Snake oil

Snakes twice in one week? Well, not really. Snake oil.

I'm not talking about the Chinese remedy shéyóu, often used as a remedy for inflammation and pain. I'm talking about supposedly miraculous 'medical' remedies made from mysterious and magical ingredients. Remember some of those old Westerns? They always had a snake oil salesman character in there someone, a travelling doctor with dubious credentials, hawking some magical cure for all ills.

It seems 'snake oil cures' are alive and well.

The most potent current example comes from Ghana where President Yahya Jammeh claims to have developed a cure for AIDS. The cure involves seven plants used to produce a combination of products for application to the patient and a tea which patients drink. Patients must also must stop drinking alcohol, tea and coffee, avoid kola nuts and sex during treatment. The cure is expected to take 30 days.

The real concern is that patients are also requested to cease taking anti-retroviral drugs which can lead to a weakening of the immune system and increase risk of infection.

President Jammeh is sending his patients for testing. I guess the proof will be in the pudding so to speak. So far, anecdotal evidence suggests the patients are feeling better. Effective treatment or simply a placebo effect?

In a continent devastated by the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, it is understandable how individuals could attach hope to any suggestion of a cure or treatment, no matter how outlandish the claim. However, as Dr Antonio Filipe, the local head of the World Health Organisation, seeks to remind us all, "As the World Health Organisation, we would like to state quite clearly the following - so far, there is no cure for AIDS."

Addition

'A new all-time low' by Ben Goldacre at Bad Science talks about the treatment of Zackie Achmat

and his fight to secure HIV medications for all against those who claim HIV medications causes AIDS, not HIV itself.

Thank you to Sisiphus for drawing my attention to this link.

Resources

I can cure AIDS and I will

Jammeh's AIDS cure real

World Aids Day

Today is World Aids Day. Twenty-five years after clinical evidence of the HIV/AIDS disease process was first reported.

Eighteen years after the first World Aids Day, it's important to keep reminding ourselves about HIV/AIDS issues, the need for support and understanding for people living with HIV/AIDS and to continue to push forward with the development of education and prevention initiatives.

Particularly when, at a time where it seems nearly every cause has a ribbon, the AIDS cause appears to be floundering.

Last year, the Aids Council of New South Wales (ACON) reported one of its lowest responses to World AIDS Day events, including the iconic Red Ribbon Appeal.

“We certainly had a low last year and it was a real struggle to get

people to come forward to be volunteers to sell red ribbons or

even getting people to buy red ribbon.”

ACON chief executive Stevie Clayton.

Yet recent figures released by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research show that HIV rates have increased by 41% in Australia over the past five years. The reality is, even in this country, people are still dying from AIDS-related conditions.

The theme for the Australian World AIDS Day campaign is: ‘HIV/AIDS: Let’s talk about it: many faces, different stories’. The key message is intended to be inclusive of all Australians, not just those most at risk of HIV infection, in order to promote understanding of HIV/AIDS as an issue that affects everyone in the community. Take time to read some personal stories here.

On a lighter note, among the activities planned, this Guinness World Record attempt caught my attention.

Today Thailand aims to boost acceptance of condom use with the "longest condom chain" at the "Condom Chain of Life" festival. The goal is to link 25,000 condoms. The effort will be led bythe appropriately named "Mr. Condom", UN Aids special representative and national Aids activitist Mechai Viravaidya.

AIDS. In whatever form activities take today, World AIDS Day offers an opportunity to point out the reality that HIV is still with us.

What's going on in your part of the world?

Resources

Is World Aids Day still relevant?

World Aids Day Australia