arndt@lymph.DEC (09/08/84)
The Wall Street Journal, Sept.4th issue (or as he would call it, the
Wall Street Urinal).
Front page, "Long Shots The Race to Develop Vaccine Against AIDS Mobilizes
Researchers"
Presis:
Identification of the virus Htlv-111 (Called Lav in France) believed
responsible for AIDS "was the breakthrough that changed a medical mystery into
a practical problem that may someday be solved."
"Conquering AIDS won't be easy. 'It may be a disease for which we
can't immunize' warns William Haseltine of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston."
"AIDS is a stealthy target. It belongs to a family of so-called
retroviruses that can hide in latent form like a time bomb, passing disease
from even healthy carriers via blood or semen. Some scientists think the
virus may also live in saliva." (For those of you who saw the T.V. program
hosted by Ed Asner about AIDS, the doctor on there said he felt that it was
NOT passed by saliva. Of course at the end Ed assured us that AIDS is not
the wrath of God - Has he been speaking with God lately?) "With retroviruses
Dr. Haseltine says, 'Once you're infected, you're probably always infected'."
(That answeres one netters question as to what else besides herpes lasts
forever.)
"AIDS ALSO APPEARS TO BE A MOVING TARGET. EVEN AS SCIENTISTS HASTEN
THEIR WORK, THE VIRUS IS MUTATING, MAKING VACCINE-DEVELOPMENT TRICKIER, says
Flossie Wong-Staal of the National Cancer Institute, who plans to publish her
findings soon.(Italics mine. Some conjecture that the recent outbreak of AIDS
is BECAUSE the virus has mutated and that it COULD mutate still further so that
an outbreak not unlike the flu could happen among the general public!!!)
(And that answers a private mail question that held that AIDS was very hard
to transmit)
****"AIDS, furthermore, may jump the boundaries of usual risk groups -
homosexuals, Haitian immigrants, intravenous drug abusers and blood recipients
to be passed by HETEROSEXUAL contact. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control
cites 40 such cases in the U.S. that mimic the widespread heterosexual AIDS
that has been found in Africa. 'What we're going to see are great increases of
women with heterosexually transmitted AIDS,' predicts James Curran, the head
of AIDS activity in the CDC. All this may mean, 'we'll have to think more
about a vaccine for the GENERAL POPULACE', says Myron Essex of the Harvard
School of Public Health."
(Any experimental vaccine must undergo animal tests, human clinical trials,
and commercial production before those most vulnerable can receive inoculation.
However, to quote from the Journal article again, "NEW AND DISTURBING
INTELLIGENCE COMPLICATES VACCINE PLANS. RECENTLY, SAN FRANCISCO RESEARCHERS
REPORTED THAT THE MAJORITY OF PROMISCUOUS HOMOSEXUALS TESTED THERE ALREADY
HAVE ANTIBODIES AGAINST AIDS VIRUS - RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER THEY
WOULD EVEN BENEFIT FROM A VACCINE." This was reported in my posting,
antibodies show the disease is in the body, and the body CAN'T fight it
off even with current medical help. Remember, a vaccine is NOT a cure.
AIDS can take up to FOUR years to surface! How about that for an incubation?
At least the "Orient Express" (NSU) took only four DAYS out of port before
the unlucky sinner started to bend the pipes over the urinal. <--A Sea story.
One of the first steps in producing a vaccine may have been reached:
See the August 25 issue of Science, p.121. "First chimps infected with
AIDS virus" Work done at the Center for Disease Control)
--------------------------------------------------
But read the rest of the article for yourself. I publish it for general
information, not gloating at the misfortune of those who must accept the
consequences of their choices or flaming at anyone, but to rebut those like
Dick Dunn who close their eyes to what is before them and claim that I am
using "invented" data.
We need cures, comfort for those afflicted, behavior changes (promiscuous
behavior), a rethinking of the "party line" about gay lifestyles, and a
willingness to face the fact that if not "God" or "Nature" something is
leaving a message that there is a "Serpent in Paradice".
Ignore, enjoy (for a while anyway), what do I know?
Ken Arndt