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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993                   TAG: 9305120019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

SMOKING SPEEDS AIDS PROCESS, RESEARCHERS SAY

HIV-infected people who smoke develop full-blown AIDS twice as quickly as people with the virus who don't smoke, according to a British study that confirms prior suspicions.

"Cigarettes and HIV together double the insult on the immune system," said Dr. Richard Nieman, the investigator. He is a research fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London.

The findings will be published Friday in AIDS, an international science journal.

Dr. Richard Chaisson, director of the AIDS Service at Johns Hopkins University, said the study was another piece of evidence showing a link between AIDS and smoking. He had not seen the complete report.

The study, conducted at St. Mary's Hospital in London, included patients diagnosed with HIV between 1986 and 1991. Researchers examined medical records of 84 patients who went on to develop AIDS.

They compared 43 AIDS patients who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day to 41 HIV-infected nonsmokers. Nonsmokers included people who never smoked or had quit at least one year prior to diagnosis and had not smoked since.

Nieman said the smokers developed AIDS in about 8.2 months compared to 14.5 months among nonsmokers.

Preliminary research from his lab suggests that the AIDS virus sneaks into lung cells more easily in smokers compared to nonsmokers. Patients with HIV in lung cells tend to have a worse prognosis, he said.

by CNB