Word: viruses
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...most maddening -- and frightening -- aspects of the AIDS epidemic is that no one knows how many people have been infected with the deadly virus. It can lie dormant in the body for years before producing symptoms. U.S. health officials have estimated that between 950,000 and 1.45 million Americans have picked up the virus, but that is based on spotty data. Admits a federal AIDS expert: "It's just hard to take those numbers seriously...
...there is a set of numbers that may deserve to be taken seriously. Joel Hay, a health economist for the Hoover Institution at Stanford, has used a statistical tool called "back calculation" to analyze data on AIDS infections. His surprising conclusion: about 640,000 Americans carry the virus. If he is right, the epidemic, while still devastating, may be only half as widespread as generally believed...
...calculation is based on the observation that in a specific group of people carrying the AIDS virus, a certain percentage will develop symptoms within a given period of time. For example, it appears that roughly 6% will come down with the disease in the second year after infection. Since the Government has accurate figures on how many people have developed AIDS, Hay was able to work backward to figure out the number of those who carry the virus...
...industry. The drug was first synthesized in 1964 by a Government-funded scientist in Michigan who was searching for a cancer treatment. Although that application never panned out, investigators at the National Cancer Institute, along with scientists from Burroughs Wellcome, discovered in 1984 that the drug blocks the AIDS virus from reproducing. By some estimates, the help provided by the Government scientists eventually allowed Burroughs to hold its development costs to less than $100 million, in contrast to $125 million for the average drug...
...begin paying less for AZT treatment. Doctors are discovering that combining the potent antiviral drug with such other formulas as interferon (an immune- system booster) or probenecid (an antigout drug) lowers the dose of AZT necessary for effective treatment. In addition, people who are infected with the AIDS virus but show no symptoms need only about half the full-strength dose to slow the course of the disease...