A.I.D.S.-virus link further established

Press, 7 September 1984, Page 26

A.I.D.S.-virus link further established

NZPA-PA London British doctors have renewed appeals to homosexuals to stop changing partners after uncovering further strong links between a virus and the killer illness, A.I.D.S. They said they found signs of the virus among A.I.D.S. patients, their sexual contacts, homosexuals, haemophiliacs, and a small number of people who . injected themselves with drugs.

The doctors, in London and Manchester, emphasised that exposure to the virus did not necessarily mean patients would develop A.I.D.S. But they pointed out that repeated partnerswapping among some homosexuals would increase the risk of viral infection. A.I.D.S. (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) has affected more than 4000 people, including 51 in Britain, since its appearance in 1979. Many have died. The latest study, published in the “Lancet,” confirms findings by researchers in France and the United States that exposure to a virus is linked with A.1.D.5., which destroys the body’s defences against diS€3S6. The blood of 2000 people in Britain was examined for traces of the virus, known as HTLV-3. The doctors said they identified a marker for the .virus in the blood of 30 out of 31 A.I.D.S. patients. It was also detected in 89 per cent of patients suffering from persistent swelling of the glands in the neck and armpits — a sympton known as PGL, which may be related to A.I.D.S. The doctors said the virus marker was also found in 41

of 69 homosexuals with similar symptoms, or loss of weight and general feelings of malaise. It was even found among 53 of 308 homosexuals not suffering any of the classic A.I.D.S. symptons. Among a group of 184 haemophiliacs, signs of the virus were found in 63 people, some of whom had used commercial rather than NHS blood products for their condition. A check on the blood of more than 1000 donors failed to find any sign of the virus, which suggests the risk of developing A.I.D.S. from NHS blood products may be significant only if they have been imported. It is emphasised that a test for the virus is not the same as a test for A.I.D.S. Other agents probably have to be present for it to develop. Dr Richard Tedder, a microbiologist at the Middlesex Hospital, said homosexuals should limit the number of their partners. “If you sleep around you stand a much higher chance of infection from the virus — it is as simple as that. “We are not making any moral judgments, just pointing out the medical facts,” he said.