of Malaria, a disease from a parasite usually in tropical places, but they really have never pinpointed a way to fight it off completely. Recently, they think they found some way to start trying. It has to do with the metabolic pathways of the parasite. The malaria cells have what is called an apicoplast, which is not in any other bug or it might be but they have never seen it. Scientists were doing some research, and they found that the apicoplasts were they only way for the cells to do metabolic activity. Therefore, if they find a drug that could target and attack the specific part of the cell, the problem would be solved. They are working now on that drug. What would this do for the people of tropical areas? In a perfect world it should save many people from disease. However, would we, as in USA, be able to support getting this drug over to where it is needed? I think it is a great find, and I think it will save lives. I just can't help but think about the people who wont take medicines in different countries because of culture. I like to think optimistically though so overall, I think its awesome!
Danielle Frye
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