New Weapon Against HIV

Eastern Europe is actively preparing to fight the greatest plague of our times-the HIV virus and AIDS. The latest weapon against the disease was the subject of a congress of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) held in Warsaw Oct. 26-29. Around 7,300 cases of HIV infection were reported in Poland in 2001, but experts believe the actual number of carriers to be much higher, between 15,000 and 20,000. The multi-sector National Program for HIV Prevention and Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS adopted for 1999-2003, defines two main goals in the fight against the virus: to prevent the further spreading of HIV in Poland and to improve the quality of treatment, providing all infected individuals with access to it. Pharmacological treatment to prevent the development of HIV has been available in Poland for five years. The period has shown that actions undertaken in this area are still insufficient and must be radically increased to efficiently prevent the disease and help infected patients. Doctors will now be assisted by a new kind of weapon, a medication called Fuzeon (enfuvirtide, previously known as T-20). Fuzeon is a new hope in the fight against HIV, as the virus is becoming increasingly drug resistant. The growing accessibility of medications hampering the progress of HIV has made the constantly mutating virus resistant to most drugs present on the market. Unlike other existing anti-HIV agents, which act outside of affected cells, Fuzeon affects the external environment of cells as well, disabling the fusion of viruses and penetration of healthy cells of the immune system (CD4 cells).