Show Page 30 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Thursday TB returns to Russia with vigor By Tom Whitehouse The Guardian MOSCOW — Nikita a former television spurts commentator dying of tuberculosis seeks consolation in the upward mobility of his disease "Five years ago when I was diagnosed most of my fellow patients were homeless people old bums and he w hispered from his one faltering lung "But now there arc a lot of younger better educated people like me There is even an infected doctor here" March 25 1999 Thailand begins - The first BANGKOK Thailand I AIM e trial of an AIDS vaccine in a developing country begun Wednesday with six Conner drug addicts showing up for the shots at a Thai medical center The A1DSVAX vaccine being tested is produced by YaxGcn Inc a California-buse- d company Lust June the company started the win id's first trial of the vaccine in the United States w ith a planned 5000 volunteers Although about 30 possible AIDS vaccines are being developed AIDSVAX is the only product that has reached Phase Three testing which involves tests on humans "We hope it will be a success because large-scal- large-scal- e we have already passed the first and second phases" said Dr Kajit Chupanya the Thai project director Such experiments involve injecting the potential vaccine in people such as intravenous drug users who are likely to get the AIDS virus and then seeing whether they get it Some 2500 volunteers will be needed for the Thai experiment all of whom will receive education and counseling to try to reduce the levels of infection About 5 percent of the group would normally become infected with HIV or human immunodeficiency virus every year The first results are expected in about 30 months AIDS vaccine trial Half the volunteers will receive the vaccine while the other half will be given a placebo The lest will cost up to $9 million with most of the money coming from VaxGen Inc The volunteers who will gel a series of seven injections are paid a token fee for expenses “I’m happy to be able to do this and to make some contribution to society" said a volunteer who asked that his name not be used The vaccine being tested in Thailand is different front the product used in the United States to match the different strains of HIV that exist in Thailand In the United Slates 53 clinics universities and medical centers are testing the vaccine including sites in Baltimore Chicago Denver Los Angeles New York Philadelphia St Louis and San Francisco About 1500 people have signed up across the nation and VaxGen is hoping for 5000 by summer Thailand has been ravaged by AIDS in large part because of its sex industry A spokesman for a hospice outside Bangkok that houses people who carry the HIV virus said interest there was keen “Patients here follow news of the vaccine trial" said Chalcrmpol Polmuk "They want to know the latest developments and how it might help them We all hope that someday we will have a medicine that will prevent the spread of HIV" One in seven Russians will be infected with TB by 2010 unless the epidemic is arrested According to research released in Moscowthis week by three international health organizations — Mcdccins sans Frontieres Merlin and Public Health Research Institute International — one in seven Russians will be infected with TB by 2010 unless the epidemic is arrested As Russia's 20th century medical progress is reversed by its rapid economie degeneration the medical scourge of 19th century Europe is making a terrifying comeback in a dangerous form The antiquated penal system is the main reason for the epidemic Ten percent of Russia's one population arc infected with TB A third have developed multi-dru- g resistant TB (MDR TB) which is harder to treat "Our cramped and dirty prisons are perfect TB incubators" said I)r Anton Zarhuyev deputy head unit in Ulan Udc of the anli-Tsouthern Siberia which has one of the highest rates of infection "Infected patients are not diagnosed quickly Even when they are they are not always isolated from tlicir fellow prisoners so the disease spreads rapidly This is a public health disaster we are failing to control" When they leave prison — either at the end of their sentences or on compassionate grounds if they are dying — they spread TB to the general population The average TB sufferer infects 20 people a year Zarhuycv's wards arc a vision of hell faces froen in pain as patients retch blood Funds have run out and he cannot buy basics such us syringes or aspirin let alone more sophisticated drugs "Russia can no longer call itself a civilicd country We are sinking to the level of Africa and India" Zarhuyev said "But at least they have fresh fruit and vegetables I lere unless a patient can afford to feed himself and buy his own drugs he dies" The shortage of drugs is a double blow to the fight against TB because when treatment is interdrug-resista- nt B SEPARATES COORDINATES DRESSES BLAZERS Z0G to g HarborlSeporates r MisseslPeVites'& Spring' Blazer Women World Sal?) 800-240- TTj 0 SEPARATES PANTS 1680-360- 1 CAMPSHIRTS X 0 DRESS- SHIRTS gj 1 DENIM JEANS 9 STOCKMisses ENTIRE Rafaello Spring Sweaters r Knit Tees SriTwill Pants Sal foUMisses - A’Pehtes- T9 Wf SLACKS f SEPARATES ACTIVEWEAR rupted the virus evolves into multi-dru- g resistant strains Medccins Sans Frunlieres Merlin and the Public Health Research Institute have been treating TH in five prisons foi four years with good results The number of deaths from Tit in one Siberian prison was to a day in 9 reduced from 3 month this a just year But because Russia's economy is in deep crisis (lie possibility of extending (lie programs throughout the penal system is remote without foreign hacking The American George Soros has to give half the estimatpromised ed $120 million needed His Open Society Institute has called for penal reform to combat the problem "The single most effecli e way to reduce the epidemic which would cusl very little money is for Russia to reform its legal system so that less people are pul behind bars and get exposed to the infection" Alex Goldfarh director of (lie Soros TB project 2-- 3 1 2-- financier-philanthropi- st said But the government is opposed to amnesties for petty criminals ewcor because it does not want to appear soft on crime Russia's Red Cross is refusing food to the poor unless they undergo TB tests “There is no other way to isolate it" Vera Baldanova Red (Toss chairman in Ulan Ude said "Those infected can he taken to TB hospitals so they will not spread their disease" 1 tr (HxUiiQd !fep Umfl vfel!U Please visit us Mon-S- at located store 753-613- I 0 IksKQ |