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