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Scientists Explore Meth's Role in Immune System
NY Times ^ | February 22, 2005 | ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Posted on 02/22/2005 8:55:44 PM PST by neverdem

Reports that a New York man may be carrying a rare and possibly virulent strain of H.I.V. have focused new attention on the biological relationship between the virus and methamphetamine, a drug that has become increasingly entwined in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in cities from San Francisco to Miami to New York.

Although methamphetamine, often called crystal meth or speed, is most troubling to health officials because of its role in blotting out inhibitions and fueling high-risk sexual behavior, experts say they are also grappling with mounting evidence that the drug by itself may increase a person's susceptibility to infection by crippling immune function and facilitating disease transmission.

"There seems to be something about methamphetamine that predisposes people to H.I.V. infection," said Dr. Grant Colfax, co-director of the H.I.V. epidemiology biostatistics and intervention section at the AIDS office of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. "When we look at why methamphetamine is increasingly responsible for the H.I.V. epidemic, I do think we need to look more closely at whether it is somehow suppressing immunity and increasing viral loads."

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has increased its funding of research on methamphetamine - including studies looking at how it interacts with H.I.V. - to $37 million in 2004 from $27 million in 2003.

Knowing what, if any, direct impact the drug may have on the virus has gained a sense of urgency in recent months. Nationwide, methamphetamine addiction has become the second most frequent reason for seeking substance abuse treatment, behind alcohol. And experts fear that more and more people, particularly gay men, are relying on the stimulating effects of the drug - in many cases combined with Viagra or other similar drugs - to engage in unprotected sex with multiple partners.

The man reported by health officials in New York to be carrying a rare strain of H.I.V. is believed to have used methamphetamine.

A long-term study of more than 4,000 gay men sexually active with more than one partner recently found that the odds of contracting H.I.V. climb substantially while using crystal meth, independent of other risk factors.

About a quarter of the men who were followed said that they had used crystal meth in the six months before the start of the study. They were all H.I.V. negative when it began.

By the end of the study, called the Explore Project, about 2.1 percent of the men had become infected. Unprotected sex with multiple partners was strongly associated with infection. But even after the researchers controlled for those behaviors and others, like injection drug use, the men who were taking crystal meth were twice as likely to contract H.I.V.

"This was a really surprising finding," said Dr. Colfax, a principal investigator on the study. "There's reason to think there's a combination of factors involved."

One of them may be crystal meth's impact on immune cells. Although research is limited, studies in animals and on cell cultures have found that methamphetamine suppresses killer T cells, a type of white blood cell that fights off pathogens.

That, combined with the drug's tendency to dry out mucosal membranes and cause abrasions in the mouth and rectum, might slightly increase a person's vulnerability to infection, said Dr. Antonio Urbina, the lead author of a study on crystal meth and H.I.V. that appeared last year in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In those who are already infected, crystal meth may take a greater toll. Studies have found that it can interfere with antiretroviral medications and set off a surge in viral loads, accelerating the progression of the disease and making a person more infectious to others.

In a study published in the journal Infectious Diseases last year, for example, researchers looked at 230 people who were H.I.V. positive, two-thirds of them either former or active users of crystal meth.

Compared with other subjects, those who were regularly using crystal meth and were also on an antiretroviral medication had far higher viral loads.

Dr. Igor Grant, an author of the study, said one possibility was that the crystal meth users had failed to adhere to their treatment regimens, as often happens with drug abusers. But stopping and starting a medication can be deadly in its own right, other experts point out, because it allows drug resistant strains to emerge, similar to what occurs when antibiotics are not taken properly.

"If you're a person who is not adhering to your diabetes medication, that's one thing because you can hurt yourself but not others," said Dr. Roger J. Pomerantz, an AIDS specialist at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia who studies interactions between drugs and the virus. "But with this you can hurt others by increasing the likelihood of both transmission and drug resistance."

In studies, Dr. Pomerantz has found that although substances like heroin and alcohol also appear to increase viral replication, others, like caffeine, can actually reduce it.

Whatever crystal meth's influence on the immune system and viral replication turns out to be, experts stress that its most alarming impact is on behavior.

"I think that's really the biggest gorilla in the room," said Dr. Steve Shoptaw, a research psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. "Being in a sex club for 36 hours on crystal meth and engaging in unprotected anal sex is really the most profound effect."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Technical; US: California; US: New York
KEYWORDS: aids; drugabuse; health; hiv; hivaids; homosexual; immunesystem; wodlist
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Ecstasy, aka MDMA, is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
1 posted on 02/22/2005 8:55:45 PM PST by neverdem
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To: El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; ..

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.


2 posted on 02/22/2005 8:58:48 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

Well, not having read this whole article, but based on stuff in other meth related threads, meth does seem to beat the hell out of people. I guess there could be some physiological stuff going on there, beyond just getting wasted all the time.


3 posted on 02/22/2005 9:02:08 PM PST by jocon307 (Vote George Washington for the #1 spot)
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To: jocon307
Although research is limited, studies in animals and on cell cultures have found that methamphetamine suppresses killer T cells, a type of white blood cell that fights off pathogens.
4 posted on 02/22/2005 9:05:28 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: jocon307

I have my doubts that methamphetamine does much to weaken the immune system. It does however, disinhibit users to the extent that they now allow 100's of perfect strangers to violate their person subjecting them to a lethal amount of viral HIV load.

But then again, if we can conclude (or presume) that meth use is the culprit, it would give the gay community an excuse to continue on in their risky lifestyle endeavors while avoiding the real culprit in their developing a fatal illness...if only they stop the meth use.


5 posted on 02/22/2005 9:09:31 PM PST by Ethrane ("semper consolar")
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To: neverdem

Sounds like this drug-abusing, high-risk behavior crowd is going to burn itself out of existence pretty soon. There's a very simple and easy way to avoid going down in flames with them, but far be it from us intolerant Conservatives to suggest it.


6 posted on 02/22/2005 9:11:41 PM PST by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: neverdem

"Being in a sex club for 36 hours on crystal meth and engaging in unprotected anal sex is really the most profound effect."

Ya I could have went all day without reading that.


7 posted on 02/22/2005 9:11:53 PM PST by scab4faa (Holy crap! I didn't sign on for this!)
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To: neverdem

I was going to post a reply unbecoming of my faith. Instead, I'll merely wonder out loud why it is that so much money is being spent on discovering the relationship between an illegal substance and high-risk sexual activity. The kindest way I can state my feelings on the matter is , "who cares?"

I have spent the better part of three weeks watching a friend dying of liver cancer. She is a 44 year-old single mother of two minor children (10 and 16 years). I don't expect her to last the week. My father also has cancer and will more than likely be going through a similar process in a year or so. Then I come home from the hospital and read how millions of dollars are being spent on this kind of thing.

I suppose some good may come of it. I only wish that we had our priorities in order.


8 posted on 02/22/2005 9:13:37 PM PST by sixgunjer
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To: neverdem

So what's the empirical difference?


9 posted on 02/22/2005 9:21:38 PM PST by greydog
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To: sixgunjer
""There seems to be something about methamphetamine that predisposes people to H.I.V. infection,"

It only stands to reason that if one warms up the human body a couple degrees on a continuous basis, it becomes the perfect incubator for a whole variety of diseases, giving them a chance to mutate and adapt to it's host. Plus the hosts immune system can become compromised giving these viruses a chance to defeat them.

10 posted on 02/22/2005 9:31:07 PM PST by Nuzcruizer
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To: sixgunjer
Instead, I'll merely wonder out loud why it is that so much money is being spent on discovering the relationship between an illegal substance and high-risk sexual activity.

Other members of the amphetamine class are legally prescribed, IIRC. This basic research needs to be done. If it is shown that ecstacy and methamphtamine are especially harmful to the immune system, maybe some of these clowns will wake up.

You have my sincere sympathy about the cancers.

11 posted on 02/22/2005 9:32:53 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
Isn't there an argument about prohibition increasing the popularity of potent intoxicants? White Lightening was the bootlegger's beverage of choice: if you're going to brew something illegal, it might as well be something that produces the most bang for the buck. Now that alcohol is legal, who drinks 190 proof vodka?

The invention of more powerful and deadlier highs is the sordid offspring of prohibition. Decriminalize everything and people would be chewing cocoa leaves.

12 posted on 02/22/2005 9:39:01 PM PST by Petronius (Hunter: Shine On You Crazy Diamond!)
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To: sixgunjer

I share the feeling. WHY is good money being spent on "cures" for diseases who's cure is already available?
It's kind of pointless to try defeat nature's own defences against diseases caused and spread via abnormal behavior.

Unfortunately, these diseases caused by abnormal behavior were intentionaly spread to the general population in order to hasten a "cure", so we must do all things possible in order to save these innocent victims of a horrible crime.


13 posted on 02/22/2005 9:44:35 PM PST by Nuzcruizer
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To: Petronius

That's a rediculous theory.

prohibition causes increased drug abuse? LMAO

Look fella, I forbid you to drink gasoline. I FORBID IT!!!

Now I suppose you are going to go out and drink a quart because I said you can't? If you do, thank goodness! I guess that's nature way of protecting the gene pool.


14 posted on 02/22/2005 9:50:24 PM PST by Nuzcruizer
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To: neverdem

Sounds like they are pitiful, helpless victims. Throwing billions of taxpayer money at them is sure to help.


15 posted on 02/22/2005 9:58:16 PM PST by tkathy (Tyranny breeds terrorism. Freedom breeds peace.)
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To: Nuzcruizer
prohibition causes increased drug abuse?

You might try reading the "rediculous" posts. Making alcohol illegal increased the popularity of more potent forms of it. I think this is indisputable. I don't think it increased or decreased the consumption of alcohol in general: people still drank, but they drank more potent and dangerous brews.

The theory is that this same phenomenon is occurring with illegal drugs: people continue to use them, but the ones they use are more potent and deadly.

16 posted on 02/22/2005 10:00:49 PM PST by Petronius (Hunter: Shine On You Crazy Diamond!)
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To: sixgunjer

I empathize with you. During the 90's much of the resources of the CDC were redirected to HIV. My problem with that is HIV is 99.9% preventable. The spread of AIDS is 100% attributable to behavior and we're not going to come up with a drug for that. Education isn't going to stop the behavior described in this article. There is always going to be that group of people who are bent on bad behavior. Meanwhile, a disease like cancer which strikes people in all walks of life regardless of race, sexual orientation or lifestyle choices receives less research dollars. I hate to think that a young child might die of cancer because we diverted funds from critical research to help someone who has chosen a slow suicide.


17 posted on 02/22/2005 10:14:55 PM PST by Madstrider (The right wing conspiracy isn't really so vast -- we just work overtime)
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To: Ethrane
I have my doubts that methamphetamine does much to weaken the immune system.

I initially had similar doubts, but then I considered what a couple of days blast of adrenaline might do to someone. Then I remembered some Medline literature searches that I had done about why people benefit from taking vitamin C for upper respiratory infections, URI. Someone noted that many marathon runners were frequently having URIs right after their 26+ mile events. That's a little stressful. The group that took vitamin C had fewer URIs, and those that did have URIs had less severe symptoms for fewer days.

Routine daily vitamin C supplements in a general population didn't show much benefit unless there was an indication. But vitamin C supplements taken at the onset of URI symptoms decreased their severity and duration.

It works for me. I take 1 gram twice a day, usually 2 days at most, with some generic benadryl as needed.

P.S. It's getting late to do literature searches at PubMed.

18 posted on 02/22/2005 10:15:56 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: greydog
So what's the empirical difference?

So what's the empirical difference between what and what, buggery and taking an amphetamine? Could you be more specific?

19 posted on 02/22/2005 10:19:25 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: Petronius

Personally, I think your onto something.


20 posted on 02/22/2005 10:22:32 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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