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Curran estimates that for each of the 12,000 cases of AIDS reported so far in the U.S., there are at least five to ten cases of ARC. Sample studies based on blood tests suggest that an additional 500,000 to 1 million Americans are symptomless carriers of the virus. What will happen to this group is the object of much speculation and study. "That's the million-dollar question," says Dr. Michael Lange of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. The guess is that 5% to 10% of people who do not have symptoms...
Researchers are hunting for clues to why one person develops the disease while others merely harbor the virus. Some investigators suspect that additional viral infections may play a role as accomplices or triggers. The main suspects: Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus (both members of the herpes family) and the virus that causes hepatitis B. The difficulty, says Lange, comes in determining whether such viruses are in fact co-agents of AIDS or merely tagalong infections...
Just how immediate a threat AIDS poses to heterosexuals is much debated. The fact is, nobody knows. "There is nothing about the biology of the virus to lead us to think anyone is immune solely on the basis of the type of sexual partner," says Volberding of San Francisco General. "Heterosexuals are clearly at risk of acquiring the disease from sexual contact." The Burk family of Cresson, Pa., is a sad case in point. Patrick, 27, a hemophiliac, contracted AIDS from a contaminated batch of blood-clotting factor, which he requires to control his condition. His wife Lauren...
...prevalence of the AIDS virus in central Africa has led researchers to speculate that the disease originated on that continent. Harvard's Essex believes the scourge got its start in monkeys, specifically the African green monkey. In sampling the blood of 200 greens from this region, Essex found that 70% of them were infected with a virus similar to the one that causes AIDS in humans. Curiously, the virus does not seem to harm the monkeys, a fact that might hold important clues for future research. Essex suspects that in the past 20 to 40 years, the virus spread from...
There has so far been just one remark able success in the otherwise losing battle to contain the spread of AIDS. That is the rapid development of tests to detect signs of the virus in donor blood. About 2% of AIDS cases in the U.S. have occurred as a result of the contamination of blood used in transfusions or in blood products like the clotting factor needed by hemophiliacs. The toll includes infants, children, even a 66-year...