2004-7-11
This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development
Report.
A study of women infected with H.I.V. suggests that vitamins can
delay the progress of AIDS. These are the results of a five-year
study in Tanzania. The findings suggest that vitamins could delay
the need to start costly AIDS drugs in developing countries. Doctors
say the drugs could then go to those who need them most.
American and Tanzanian scientists found that the vitamins
increased counts of cells that fight disease. And there were some
reductions in H.I.V. levels in the blood. H.I.V. is the virus that
develops into AIDS.
There are fourteen kinds of vitamins. People who do not get
enough of these chemical compounds in their food, or want more,
often take multivitamins. The women in the study took multivitamins
that contained large amounts of vitamin B, as well as vitamins C and
E.
More than one-thousand pregnant women infected with H.I.V. took
part. Some received a daily multivitamin without vitamin A. Others
received a multivitamin plus vitamin A. Still others took vitamin A
alone. The scientists gave placebo pills to a fourth group of women.
These pills contained no vitamins at all.
The mothers received yearly medical examinations. The best
results were reported in those who took multivitamins without
vitamin A for the five years of the study. The researchers found
that these mothers were fifty percent less likely to progress to
AIDS as those in the placebo group.
Women who took multivitamins also had fewer problems such as
mouth infections and diarrhea as their infection worsened. Still,
death rates were not much different between the women who took
multivitamins and those who did not.
The researchers say the multivitamins used in the study cost
about fifteen dollars for a one-year supply. AIDS drugs can cost
developing countries several hundred dollars or more.
The study did not include H.I.V. infected men. But Doctor Wafaie
Fawzi at the Harvard School of Public Health says he believes men
would also gain from multivitamins.
The New England Journal of Medicine published the results last
week. Also last week, the United Nations reported that about five
million people became infected with H.I.V. last year. That is the
most yet. To hear more about the AIDS crisis, listen to the Health
Report at this same time on Wednesday.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill
Moss. This is Robert Cohen.