WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 25
FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
Research finds safer way to shield infants from HIV
The Associated Press
PARIS New research presented yesterday has raised the possibility of safer breast-feeding by HIV-positive mothers in the developing world, an advance that could save millions of lives.
Programs aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus in poor countries only treat mothers during pregnancy and up to a week after childbirth.
Babies are often given a single dose of an AIDS drug at birth.
That halves the risk of the babies getting HIV, but many of those gains are lost when the infants later contract the virus through breast-feeding.
Experts say findings presented yesterday at an AIDS research conference indicate giving babies a daily AIDS drug from birth through the entire breastfeeding period could significantly reduce the rate of HIV infection through
breast milk.
In the study, conducted in Uganda and Rwanda, 397 infants were given syrup containing one of two common AIDS drugs daily for up to six months.
Only 1 percent of the babies contracted HIV through breast milk.
That compares to a rate of about 15 percent when babies do not receive such treatment, according to lead researcher Joep Lange of the University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center.
Experts say that if mothers in poor countries received long-term treatment for their HIV, as they do in the developed world, the risk of passing the virus on to their babies through breast milk would be minimal.
"Obviously, it would be much better to (continue to) treat the mothers," said Lange, adding that the treatment of babies is a stop gap until long-term therapy is widely available to everyone in poor countries.
SUSPECTED KIDNAPPING
Former marine says girl safe; thought 12-year-old was 18
The Associated Press
LONDON — Toby Studabaker, the former U.S. Marine who disappeared with a 12-year-old English girl he met over the Internet, has phoned his relatives to say the child was safe and that he was contacting the FBI, his brother said yesterday.
Leo Studabaker told BBC News his brother did not give his location or that of the girl, Shevaun Pennington. Police traced them as far as Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris.
Greater Manchester Police said they had not yet been able to confirm that the ex-Marine had been in touch with the FBI, but that police officers were checking.
Leo Studebaker said his 31-year-old brother had been deceived into meeting the girl and that he was "very mad when he found she had lied about her age."
They also said it had been confirmed that Shevaun was not the passenger named Pennington who flew to Liverpool on Saturday from de Gaulle airport, as French police had thought.
"From what I understand, Shevaun had written a letter and signed it for him to give to the authorities clearing him of any wrongdoing," Leo Studebaker said.
The ex-Marine, who spoke to his sister-in-law, Sherry Studabaker, said Toby had contacted the FBI and wanted to resolve the situation.
The girl from Lowton, near Manchester in northern England, left Britain on Saturday with Studabaker, of Constantine, Mich. Authorities said they think the two met over the Internet.
Leo Studabaker of Three Rivers Mich., said his brother thought the girl was at least 18.
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