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From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News.??I’m Faith Lapidus.
And I’m Steve Ember.??Today on the program, we tell about international efforts to fight a health threat in the West African nation of Guinea.??Then, we report on a finding that cold air might be good for your health.??But first, we report on a medical discovery.??American researchers say a drug used to treat breast cancer may help people who he AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes the disease.
Breast Cancer Drug May Help HIV/AIDS Patients
A drug used to treat breast cancer may soon he another use.??Researchers say the drug could be helpful as a weapon against a fungal infection that kills more HIV/AIDS patients than the disease tuberculosis.??The possible new use for tamoxifen was discovered as part of an investigation of older, already approved drugs.??The makers of these drugs he sought and received approval from United States government agencies to sell their products to the public.
Health experts estimate that a fungus called Cryptococcus infects about one million people worldwide every year.??The fungal infection is called Cryptococcosis.??It is especially deadly for people living with AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.??Most of the infections take place in African countries south of the Sahara Desert.??Ninety percent of the people who he AIDS live in those countries.
Damian Krysan is an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Rochester in New York State.??He says Cryptococcosis can lead to meningitis, a life-threatening infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord.
“It currently kills on the order of three-quarters of a million people a year, primarily again in resource-limited regions with high rates of HIV/AIDS.”
Two costly drugs are commonly used to treat the fungal infection.??But they are not commonly ailable in developing countries.??And they are difficult to give to patients, because they must be injected into a person’s blood.??Experts say that even under the best conditions, 10 to 20 percent of those who receive this treatment will die.??Another drug is often used in poor countries to fight Cryptococcosis.??But the drug only slows the growth of the infection.
Some researchers are investigating whether drugs already approved for one condition might be useful against another.??Dr. Krysan and other researchers examined about 2,000 drugs and combinations of drugs for ones that could kill Cryptococcus.
They found one – tamoxifen, a drug that has been used for years to treat women with breast cancer.??Dr. Krysan says tamoxifen is not pricey and seems to help patients in a number of ways.
“Can be given orally to patients, which is what we needed.??And Cryptococcus causes a brain infection essentially.??And so we needed that drug to get to the brain.??And tamoxifen actually crosses into the central nervous system very effectively and even accumulates to levels above what we see in the blood.”
Dr. Krysan published a report on his findings in the journal mBio.??He says tamoxifen is most effective against the fungal infection when it is combined with the drug that is already used to treat Cryptococcosis in poor countries.
More tests are still needed.??But because both drugs are already approved, human testing will follow soon.
Aid Groups in Guinea Fighting Measles Outbreak
Mass emergency vaccination programs were launched in Guinea recently to control a growing health threat -- measles.??Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations Children’s Fund announced the vaccination campaigns last month.??The two groups planned to work with Guinea’s Ministry of Health to vaccinate more than two million children against measles.??All the boys and girls are between the ages of six months and 10 years.
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