Word: blood
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...opportunistic infections and cancers. Additionally, patients with AIDS frequently develop mental illnesses, such as dementia or meningitis, caused by the AIDS virus. Scientists believe at present that AIDS is caused by a virus similar to herpes called Human T-Lymphotrophic Virus Type III (HTLV-III) which infects the white blood cells. But while the virus has been linked to AIDS, it does not always produce the deadly and debilitating disease. Sometimes, it causes a milder illness known as AIDS-Related Complex (ARC) or has absolutely no effect...
...official tally of AIDS cases nation-wide was 20,766, as of Monday, nearly twice what it was one year ago. So far 11,384 people have died after contracting the illness. AIDS has been primarily associated with gay men, intravenous drug users and people who need frequent blood transfusions. By unofficial estimates, the number of ARC cases could range as high as 50,000, and the number of asymptomatic carriers--those who have been infected but have not displayed symptoms--could be as high as 2 million. No one is known yet to have recovered from AIDS...
When HTLV-III invades the body it infects certain white blood cells and, possibly, other cells vital to the body's defense and maintenance. The primary target known to scientists is the T-helper lymphocyte, called "the general" of white blood cells because it helps orchestrate the body's defense. The AIDS virus entwines itself in the fundamental genetic material at the cell's nucleus, where it uses the cell's own mechanisms to reproduce many-fold. The viruses then destroy that cell and escape to invade others...
Scientists hope AZT will interrupt this process by preventing the HTLV-III virus from latching onto the genetic material and multiplying, while they hope alpha interferon will keep the viruses from leaving the white blood cell and attacking others. Hirsch is hopeful about the two drugs, both of which have already been shown effective in the laboratory. But there are some indicators that AZT may hold more promise, he and others...
Unlike alpha interferon, AZT can pass through the blood-brain barrier and counteract HTLV-III viruses that have invaded the brain. This may be vital to any successful anti-viral substance that is developed, Hirsch says, because otherwise the virus will simply sequester itself in the brain, the spinal cord, and the peripheral nerves. However, he says that alpha interferon--which is known to be useful in combatting some AIDS-related cancers--may prove valuable in combination with other anti-viral drugs. "[AZT] may turn out to be more useful," he says, "although I don't think we should jump...