European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday november 13, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 health & science news Federal spending on aids research experts face some problem sin determining patients peril 1982 83 84 85 86 budget proposal additional recommendation Chicago Tribune graphic source Chicago Tribune news reports Washington is determining whether person has aids or has been exposed to the a Tiv ill virus has been an obstacle for researchers Ever since the virus was identified. The Only Way to begin to know whether a person has the viruses to look for the antibodies in the blood that attempt to tight it. The presence of antibodies Means Only that a person has Bee exposed Toh Tiv ii. It does t Tell whether the person still has the virus or if that person will contract  determine whether someone has aids health officials look Tor symptoms of two diseases that usually ravage victims of aids. About 85 percent of aids victims have had one or Bothof the two diseases. One is pneuma Cystis Carinio pneumonia pc parasitic lung infection. The other is a Typ of cancer known As Kaposi s Sarcoma is. One concern is that Many of the symptoms of these diseases can also occur with less threatening ailments causing people to Overlook aids As a possibility when the symptoms Snow up. Based on knowledge of pc is and information about the a Tiv ill virus Here arc some of the most common symptoms of aids swollen glands or Lymph nodes in several places at once for More than one month. Lymph nodes arc locate Don the neck under the ears and in the armpits and Groin. Discoloured or purplish lumps that appear anywhere cyclosporine treatment defended despite death of patient in Paris Paris a a French doctor who helped develop a new treatment for aids announced monday that one of his patients had died Bat he said the experimental program has town great Promise and is being expanded. Or. Philippe even of the Laennec Hospital in Paris said the patient a 38-year-old French male homosexual died saturday the Man had suffered from full blown aids for at least a year and first underwent experimental treatment with the drug cyclosporine three weeks ago even Laid in a Telephone interview. He described the Man As a desperate Case and said his death had not been unexpected Given the advanced stage of the Case and the patient s multiple infections. Even and fellow researchers or. Jean Marie an Drieu and or. Alain Venet announced at a news Confer ence oct. 29 that cyclosporine had proved effective infighting aids or acquired immune deficiency syn drome. Many doctors Here and in the United slates criticized the announcement As premature mainly because it was bated on Only eight Days of tests with two patients. The Man who died saturday was one of those  Hospital source who works with even speaking on condition of anonymity said the Man who died had been sent Home last week but returned to the Hospital a Day or two before his death even Laid the nine surviving patients at his Hospital appeared to be responding so wed to Codo Storine that the treatment was being extended this week to at least five other French hospitals. He said the number of patients in the program would grow to Between 20 and 30."what i can Tell you now As it concerns the first 10 patients we have followed under Codo Storine treat ment is that the results entirely confirm the Hopes we had he said in a television interview earlier. Cyclosporine has been used for several years to pre vent rejection of transplanted organs. The French re searchers said it also paralysed cells infected by the aids virus preventing the spread of the disease and allowing the body to rebuild its immune system. Even also revealed that another patient in the Termi Nal stages of aids was treated with cyclosporine for two Days and died despite showing a biological in  he said that death occurred two Days before the oct. 29 news conference and doctors had administered the drug with no Hope of a cure. They gave that patient the drag with his consent simply to gather biological data even added. The second patient mentioned at the news Confer ence a woman with the related condition known As ads related Complex or arc had responded very Well. Even said. She is doing very Well in so far As the t4 lymphocytes those famous cells which Are essential to aids have become completely Normal and the swollen glands the had on various parts of her body have completely disappeared after two weeks of treatment be said. The doctor said be and his fellow researchers were administering cyclosporine to three patients with aids and six with the related condition arc. The response to treatment of the other patients is currently satisfactory on the biological and clinical Levels he said. I want to remind you that we never said even if at time it was interpreted that Way that we had perfected a treatment for aids even said. We always said we had opened a new therapeutic Avenue which was of particular interest. We said it was a reasonable Hope for a  on the body or inside the Mouth anus or nasal passages and grow bigger. Loss of More than 10 pounds in less than two months without dieting or regular exercise. A general feeling of tiredness and loss of appetite possibly combined with headaches or dizziness for More than one month. High fevers or night sweats for More than a few Days. A dry cough lasting for More than a month. Bruising More easily than usual. Unexplained bleeding from any body opening. 9 Thrush a thick whitish coating inside the Mouth possibly accompanied by a sore Throat lasting for More than a week. Diarrhoea for More than two weeks. Weakness in the limbs on one Side of the body. A herpes sore lasting for More than a month. Persons carrying the Htlv-ii1 virus May also experience dangerous reactions to other virus immunizations. Since serv  and recruits arc routinely vaccinated and immunized this is a particular concern of the military. Earlier this year an army recruit came Down with cow pox after being immunized for smallpox. Com pox is the live virus used in the smallpox vaccination. The recruit was later diagnosed As having aids. People who have any of these symptoms should see u doctor immediately experts say. Chuck Vincill origin of the virus remains Uncertain Washington is researchers have Learned much about the a Tiv ill virus since it was first identified and isolated four years ago. But one thing no one knows for sure is How the virus originated. The most popular theory attributes it to the african Green Monkey which is thought to have carried some form of the virus for As icing As 50,000 years. Scientists at the National cancer Institute the first americans who isolated the a Tiv if virus and discovered that it caused aids think the virus entered humans about 20 years ago. No one is certain How it jumped from Monkey to human but there Are two possibilities. One is that the Green monkeys transmitted it by biting humans. The other stems from the fact that some africans eat Green Monkey meal and the virus could have been in the blood of the meat. From there it s thought that the virus was brought to Haiti during a cultural Exchange of 10,000 people Between that country and the african nation of Zaire part of the Green Monkey s Domain. Haiti is a favorite vacation spot for Gay american men. And researchers think that this is the Way the disease entered the United states and spread to Canada. Meanwhile africans travelling to other countries May have brought the virus with them lowly spreading k around the world. Chuck Vinch 1 in 4 very concerned poll finds new York a Only 12 percent of american surveyed said they have not Haid or read very much about aids and More than one in four Are very concerned about the disease and their own health according to a poll by Abc news. The poll also reported that 27 percent of those asked believed that acquired immune deficiency syndrome posed a threat to their health. The virus can be transmitted bisexual Contact the sharing of contaminated Needles by intravenous drug abusers and transfusions of blood an blood products. Precautions can reduce Chance of aids infection Washington sets aids n a serious growing problem but there arc precautions people can take to reduce the risk of infection say medical Autho ties from new York state the us. Department of health and the National centers for disease control. Slice the primary Means of transmission is sexual peo ple should avoid sexual Contact with anyone whose history and health status Are unknown to them. Thev should avoid sex with multiple partners or wit anyone who has had multiple partners. They should use a condom during Intercourse. Experts recommend that people avoid High risk Contact with anyone they Don t know Well. High risk Contact can include heavy kissing in which Large amounts of saliva Are exchanged. People should also not abuse intravenous drugs. The aids virus can be transmitted by sharing Needles. If an infected person passes a Needle to someone else the Needle might havea few drops of infected blood on it. People should avoid sex with anyone who abuses intravenous drugs. Prostitutes should be avoided. Besides having Many sex partners Many also abuse drugs. The aids virus does t survive Well in a clean Environ ment of is vulnerable to germ killers experts say. Per Sonal Hygiene especially after sexual Contact can help prevent contracting aids. Finally researchers say that aids is not a punishment from god and natural displays of affection should not be withheld from anyone suffering from aids. Researcher say it is almost certain that the virus can t be spread by hugging holding hands or even kissing an aids victim on the Cheek. Experts urge compassion and understanding of aids victims. Chuck Vinch