Free Radical Effects -

Free Radicals and Aids

It is interesting to note that people who are HIV-positive and are showing signs of AIDS have a much higher incidence of Dupuytren's contracture than HIV negative people. In one series of articles, published in the British Medical Journal in 1990, 18 out of 50 HIV Positive men (36%) had established Dupuytren's contracture and another 6 were thought to have early thickening of the palm. One plausible reason for this extraordinarily high incidence of the condition in HIV positive people may be that free radicals are produced in excessive amounts in such people. Increased amounts of the free radical marker, malonaldehyde has indeed been found in people with HIV infection. This was reported in the Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases in 1988.