Research
continued from page 1
More than 83,500children in South
Africa have inherited HIV from their
mothers. Two million are predicted to
be orphans by 2015. Already, children
as young as 12 are heads of house
holds, struggling to care for siblings
who in all likelihood are HIV-positive.
Out of a population of almost 40
million, 4.74 million South Africans
are living with the virus. The epi
demic threatens to wipe out a gener
ation, deplete the labor force and
shatter the economy of Africa’s most
prosperous and stable nation.
In preparation for World AIDS Day
on Sunday, the United Nations re
ported last week that nearly 1 in 11
adults in sub-Saharan Africa is in
fected with the virus — 58 percent
of them women.
Playing God
Bolton found the daily emotional
pain of treating children with HIV or
AIDS almost too much to bear.
“When I got home, I would spend
more time crying than anything
else,” the pediatrician said, explain
ing why she decided to become a
clinical researcher.
Bolton said the worst part is “play
ing God” and having to decide which
children should be given the limited
supply of antiretroviral drugs. “For
every patient I can successfully treat,
there are 121 can’t treat and who will
die from AIDS.”
Now Bolton is a clinical researcher
with the University of Witwater
srand, Perinatal HIV Research Unit,
helping conduct trials on ways to
prevent mother-child transmission
of the virus.
She still stays in touch with her
patients, giving them a private cell
phone number so they can call and
tell her what they did at school, or
talk about how sick they feel.
The research unit recendy received
$21.3 million from the U.S. govern
ment to help the search for affordable
HIV/AIDS treatment by financing tri
als involving 100 people infected with
the virus. The money helps, but bil
lions of dollars are needed if cheaper
and more effective ways of stemming
the virus are to be found.
“Operational research is running
out of money,” Bolton said. “There
are 100 on the program, but if the
money runs out, I can’t think what
will happen. We will have given hope
but may have to pull the carpet out
from under their feet. ”
Save the children
The Perinatal HIV Research Unit
is based at Chris Hani Baragwanath
Hospital in Soweto — the largest
hospital in the Southern Hemi
sphere, with about 3,300 beds. Near
ly 200 patients are admitted daily.
Research includes prevention
of mother-to-child transmission
through the use of the drug nevirap
ine. The drug has proved successful
in reducing the number of HIV-posi
tive infants in South Africa, but early
government opposition slowed ag
gressive distribution.
Susan is typical of the women in
the research program. She received
nevirapine during labor and is bank
ing on the treatment to save her
baby. So far, 3-month-old Lunga —
which means “good boy” in Zulu —
has tested negative for the virus.
The 32-year-old woman, who
would not give her last name, said
she was afraid of what would happen
if her boyfriend found out she had
been to the clinic. She is secretly bot
tle-feeding Lunga rather than risk in
fecting him with breast milk.
“When I was pregnant, it was
hard,” said Susan, who has three
other children. “I was too scared to
tell my boyfriend I had AIDS. My
mother helps me with the bottle
feeding so we can keep it a secret.”
Turn to South Africa, page 6
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