AIDS TREATMENT UPDATE, July 1995
Edward King

Howard Moffat, director of the College's HIV programme told AIDS Treatment Update "If you look at reports on the use of Chinese medicine in AIDS, you'll find that these same symptoms come up again and again as symptoms which respond to treatment. They're non-specific, and there's no specific Western medical treatment for them, but they really affect people's quality of life."

The conditions were identified by a review of the health records of over 300 HIV-positive people who had attended the College, but Howard Moffat admitted that other factors could have contributed to the apparent success of TCM in treating these conditions, such as the cessation of drug therapy or successful response to drug therapy.

Due to the highly individualised nature of Traditional Chinese medical treatment, no common treatment or formula emerged as particularly successful, with each practitioner making an individual diagnosis. Traditional Chinese medicine uses Chinese herbs and acupuncture to treat conditions.

Demand for Chinese medical treatment is so high in San Francisco that the College has now decided to specialise in treating conditions which have a good success rate rather than offering treatment to everyone. Their experience shows that not everyone will be helped by TCM, says Howard Moffat.

In the UK, Traditional Chinese medical treatment for HIV is thin on the ground. Only one NHS-funded clinic - the Gateway Clinic - offering traditional Chinese treatment. TCM is also available through the Immune Development Trust in London, but outside London the number of Chinese medical practitioners experienced in treating HIV-related conditions is small.

For more information on traditional Chinese medicine and how to choose a practitioner, see the new edition of NAM's HIV & AIDS Treatments Directory.

For advice on obtaining TCM, contact the Gateway Clinic on 0171-346 5451, or the Immune Development Trust on 0171-713 0265.

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