A South African court has struck down unauthorized vitamin trials as a treatment for HIV, the BBC reports (news.bbc.co.uk, 6/13).
The court ruled against Matthias Rath, MD, a German physician, and U.S. doctor David Rasnick, a former advisor to South African president Thabo Mbeki. Dr. Rath was accused by advocacy group the Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association of conducting illegal vitamin trials in poor communities.
According to the BBC, Rath promotes vitamins and minerals as a treatment for HIV/AIDS. Activists say that Rath’s trials have caused unnecessary deaths as people stop taking their antiretroviral medications in order to participate in the trials.
According to the article, one in five South African adults is living with HIV.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
