The New York Times

Tuesday, November 30, 1999

Alarm Over AZT

Related Articles Safety of Common AIDS Drug Questioned in South Africa (Nov. 25, 1999)

To the Editor:

The recent warning by South African government officials that the anti-AIDS drug AZT is toxic has alarmed AIDS experts in South Africa and abroad (news article, Nov. 25). Since the announcement, neither the president nor the minister of health has offered any evidence to back this astonishing claim, which contradicts recommendations by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations worldwide.

Several studies have shown that AZT can dramatically reduce the rate by which mothers pass the AIDS virus to their children. At about 1 percent of South Africa's national health budget, this intervention is not only cost-effective, it is also cost-saving, because of the burden these otherwise H.I.V.-infected children would have had on the health care system.

MARK LURIE

Mtubatuba, South Africa Nov. 27, 1999

The writer is an epidemiologist at the Africa Center for Population Studies and Reproductive Health.