Bangkok Joins With Us In Aids Study

Bangkok joins with US in AIDS study

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is joining hands with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study the use of a new medication aimed at preventing intravenous drug users from contracting HIV.

A joint effort between the BMA, the Ministry of Public Health and the CDC, the programme is being tested in 17 BMA drug rehabilitation clinics where intravenous drug users are given doses of the anti-HIV drug tenfovir.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Pensri Phijaisanit said today that the drug was considered safe to use, and that the resistance rate was thought to be low.

Research into tenofovir has already been approved by ethics committees in both Thailand and the US.

The 1,600 volunteers in the programme are drug users who are in good health and who are not suffering from HIV.

--TNA 2005-06-22