Selenium may have critical role in HIV treatment

Selenium is being research-ed for its critical role in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, according to Margie Hardman, who in 2001 founded the Aids Care, Training and Support initiative - a community-based palliative care clinic serving a rural population in a remote area of Mpumalanga.

Hardman was speaking at an annual Health Products Association of Southern Africa (HPA) breakfast in Cape Town on Friday.

Low blood selenium levels predicted a higher mortality, she said. And South Africa, with one of the highest HIV rates, had some of the lowest selenium levels in the soil.

Hardman said anti-retrovirals had a "powerful" role to play in the treatment of HIV. She had seen people "bounce back" to good health on the drugs - but if used incorrectly, patients became drug-resistant.

People with HIV with relatively high CD4 counts and low viral loads could often remain well without ARVs for many years. Some were "slow progressers" who, with good nutrition and supplements, protecting themselves from re-infection and a positive attitude, could live without ARVs indefinitely.

The psycho-social aspect of care was paramount and motivational workshops at her clinic were about "really giving people hope and support."

"People do not have to die of HIV/AIDS. I have seen hundreds of thousands of lives that have turned around with proper care." If an HIV-positive mother's care was properly managed, there was no chance of the disease being transmitted to the foetus.

In addition to selenium, other micronutrients were important for their role in immune function. Vitamins most likely to be low in African diets were vitamin A, folate, sometimes vitamin B and C, and the minerals iron and zinc.

The HPA supported a comprehensive strategy to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS including dietary support and nutritional supplementation, the use of complementary and alternative medicines and the appropriate use of ARVs.