Word: viruses
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...amount of evidence suggests that whenever viral infection leads to cancer or chronic disease, some sort of breakdown or weakness of the immune system plays a contributing role. For instance, organ-transplant patients whose immune systems have been suppressed by antirejection drugs have a greatly increased risk of developing virus-related malignancies. "There is a very intimate relationship between viruses and immunity," says Dr. Thomas Merigan of Stanford's school of medicine. "If our immunity is a little deficient for one reason or another, then we are more likely to have progressive disease...
This may be true of AIDS. One of the great mysteries surrounding the disease is why only some of those infected get sick while others have carried the virus in their cells for several years and have so far remained healthy. Dr. Jay Levy, an AIDS researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, cites the possible role of other infections, use of drugs, poor nutrition, stress and lack of sleep, any of which may weaken the immune system. "If the person's immune system is not compromised by such events," he says, "I believe they will be able...
Other researchers have their doubts. They point out that although the immune systems of most AIDS victims make antibodies to the virus, the antibodies do not seem to halt the progression of the disease. There are several apparent explanations...
...medical researchers hope soon to have a powerful ally in their campaign against viruses: vaccines made from genetically engineered viruses. At the NIH, Dr. Bernard Moss is using recombinant DNA techniques to convert vaccinia, a large virus that causes cowpox, into a one-shot, multidisease vaccine. He plans to insert only the antigen-coding genes of eight to ten kinds of dangerous viruses into the DNA of live but weakened vaccinia viruses. The re- engineered vaccinia would then sport the antigens of the harmful viruses, but not their ability to cause disease. Once inoculated, it would stimulate the immune system...
...message seemed particularly relevant in light of another AIDS disclosure this past week. At a symposium held by the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, two researchers who have studied the widespread transmission of the AIDS virus among heterosexuals in Haiti and Africa voiced "great concern that a similar phenomenon could happen in the developed world." Their work revealed that 89% of Haiti's AIDS victims had apparently contracted the disease through heterosexual activity -- more than double the percentage of two years ago -- while incidence of the disease among a study group of African prostitutes has jumped nearly...