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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1997)
16 ▼ Septem ber 19, 1997 ▼ just out Coventry local news Cycle (V Works The state of AIDS All 1996 X H JE ic. m odels on Sale Now. The disease drops to the No. 2 cause o f death for younger adults nationwide; local doctors test testosterone as AIDS treatment • Sales: Buy the bike that’s best for you ▼ • Service: Experienced mechanics, tune-up experts by Inga Sorensen • Selection: Portland’s finest selection of recumbents Open Tuesday-Sunday 230-7723 2025 SE Hawthorne do F IR S T T H U R S D A Y October 2nd 6:00 to 9:00 pm better. INTO THE WEST... October 2 through 30 Photography by Eric Sines tU Paintings by Fred Mattila XS Watercolors by Janni and Mary Kerns A R M A D ILLO ARTS 2417 SE Hawthorne, Portland 232-7225 11 00 to 6 00 Wed. - Sat.; 11 00 to 5:00 Sun Better representation is the result of experience. Years of successful communication, assistance and negotiation make the difference in doing something and doing something well. 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Proudly Serving Our Community & Woodworth Attorneys at Law 503-226-0088 920 Crown Plaza 1500 Sw First Avenue Portland, OR 97201 Fax 503-226-9005 pated, but in reality the needs remain huge and we he head of Oregon’s largest Hi V/AIDS still don’t have a cure,” says CAP’S Stoltenberg. nonmedical service organization says CDC official Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, mean while she’s encouraged by recent re while, echoed that concern when he told United ports suggesting a dramatic turnaround in deaths from AIDS complications in Press International, “[while] we’re beginning to see the payoff of over a decade’s work of preven the United States, she fears such news could lead tion and treatment...this hasn’t ended the prob to complacency in the battle against the disease. lem.” ‘The danger is that people will think the He further noted that the epidemic is too com pandemic is over,” says Susan Stoltenberg, ex plex to make possible any predictions about future ecutive director of the Cascade AIDS Project, trends of the disease. which provides an array of HIV/A1DS services. ‘The fact is, we’re running a marathon, not a Back in Oregon, this year’s AIDS Walk Or sprint.... We have to prepare to live a long, long egon—a major annual CAP fund-raiser—raised time with this disease.” $110,000, down from the $147,000 collected in 1996. According to federal health officials, in 1996 the death rate from AIDS complications dropped According to Stoltenberg, an estimated 3,200 by 26 percent— more than 10,000 fewer people people participated in the Sept. 7 event—an in died in 1996 than in 1995. crease of a couple hundred from the Additionally, the disease is no previous year “but they didn’t bring longer the No. 1 killer of people as many pledges along this time.” between 25 and 44, bolstering opti She says she’s very concerned, mism by some that the deadly epi given the fact that CAP’S caseload demic is slowing down. jumped 60 percent from last year. AIDS has dropped to the second * Stoltenberg says CAP currently leading cause of death for people in § serves an estimated 1,500 clients. □ that age group. First are accidents— CD _____ , such as falls and autom obile n other AIDS news, two Port crashes—cancer is third. land-based researchers say test Steve Modesitt, who manages osterone injections may improve the HIV surveillance section of the Susan Stoltenberg the quality of life for men living Oregon Health Division’s HIV Program, says with AIDS. he’s encouraged by what he’s seeing in this state. Drs. Gregg and Marcia Coodley of Fanno According to Modesitt, 344 people in Oregon Creek Clinic in Southwest Portland conducted a died of AIDS complications in 1995. That num study involving 39 AIDS patients who experi ber dropped to 236 in 1996. enced serious weight loss as well as symptoms of He says for men between the ages of 25 and 44, weakness and fatigue. AIDS was the second leading cause of death in Gregg Coodley says he and his wi fe decided to 1995 and 1996. Accidents were No. 1 both years. study testosterone’s possible effects on men with Modesitt also says there has been a 43 percent AIDS by theorizing that since testosterone acts as drop in new reported AIDS cases in Oregon an anabolic hormone, fostering muscle mass and during the first six months of 1997. strength, it may benefit men with AIDS, who For that period in 1996 there were 260 new often lose muscle while maintaining fat, which cases; in 1997 there were 147. can lead to fatigue. ‘‘So we’re seeing a decline both in deaths and According to Coodley, study participants were new cases,” he says. “I think we’re experiencing randomly assigned injections of either 200 milli a real sea change...though slippage is always a grams of testosterone cypionate or a placebo. concern.” He says those who received the hormone ev Findings in a new federal Centers for Disease ery two weeks for three months did not gain Control and Prevention report, based on informa weight, but felt an increased sense of well-being. tion from birth and death certificates filed in each “They said they felt like they had more strength state, mirror earlier surveys signifying a slow and energy. Like they could do more things and down. live a more normal life,” he tells Just Out. The CDC says last year the actual number of According to Coodley, several participants AIDS-related deaths declined for the first time dropped out of the study when they were switched since the epidemic began in 1981. to a placebo. ‘‘It’s reassuring,” Dr. John Ward, the CDC’s “They were feeling so good when taking the chief of AIDS surveillance told The Associated hormone that they noticed a big difference while Press. “You like to have multiple studies saying on the placebo,” he says, adding of the 18 people the same thing before you begin to consider what who received testosterone first, nine dropped out you’re seeing is indeed the truth.” when they began taking the placebo, compared to According to the CDC. in 1996 the AIDS three dropouts in the placebo-to-testosterone group. death rate fell to 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people, Coodley says due to the high dropout rate, there down from a rate of 15.6 in 1995. wasn’t enough data to say whether the hormone For those between 25 and 44, the rate fell to made a difference with respect to weight gain. 27.2 deaths in 1996 from a rate of 36.9 in 1995. In At the same time he says he’s encouraged by 1994, when AIDS took over the top spot, the rate the findings, which suggest that testosterone in was 36.7 in that age group. jections may bolster one’s quality of life. According to the AP, Ward tempered the The September issue of the journal AIDS in “good” news by noting that thousands of people cludes a report on the study. are still living with AIDS and taking drugs that Fanno Creek is currently seeking partici take a huge toll on the body. pants—both HIV-positive men and women 18 or Not only that, more people with the disease older—for two studies whose goal is to increase will live longer and need HIV/AIDS-related care lean muscle mass. One study involves a growth and services along the way. hormone and the other, a steroid known as “After so many years of this pandemic, it oxandrin. For more details contact Toni Kempner seems some of the sense of urgency has dissi at 452-0915. T