The Lancet Medical Journal,
December 22/29, 1984, p.1418-1419, Doctor Robert C. Gallo; Partner 3
was a 61-year old caucasian woman with none of the commonly recognised risk
factors for AIDS. Her husband, patient
3, had transfusion-associated AIDS manifest as unexplained fevers, weight loss,
lymphadenopathy, and invasive
oesophageal candidiasis. He had
received 30 units of blood products during abdominal aortic surgery 3 years
previously. He had leucopenia,
lymphopenia, decreased T4 helper lymphocytes, anergy on skin-testing to recall antigens, and
polyclonal hypergammaglobulinaemia.
Antibody to HTLV-III was detected in his serum and virus was recovered
from his peripheral blood cells. The
couple had not had sexual intercourse for 3 years, since the patient was
rendered impotent by the operation that repaired his abdominal aorta, but had
had exchange of saliva by kissing during that time. Partner 3 was entirely normal on physical examination and had a
normal laboratory profile. Antibody to
HTLV-III was not detected but her peripheral blood lymphocytes and saliva
yielded infectious HTLV-III by transmission techniques.
JAMA Medical News, Nov.
22/29, 1985, p.2867;
"One is sexual predominantly homosexual contact in this country. This
accounts for almost three quarters of the reported cases."
Dr. Paul H. Black, Boston University, The New England Journal
of Medicine, Dec. 12, 1985. p. 1539; "...The special features of
persistent infection in the brain, coupled with the difficulty of bringing
adequate concentrations of drugs to this locus across the blood-brain barrier,
will make eradication of HTLV-3 infection of the
central nervous system very difficult, if not impossible."
Dr. David L. Cohn, Denver Disease
Control; "I want to tell you something about a cure for AIDS-it's basically unrealistic. Because of the
unusual way the AIDS virus multiplies within the lymph cells, every case can
potentially be a different strain. For each case of AIDS, there is probably as
many different mutations of the virus. If a vaccine were developed for one
strain of the AIDS virus, the virus would soon mutate and the vaccine would be
ineffective. In addition to its high rate of mutation, the AIDS virus
multiplies up to 1,000 times faster than other
viruses."
Dr. Paul E. Kaldahl, Pathologist,
Oklahoma City, Ok; "...One could not have consciously invented a more
astounding virus than HTLV-3. An RNA retrovirus, lentivirus
family, it infects human T-lymphocytes and human
brain cells. The viral RNA, in the presence of a virus produced enzyme. reverse
transcriptase, transcribes its own genetic code
into the nuclear DNA of the infected lymphocyte and/or brain
cell. This reversely transcribed imprint is a permanent genetic code. Anytime
the lymphocyte or brain cell divides, the genetic code is given to the daughter
cells. For reasons unknown, the genetically altered
lymphocytes may become AIDS virus producing
factories, making the AIDS virus (RNA) from their altered nuclear DNA. The
newly produced AIDS virus goes on to infect other cells...Because orf the unique ability of the lentivirus to rapidly
change its chemical structure, altering its antigenic coat, experts believe that it will be very
difficult to produce an effective vaccine. Some have already said that it might
be impossible."
Dr. H. Hunter Handsfield American Journal of Public Health Dec.
1985, p. 1449; "In Seattle, where up to one-third
of gay men are infected with the AIDS virus, a
marked reduction in high-risk sexual contacts from 10 to two partners annually
still confers a 55 percent risk of exposure; in San Francisco, where two-thirds
of gay men may be infected, thee would be an 89 percent chance of
exposure."
Dr. WiliamA. Haseltine. Newsweek, Sept. 12. 1985, p. 20; "Once infected {with AIDS}, a person is
infectious. It's not safe to assume otherwise."
Dr. Richard Restak, Washington Post, Sept. 8, 1985, p. C4; At
this point live AIDS virus has been isolated from blood, semen, serum, saliva,
urine and now tears. If the virus exists in these fluids, the better part of
wisdom dictates that we assume the possibility that it can also be transmitted
by these routes."
JAMA Medical News, Nov. 22/29, 1985, p. 2866; "A recent report from the Pasteur Institute in Paris by the investigators who originally isolated the lymphadenopathy virus suggests that AIDS virus might be pretty tough (Lancet 1985; 1:721-722). The French study finds that virus survives ten days at room temperature even when dried out in as petri dish."
JAMA Medical News, Nov.
22/29,1985, p. 2867; "Finally, about 6 percent
of the adult cases of AIDS and, as noted before, about 6 percent of the cases
in children occur in persons who do not fall into any of the known risk
groups."
JAMA Medical News, Nov.
22/29,1985, p. 2867; "To date, the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type
III that has been associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome has been
isolated from: Peripheral blood, lymph nodes, brain tissue, cerebrospinal
fluid, tears, bone marrow, cell-free plasma, saliva, semen {and peripheral
nerve}."
JAMA Medical News, Nov.
22/29, 1985, p. 2866; "Although it is now known that blood used for
transfusion is being screened for antibody to the virus, thee have been cases
where persons have been tested and found to be negative for the antibody and
yet positive for the virus. The blood from such persons would therefore not be
identified by the present antibody screening test and could normally be
available for transfusion."