U.N. to Endorse Antibiotic Use for 2 Million African AIDS Cases

A cheap and widely available antibiotic will probably be given to the 2 million Africans showing symptoms of HIV or AIDS because it could dramatically curb side infections and save lives, a U.N. expert said Thursday.

Dr. Badara Samb, a care advisor to the U.N. Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, said UNAIDS and the World Health Organization would prepare a policy recommendation endorsing the use of the anti-pneumonia drug cotrimoxazole, based on findings by a panel of experts last week. An organization set up with U.S. funds should enable the drug to be distributed to people in Africa who could benefit, Samb said.

Although about 23.3 million Africans are believed to be infected with the virus, many of them are unaware they have it, Samb said. The recommendation is aimed at the fewer than 10% of those infected who are showing symptoms. The drug is used in Western countries to prevent a parasitic type of pneumonia, which is not as common in Africa.

The drug is widely available and costs from $8 to $17 a year, UNAIDS said. Life Initiative, funded with a White House grant of $100 million, has said it can buy the drug for 14 affected countries, Samb said. He said the panel based its recommendation in part on a yearlong study that showed only half as many people infected with the AIDS virus who took the drug died as those who did not take it.