Word: agent
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Then came another clue: reports of drug abusers, most of them heterosexual, coming down with AIDS. This added credence to the theory that a virus or some other infectious agent, transmitted by dirty needles as well as by sexual contact, might be the cause. This conjecture was supported by evidence that sexual partners of drug users, and even a few children of those with the disease, had contracted what seemed to be AIDS. So had a few hemophiliacs and blood-transfusion recipients. One baby in San Francisco with symptoms of AIDS, it was discovered, had been given blood from...
...strongest evidence that an infectious agent was on the loose came from what has been called the Los Angeles cluster. Interviewing victims, investigators began compiling the names of their sex partners. Three different men, none of whom knew each other, each mentioned the same man in New York City; he turned out to be an AIDS victim. Since then, 40 cases in ten cities have been linked to one another by sexual relationships...
...Haitian connection is still puzzling. The disease apparently broke out on the impoverished Caribbean isle in 1981, at about the same time as it did in the U.S. Some experts suspect that AIDS is caused by a newly introduced viral agent from Africa, where Kaposi's is common, and may have been transmitted by Haitians who once worked in Zaïre. Port-au-Prince has many popular gay bars, and the disease could have been brought back to the U.S. by visiting Americans?or taken to Haiti by Americans in the first place. Recent investigations suggest that the disease...
Based on what is known so far, two theories have emerged. One is that AIDS is caused by a specific agent, most probably a virus. "The infectious-agent hypothesis is much stronger than it was months ago," says Curran, reflecting the prevailing opinion at CDC. NIH Researcher Fauci, who staunchly believes that the culprit is a virus, has been collecting helper T-cells from AIDS victims to look for bits of viruses within their genetic codes. So far, however, this and other complex methods of detecting viruses have yielded nothing conclusive. Suspicion focuses on two viruses: one is a member...
...from spreading here? I don't know." Thus research work on Ebola at Atlanta's Maximum Containment Lab goes on. Another potential threat is a subviral particle that combines with the hepatitis-B virus to cause more severe infections and liver cancer. Discovered in 1977, this so-called Delta agent is starting to show up in high-risk groups, including some of the same ones who develop AIDS. Even the victory over smallpox permits no complacency. In its place, a disease called monkeypox has erupted in Africa. "It's probably a disease that's been around a long time...