European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thalidomide returns it May become a wonder drug 1 but its evil Side remains untamed by Todd Lewan the associated press Rafael Das Dores never had a Chance. He was never Able to clap his hands hug his older brother or put his fingers to his Mother s face. He could never learn to run walk or even crawl. Rafael was a thalidomide baby his Mother Luciene 23, a barely literate cleaning woman had taken the potent sedative for morning sickness during the second month of pregnancy unaware it could Hurt her unborn son. Thalidomide left Rafael with no arms no legs. He weighed barely 2 pounds at birth. His heart was too Small his lungs lived 72 Days. He spent his last hours gasping for air his head flopping Back and Forth. Shortly after 6 . On june 29, his Torso stiffened and he went cold in his father s arms. But for Eliane Soares 24, a patient at the Santa Isabel Leper Colony thalidomide brought Hope not horror. Yellow sores covered her body letting out stinking air when they burst. Her Knees swelled the size of melons. The Light touch of a bedsheets on her joints gouged her nerves. Like thousands of brazilians with severe leprosy she took thalidomide to soothe the inflammation and lesions that withstood the Only alternative treatment corticosteroids. _ Quot the pain was unbearable Quot she said. Quot i could t walk or lift my without the pain. Thalidomide saved me. It gave me Back my dignity it gave me Back a for decades Only the dark Side of this Jerky and Hyde drug Drew attention. In the 1950s, thalidomide was billed As a Quot wonder drug Quot by its maker Cherie Grunenthal of Germany. The company recommended it As a sleeping Pill and later As a sedative for morning sickness then horror struck thousands of mothers who used thalidomide during their pregnancy gave birth to children with no limbs serious facial deformities and defective organs. / a it was proved that Grunenthal had tampered with test Solano de Rodrigues Rufino 9, born without arms or tags sits a with her Mother Rosangela who took thalidomide during her a a pregnancy. Results. In 1962, thalidomide was banned worldwide. The company pulled the drug from the Market and later agreed to compensate victims. By then about 12,000 Quot thalidomide babies Quot had been born in 48 countries a largely in Germany Japan and England roughly 4,000 died shortly after birth. The . Food and drug administration never approved the use of thalidomide. The drug claimed a few victims during tests in the United states. A Quot a but thalidomide did t disappear. Three years after the initial disaster researchers discovered they just might have a wonder drug after All in a very different Field. Thalidomide proved highly effective in relieving fever and painful skin irritation caused by medication that killed leprosy Bacilli. Encouraged Brazil s military regime reintroduced the drug in 1966 to treat leprosy Only. Nowhere has the drug been produced in such Large quantities or used so widely As in Brazil As Many As half a million brazilians have leprosy a second highest in the world behind India. Thalidomide s uses Don t Stop there. There Are signs that thalidomide May be effective in a number of stubborn conditions that involve the immune system from tuberculosis to aids it from Lupus to rheumatoid arthritis from cancer to Organ transplants. Or. Elzenir de Sarno director of the leprosy studies department at the respected Oswaldo Cruz foundation in Rio de Janeiro said Quot thalidomide is a potential Miracle a a. A and still a potion for tragedy. Forty six victims aged 1 to 21, have been discovered in the past two years according to a study co authored by the movement for the reintegration of lepers and the association of thalidomide sufferers. At least 10 other babies not in the Survey died As a a a result of thalidomide caused deformities and activists know of eight women who chose to have Clandestine abortions when sonograms revealed deformed fetuses. Though the actual number of cases is impossible to determine activists estimate there Are at least 4,000 thalidomide victims in this nation of 155 Milton people. Quot the horror was hushed up so Long and the drug was so widely distributed that we figure 4,000 victims to be a conservative estimate Quot says Rosangela Nascimento a president of the brazilian thalidomide victims association. Confined to a wheelchair Nascimento travels the country to find victims and warn parents about the drug. Quot when we hear of victims and go to look for them their neighbors and families often Clam up Quot she says. The Popr and. Illiterate Are in the greatest danger but they fear punishment if they . / for Nascimento born in 1961 with no legs and 7 a a deformed hands because her Mothe used the drug it is especially p painful to see the emergence of a new generation of thalidomide babies. Quot the worst part is that Many parents still think it s cod s punishment for something they did wrong or a Side effect of leprosy Quot she says. Belo Horizone a City of 2 million residents and capital of Minas Gera is state is Home to the Ezequiel Dias foundation or fund one of two state owned laboratories authorized to manufacture thalidomide. This year fund will produce 7 million 100-Milligram capsules of the drug. A million doses will go to Public clinics in Minas Gera is said a spokeswoman in the company s production department an additional 2.5 million tablets Are produced annually at the Public remedy foundation in Cua Ruchos near Sao Paulo the company s sales department says. A a a a a ministry that any birth defects were caused by thalidomide. It says the drug is tightly monitored and available Only through the Public healthcare system with a doctor s prescription. _ u be Quot Sas War a Aparecida de Farias Grossi Ead or the Minas Gera is state association for the control of Hansen s disease As leprosy is called. Not always Are there specialists at clinics to properly dispense the drug or give adequate warning of its effects of often patients get Large amounts of thalidomide not knowing the harm it can offt Ciao guidelines have always outlawed the use of a i Ornde among pregnant women. For years though the government Only Quot recommended Quot doctors not prescribe the drug to women of childbearing age. Finally on july 6, the health ministry changed the wording of the 1966 Law. To prohibit its use by women Between the Ages of 12 and 55. Still the strips of tablets Are sent to clinics around the country and dispensed without any written instructions on usage. The Only warning a stamped message on the strip says "thalidomide/100 milligrams. Not for use by Quot pregnant Quot in some cases patients misunderstand the doctor s words of caution. Since the drug works quickly patients who think they Are cured Stop taking it and Stock it at Home. A. A a a. A a a a a a a that s How Luciene Das Dores stumbled upon hundreds of thalidomide pills in the two room Hove where her family lives. Her husband cil venal a Leper saved the pills for recurring symptoms. Quot a Girlfriend who took it for stomach cramps told the it was a great remedy for morning sickness so i took it too Quot Luciene says. Some doctors put patients on thalidomide without even telling them the name of the drug much less its dangers. Others hand it out As if it were aspirin. Ito Angela de Rodrigues Rufino then 19, was prescribed thalidomide for a skin irritation in 1985 at a Public clinic. She took it for seven months and three months after she discovered she was pregnant. Her third daughter Solano was born on dec. 8,1985 with no arms and no legs. Quot i was never told what thalidomide could do Quot she says. Quot right after Solano was born the doctor a i knew him Only As or. Paulo a vanished and my prenatal _ records were a 1982 Law entitles the first generation of thalidomide victims to a pension of $520 a month. But Many families such As the Rubinos have to fight in court for pensions because their medical records Are missing or their doctors refused to sign a statement saying they prescribed thalidomide. The Rubinos moved out of their two room plywood Shack in a slum weeks after Solano was born. An Anonymous Benefactor gave them a four bedroom House in a Middle class neighbourhood of this City. Now 9, Solano gets around the House by wriggling on her. Stomach or by arching her Back and pushing herself like an Inch worm. Her parents get no government Aid and cannot afford to buy a wheelchair a shy pretty girl with Long Chestnut hair tied in a Pony Tail Solano sat on her Mother s Lap during an interview rubbing her Cheek against her Mother s cooing and sucking her Mother s thumb. 7. Quot we share a special closeness Quot Rufino says Quot but it has been hard on my husband. He can t accept it. When we go out in Public with Solano he walks ahead of us apart ashamed As if he d done something Rosangela Nascimento right president of the brazilian thalidomide victims association explains the danger of the drug to three Young women in the slums of Belo Horizone Brazil. At left a child uses special equipment to draw a picture in a German institution for thalidomide victims in 1967. A amps flip researchers test drug for War on aids Norw Jetor Ore by John Barbour the associated press he thousands of deformed thalidomide babies those that survived would be in their 40s and 50s now awful Estimo to the wide use of a drug b it had been proved Safe effective and potent. Thalidomide a powerful tranquil Izer that seer led convenient to curb morning sickness in pregnant women was effective All right. But never Safe. The drug was banned Over most of the world. It was never approved for use in the United states thanks to the Diligence of scientists at the food and drug administration who were keenly attuned to Early reports of birth damage from Europe. But now scientists Are discovering the old bugbear is useful in a number of stubborn diseases for which there Are few effective remedies leprosy Lupus rheumatoid arthritis. And it helps control one s immune system which tends to reject foreign tissue when it is transplanted into a Host. Now too researchers at Rockefeller University in new York Are planning to test it on tuberculosis and aids. Scientists have Learned much More about How thalidomide works. It controls a particular part of the immune response called tumor necrosis Factor or inf produced by the macrophages those cells in the immune system that engulf and kill invasions of viruses and bacteria. Just by its name one knows that this substance attacks tutors which is Good. But there can be too much of a Good thing. Too much inf produces a number of symptoms such As debilitating fever fatigue and weight loss a sign that the immune system is fighting itself. _ that happens when Strong agents Are used to combat the leprosy Baci i. Thalidomide knocks Down this complication of leprosy treatment. Both his and to stimulate the body s production of the tumor necrosis Factor. So now they want to determine whether taming the inf can Aid in those disease treatments As . Gilla Kaplan of Rockefeller University who has worked with thalidomide in continuing studies of leprosy treatment says Quot we re talking about using thalidomide for critically ill people such As those with cancer aids to or those with endotoxin Quot in Kaplan s Laboratory thalidomide a has engendered dramatic Veight gain and reductions of fever in people with aids and tuberculosis. Experiments have indicated that thalidomide can Stop his replication in certain Laboratory Celt lines As Well As in blood cells taken from patients and grown in culture. Rockefeller researchers say they Are giving thalidomide to ads patients both with and without tuberculosis Quot to further explore the promising indications that thalidomide might provide Ari effective new therapy in the fight against the stars and stripes m tuesday october 4,1994 the stars and str1pe5 17
