According to Lawrence K. Altman of the New York Times in his article "Project Curbs Malaria in Ugandan Group" published on March 1 of 2007, a combination of treatments practically wiped out malaria amoung a group of HIV positive children in Uganda. The combination of inexpensive antibiotic pills every day and sleeping under an insecticide treated mosquito net reduced the infection of malaria by 97 percent which was comparably better with a control group. The news was announced at a medical conference on Wednesday. The findings have changed the medical practices in the country almost instantly. The antibiotic is called cotrimoxazole which is sold in the US as Bactim and Septra and used to prevent infections that are "common complications of AIDS". The drug has also been proven to benefit against the parasite that causes malaria. According to Dr. Elaine Abrams, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Columbia University, "The findings were shockingly dramatic". The findings, however stunning, have not yet proven to aid the fight against AIDS and HIV but Malaria is the leading cause of illness and death among children under the age of 5 in Uganda and if those children have HIV as well it proves to be an extremely deadly combination. The combination is not reccomended by the World Health ORganization but the UN recommends each seperately.
I think more combination of treatments like this could ultimately help us find the actual cure for AIDS and HIV. I beleive we need to mix it up a bit and take risks to eventually find the cure.
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I agree that we do need to take risks and possibly mix up some prescriptions, but they would have to be well tested so that we do not end up using young African children as our guinea pigs. That is great that they found a treatment to at least help the kids with malaria, and I really hope that the cure to AIDS comes up soon after also!
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