Researchers claim A.I.D.S. breakthrough

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 10

Researchers claim A.I.D.S. breakthrough

NZPA-Reuter Washington

American medical researchers believe that they have discovered the probable cause of A.I.D.S. and say a vaccine to combat the disease which has struck down large numbers of homosexuals might be developed within two years. But the announcement by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mrs Margaret Heckler, failed to make clear whether credit for the breakthrough lay with Washington’s National Institutes of Health or the French Pasteur Institute, which has made a similar discovery.

The announcement was greeted with cautious hope by a representative of San Francisco’s big homosexual community. Tom Waddell, a homosexual activist, welcomed the news but said, “Certainly a lot of us will die between now and when the vaccine is discovered.”

A.1.D.5., Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, destroys its victims’ immunity and leaves them open to ravaging diseases which can lead to death. Mrs Heckler told a news conference, “Today’s discovery represents the triumph of science over a dreaded disease... today we add another miracle to the long honour roll in American medicine and science.”

She said that a blood test for A.I.D.S. could be found within six months which would prevent tainted blood being used in transfusions. Scientists say that A.I.D.S. is apparently carried in human body fluids, including blood, and that homosexuals are especially susceptible through sexual con-

Of at least 4000 Americans who have contracted the disease since it was identified in 1981 more than 1700 have died.

Apart from homosexuals, A.I.D.S. also attacks drug addicts, haemophiliacs, and people from poor communities in Third World societies such as Haiti and central Africa. The National Cancer Institute team headed by Dr Robert Gallo said that they had tracked the cause of A.I.D.S. to a variant of a blood cancer cell known as Human T-Cell Leukaemia Virus. The virus attacked Tcells, which are an important part of the human immunity system. Dr Gallo acknowledged that the French Pasteur Institute had also apparently found the cause of the disease in a virus which it has called Lav, or Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus. He said that the two viruses might prove to be the same, and if so he would be happy to recognise that the French had made the discovery first.

He said that samples of the viruses were being exchanged by the two laboratories and it might be known within a few weeks whether they were the same.

Dr Dean Echenberg, a San Franciscan epidemiologist, said, “We should be thankful that we have reached this next step (but) we should not lose sight of things we can do today to prevent A.1.D.5.” San Francisco, spurred by panic at the spread of the disease among homosexuals, introduced a ban last month on sexual activity in bathhouses and sex clubs where homosexuals gather.