
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990                   TAG: 9005150627
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA                                LENGTH: Short

DRUG DELAYS PROGRESS OF HIV AIDS INFECTION

The onset of AIDS in people with mild infections of the HIV virus can be delayed by early treatment with AZT and makes it "almost a whole new drug," a leading researcher said.

A study released Monday in the May 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine said people who took AZT were more than twice as likely not to develop AIDS or AIDS-related complex than those who received a placebo.

That study and a similar one last month in the New England Journal of Medicine prompted the federal Food and Drug Administration in March to allow physicians to prescribe the drug for patients with the virus who have not developed AIDS symptoms.

"It means we can recommend intervention to prevent serious illness just as we would for mild hypertension to prevent stroke or heart disease," said Dr. Margaret Fischl, lead author of the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. - Associated Press

by CNB