HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggest that the slight 'blips' in HIV virus levels that many AIDS patients experience while taking drug cocktails do not necessarily mean the treatment is failing. Doctors generally try to suppress the AIDS virus to levels undetectable by routine tests. Up to now, doctors believed that when HIV rises back to detectable levels, it means that the virus is becoming drug-resistant and that the patient has to switch medications. "Unnecessary regimen switching may result in disruption of a patient's medication routine, toxic effects from new drugs, and premature discarding of useful drugs," according to one of the studies.

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Patients in both studies received standard cocktails of AZT and 3TC plus protease inhibitors. Scientists analyzed data on 241 patients followed for 16 months and a group of 13 followed for about 4.5 years. "Intermittent viremia"-- occasional, detectable AIDS virus levels-- occurred in about 40 percent of the 241 patients and in six of the 13. Persistently high virus levels indicating the treatment failed occurred in 30 patients, but were no more likely to occur in those with virus blips.

In the other JAMA report, researchers studied blood samples of 20 AIDS patients on standard drug treatment for at least two years. They found that standard treatment seemed to block virus mutation even in patients with intermittent blips of virus activity. Dr. Steven Deeks of the University of California-San Francisco's AIDS Program noted that the studies are only preliminary, and their findings apply mainly to patients whose cocktails include a protease inhibitor.

Editor's Note: from the Associated Press