Health briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

Drug resistance rises in new AIDS cases

CHICAGO -- Drug-resistant strains of the AIDS virus have increased to a worrisome 14 percent among newly infected people, according to a study of nine major cities in the United States and Canada.

Any increase in drug resistance is a concern to infected people because of the limited number of drugs to combat HIV and to uninfected people who may contract resistant strains.

The study, reported Wednesday at the eighth annual Retrovirus Conference, found increased resistance among a group of 394 people who, because they experienced flulike symptoms, had their condition diagnosed and treated within three months of infection with HIV.

TRANSMISSION RISK RAISED: A study of heterosexual couples in Africa concludes that the chance of catching the AIDS virus from a single sexual encounter with an infected person is one in 588.

This risk is calculated for people who do not use condoms and who have sex regularly with one infected partner.

Earlier estimates from North America and Europe vary but have generally placed the risk at about one in 1,000 for heterosexuals.

More hypertension found in those raised on formula

LONDON -- Babies fed infant formula grow up to have higher blood pressure than those given breast milk, new research suggests.

The findings, to be published Saturday in the Lancet medical journal, come from the first experimental study of how early nutrition influences blood pressure, a predictor of heart disease risk later in life.

Earlier studies have noted that adults with high blood pressure tended to have been fed formula as babies. But none took account of scores of other factors that raise blood pressure, such as a bad diet in adulthood, stress and lack of exercise.

Experts say the results bolster the theory that an infant's diet influences the risk of several diseases in adulthood. Breast-feeding is also considered better for children's intelligence.

Panel: Naproxen causes more ulcers than Vioxx

WASHINGTON -- The arthritis drug Vioxx appears to cause fewer ulcers than the older painkiller naproxen and its label should say so, the government's scientific advisers decided Thursday in a boon for maker Merck & Co.

But the panel didn't have all good news for Merck: Vioxx should retain its strong warning that it can cause ulcers just like some other older, cheaper painkillers -- and doctors and patients should be warned that it might carry a heart risk, too.

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