TETRACYCLINE TO TREAT AIDS

Report #6111 2/13/94

The common antibiotic, tetracycline, may help to delay the onset of AIDS in people who are infected with the AIDS virus. That conclusion came from a study by Dr. Luc Montagnier, one of the most prominent AIDS researchers.

Chemical reactions in your body produce chemicals called oxidants which inhibit your immunity and allow an already-present AIDS virus to reproduce and multiply. Tetracycline helps to protect your immunity from oxidant damage and therefore, inhibits the growth of the AIDS virus. Dr. Montagnier has also shown that people with AIDS have an unusually high incidence of infection with another virus called mycoplasma. Tetracycline inhibits the growth of this germ.

This is another example how antibiotics may help treat and prevent diseases by a mechanism other than just killing germs. More than 40 years ago, dermatologists learned that they could use tetracycline to treat the facial redness caused by a condition called acne rosacea. Today almost all dermatologists treat acne rosacea with antibiotics. One of the most famous actors of silent screen pictures, W.C. Fields, had acne rosacea.

At the most recent meeting of the American Academy of Rheumatology, two papers showed that tetracycline helps to relieve the joint pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis. Many doctors are now using antibiotics to treat some patients with arthritis. Dr. Montagnier's new research does not offer a cure for AIDS, but tetracycline may help delay the onset of AIDS in people who already have the virus.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News