In Memoriam: Larry Waites, M. D.

Larry Waites, M. D., a leader in testing experimental HIV
treatments and in the movement for patient empowerment, died on
July 20 of congestive heart failure, due to a hereditary heart
problem complicated by AIDS.

Dr. Waites ran a very successful pediatric practice in San
Francisco for eight years, then became interested in AIDS after
the death of a close friend in 1987. While maintaining his
practice, he went back to school for a masters degree in health
administration, hoping to become AIDS administrator for San
Francisco. He earned the degree but did not get the job.
Instead he joined Alan Levin, M. D., and Vera Byers, M. D.,
Ph.D., in their HIV medical group, Positive Action HealthCare.
Positive Action was controversial because it advocated lower AZT
doses (the dose currently in use -- which they determined by
measuring p24 antigen responses to treatment), and earlier AZT
use (with T-helper counts above 200), long before these became
standard in U. S. medical care. Especially controversial was its
advertising to encourage people to get early treatment -- long
before mainstream AIDS organizations did the same thing.

Dr. Waites' main project at the time of his death was
studies of lymphocyte transfer from healthy individuals to
patients with HIV. He used this procedure with identical twins
with good results, and believed it could be extended to siblings
with only a partial genetic match. He did not test this with
patients, however, due to delays in obtaining funding for the
research. Dr. Waites carried out other immune-restoration work,
including studies with PEG IL-2, a substance no longer being
manufactured because of the expense (studies are testing new ways
to use ordinary IL-2 instead). He also worked with another
immune-system drug, THF.

Dr. Waites' most controversial study was the first trial of
anti-HIV use of "compound Q"; he was one of the physicians who
treated patients in the 1989 "underground" study run by Project
Inform, when there was much early enthusiasm for the treatment,
but the mainstream trials then planned could not have given an
answer quickly. Compound Q is still being tested in human
trials.

Dr. Waites emphasized food safety and infection-control
precautions for himself and other AIDS patients. He never drank
tap water anywhere, and used a dust mask when traveling by plane,
or in other crowded, poorly ventilated spaces. He always
bleached vegetables before making salads, never ate salads in
restaurants, and insisted that restaurant meat be well done --
often sending back steaks when they were not. (For more
information on food safety, nutrition, and other basic health
advice, see HIV Disease Nutrition Guidelines; Practical Steps for
a Healthier Life, a recent pamphlet developed by the Physicians
Association of AIDS Care and underwritten by Stadtlanders
Pharmacy; for a free copy, call 800/238-7828.) These and other
precautions evidently worked for him, as he was able to continue
his work, traveling, lecturing, etc., despite having a T-helper
count around six for the last two years of his life.

Dr. Waites also urged stress reduction, such as some form of
meditation, and exercise, even for many patients confined at
home. He encouraged patients to be educated and involved in
their treatment if they wanted to, and would look into treatments
they suggested that he was not familiar with. He emphasized that
HIV is not an automatic death sentence, and that "the cup is half
full, not half empty."

A memorial service for Dr. Waites will be held at 4 p. m.
Saturday August 28 at the First Unitarian Church, at Franklin and
Geary Streets in San Francisco.