HIV drugs boost risk of diabetes and heart disease

Scientists at Washington University found evidence that explains why so many people with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) develop diabetes and heart disease.

Paul Hruz, a professor of pediatrics and biology at the School of Medicine and colleagues found first generation protease inhibitors like ritonavir block a protein that helps transport blood sugar from the blood to the cells, leaving high levels of sugar in the blood, a marker of diabetes.

The study was published this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Hruz was cited as saying that the rate of overt diabetes in HIV is about five percent whereas metabolite syndrome, which increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease, is found in 25 percent of patients.

HIV destroys the immune system and HIV carriers become vulnerable to infections and diseases like AIDS resulting from HIV infection.

Each year in the U.S., as many as 56,000 are expected to contract HIV and worldwide, more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981 when the disease was first detected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC estimated that about 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV and about 21 percent of them do not know they carry the virus.

HIV and AIDS are not as life-threatening as years ago.  With highly potent antiretroviral drugs available, the disease has become a chronic disease, but the lethality has decreased drastically over the years.

Jimmy Downs