AIDS DRUGS TAKEN EARLY MAY HARM.Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer Drug ``cocktails'' used to fight the virus that causes AIDS may also, if taken too soon, stop the body from mounting its own defense against the disease, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a study to be published today. The report, by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a world-renowned hospital located in Los Angeles, California. History Cedars-Sinai is the result of a merger in 1961 between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, with Steve Broidy as and the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , focused on just one patient who the doctors have been following. However, researchers asserted their findings could lead to changes in the way people recently infected with the human immunodeficiency virus human immunodeficiency virus n. HIV. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) A transmissible retrovirus that causes AIDS in humans. are treated. The cocktails - combinations of powerful drugs taken together - currently are considered the most potent weapons against the virus. Their strength, in fact, might cause the problems noted in the new report. The drugs are so effective at suppressing the virus that in newly infected patients, the body's immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. does not have enough time to create the cells that attack HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , the report suggests. The report followed the progress of a 38-year-old patient infected about two weeks before he began treatment. When he stopped using the cocktail, about six months later, his body had none of the immune-system cells needed to keep the virus in check. ``We speculated that we started the cocktail so early that the body didn't have enough time to look at the virus,'' said co-author Eric Daar, director of the infectious diseases division at Cedars-Sinai. Although there is no clear consensus on when cocktail treatment should begin, other research has suggested that starting early helps, said Lee Klosinski, director of education for AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by HIV disease, reducing the incidence of HIV infection, and advocating for fair and effective HIV-related public policy. . ``Each of these studies raises more questions,'' he said. ``I don't think anyone really knows yet when the optimal time is.'' Rather than delaying treatment, Daar said the best approach might be to start patients on the cocktail early and then, if the body's defenses don't react on their own, give them a vaccine to prod the immune system into action. Although many researchers are trying to create a vaccine for HIV, none has succeeded. |
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