AIDS Reseacher Warns Against Too Much Optimism

While new drugs are prolonging the lives of those with HIV and tantalizing them with hope of conquering the disease, a prominent researcher Monday warned against being too optimistic about a cure coming soon.

Dr. Donald Abrams, a San Francisco physician who calls himself an “AIDSologist,” noted that the protease inhibitors introduced last year have prompted many researchers and patients to mark 1996 as a turning point in the fight against acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“The dominant theme is hope,” Abrams said during an address at the “HIV Conference--AIDS on the Frontline,” which began Monday. “We’re riding this wave of enthusiasm,” he later added.

However, he also advised caution, saying the new drugs have been available for scarcely a year and their long-term effectiveness is unknown.

“Nobody’s talking about a cure yet. But we are at the beginning of the next stage [in HIV therapy], where we’ve seen the short-term impact of highly aggressive therapy,” Abrams said. “People are talking about making it a manageable chronic disease, like diabetes and heart failure.”

Abrams and about 50 national experts are attending a two-day conference at the Red Lion Hotel/Orange County Airport to discuss the powerful new drugs and other AIDS-related issues, including physician-assisted suicide, alternative therapies, pain management and cultural influences on the treatment received by HIV patients.

Most attendees are doctors and nurses who care for HIV patients. Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the new drugs are also represented, giving out literature about their products.

Two or three years ago, doctors used only four drugs to treat the disease. Today there are 13 drugs, mostly protease inhibitors, that can significantly slow the reproduction of HIV.

In some people who take the oral drugs, the AIDS virus becomes almost undetectable.

However, the new drugs are expensive, costing as much as $20,000 per year per person. But even if the cost is not prohibitive, experts say that some patients are not helped by the new drugs, while others are unable to tolerate the side effects. Those using the drugs must take them on a strict schedule or their disease can actually get worse.

Authorities say 4,532 AIDS cases have been reported in Orange County through Oct. 31, 1996--4,205 males and 327 females. Of this number, 2,594 patients have died. The cases include 28 children, including 12 who have died.

The conference, which is sponsored by the UC Irvine AIDS Education and Training Center and the Orange County Health Care Agency, will continue today.