2 Antibiotics Helpful in AIDS

Two common antibiotics used to combat traveler’s diarrhea have proved effective at preventing the rare pneumonia that is the leading cause of death among AIDS victims, a new study has found.

In a study of 60 people, the two drugs--trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole--prevented 30 patients with early stages of AIDS from developing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia while they took the drugs, according to results of the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The lead researcher, Dr. Margaret Fischl, head of AIDS research at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, told the Miami News that patients who received the antibiotics in the study lived longer than those who didn’t. “This is a very important study,” Fischl added.