COCAINE SPEEDS SPREAD OF HIV IN STUDY

LOS ANGELES - Cocaine speeds up the rate at which the AIDS virus
spreads through the bodies of mice, scientists reported Thursday.

Dr. Gayle Baldwin, a co-author of the UCLA study, said the same
phenomenon probably occurs in humans. But proving it would be
difficult; she and others said such a study in humans would be unethical.

Using specially bred laboratory mice infected with HIV, the
researchers found those injected with cocaine had 200 times as much of
the AIDS-causing virus in their bloodstreams than did mice that
received a placebo. After 10 days of daily doses of liquid cocaine,
the mice also had twice as many HIV-infected cells.

``We found that cocaine can dramatically increase the spread of HIV
infection in a mouse model,'' Baldwin said.

The study was released Thursday in the online edition of the Journal
of Infectious Diseases.

``It's a challenge now for human biologists to tell us is this or not
important,'' said Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, senior scientist at the
American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Researchers have long suspected, even before HIV was identified, that
drugs like cocaine and heroin can suppress the immune system and
accelerate the spread of the virus.

In the study, 19 mice were infected with HIV. Four days later they
were given daily doses of cocaine, in amounts roughly comparable on a
weight basis to those taken by human users of the illegal drug. Twenty
mice were given a saline placebo.

In the drugged mice, 39 percent of their cells were found to be
infected with HIV after 10 days. In the control group, 19 percent were.

The study also showed a connection between cocaine and reduction of
CD4 T-cells. That suggests that cocaine increases the efficiency of
HIV in destroying the type of immune cell that fights the virus.

On the Net: Journal of Infectious Diseases
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/home.html