Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1991 TAG: 9103270465
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TUCSON, ARIZ. LENGTH: Short
The study of 389 patients at eight U.S. medical centers was the biggest investigation ever of ditiocarb, or diethyldithyocarbamate.
The researchers found a 56 percent reduction in opportunistic infections, or diseases that take advantage of an AIDS patient's damaged immune system.
Opportunistic infections are often the cause of death in AIDS victims. They include a rare form of pneumonia and various fungal infections.
"There is a significant effect on opportunistic infection, and the drug seemed to be relatively non-toxic and safe to give," said the Arizona Cancer Center's Dr. Evan Hersh, who headed the study.
The findings were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The patients were studied for 24 weeks each, with 191 receiving ditiocarb and 196 a placebo. Two patients did not receive therapy for most of the study. Neither patients nor doctors knew who received the drug and who got a placebo.
Of the 31 patients who developed a new opportunistic infection, only 10 had received the drug. Among patients with full-blown AIDS, seven taking the placebo developed a new infection, versus only one on ditiocarb.
Eight deaths occurred in each group, the researchers said.
by CNB