The New York Times recently ran a depressing article on a newfound link between antiretroviral therapy and leprosy in patients that had previously been asymptomatic. Since leprosy can be easily treated with antibiotics donated from Novartis, it does not pose a widespread public health threat. But for the affected individuals, it can be deadly:
Novartis provides the WHO with clofamizine, rifampicin and dapsone, the standard leprosy regimen, in blister packs and boxes so patients can be handed six months of treatment at a time, already divided into daily doses.But treating leprosy in AIDS patients may turn out to be more difficult, doctors say, because rifampicin cannot be used. And treatment in wealthy countries includes more expensive anti-inflammatories, as well as thalidomide, which blocks a common inflammatory complication.
Because thalidomide causes severe birth defects, the World Health Organization opposes its use in the third world.
Doctors have long known that dormant diseases can surge as a weak immune system recovers. The threat is sometimes called "Haart attacks" -- a grim pun on the medical acronym for "highly active antiretroviral therapy."
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