From: Billi Goldberg <bigoldberg@igc.org>
Subject: Houston Post Article dated 7/17/92
Note: non-commercial reproduction.
Archive-Number: 5739
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 16:36:52 PDT

The following information has been summarized and excerpted from the 
Friday, July 17, 1992, edition of The Houston Post with the permission 
of the authors, Tom Curtis and Patricia Manson.  

This article is not copyrighted.

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SCIENTISTS URGE SCREENING OF POLIO VACCINE FOR HIV

A controversial theory that AIDS may have been spawned by a polio 
vaccine tested in Africa more than 30 years ago finally seems to be 
headed for scientific analysis.

A co-chairman of a committee of scientists said Thursday it will 
recommend testing samples of a polio vaccine found at The Wistar 
Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philadelphia.  They would be 
screened for the virus believed to cause AIDS, as well as for precursor 
viruses.

"Basically we think we should leave no stone unturned" in examining the 
theory that the possibly contaminated vaccine somehow introduced AIDS 
into humans, said Dr. Claudio Basilico, a co-chairman of the committee.

Basilico said it still was not clear which, if any, of the samples found 
in freezers at the Wistar were from the tests conduction in Africa.

The five-member committee was appointed in March by Wistar, whose former 
director developed a poliovirus vaccine that was tested on about 325,000 
people in central equatorial Africa from 1957 to 1960.

That region of Africa is among the areas with the highest percentages of 
people who test positive for the AIDS virus, and where many scientists 
believe AIDS entered the human population.
  
The vaccines were weakened polio viruses grown in a medium--primary 
monkey kidney tissue--from monkey species now known to be susceptible to 
infection with a number of viruses.

These viruses include lentiviruses, the subfamily of viruses containing 
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) believed to cause AIDS.  Those 
viruses also include simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a retrovirus 
cousin of the HIV.  Some scientists now speculate that SIV and HIV may 
be the same virus.

In March, workers began combing through Wistar's biological freezers and 
freezer rooms in a search for specimens of the Congo vaccine.  About the 
same time, Wistar officials appointed the committee of scientists to 
look at the theory linking the vaccine to the origin of AIDS in humans.

However, in a May press release, Wistar officials described the idea as 
"a highly speculative theory."  And Thursday, Basilico--like many others 
in the medical establishment--also discounted the theory, saying the 
committee thinks "the probability of this even occurring is extremely 
unlikely."

Basilico also played down the implications of the theory, even if it is 
proved to be true.

"It's really an interesting possibility, but if it is true, what will it 
do to help us fight AIDS?...the present epidemic is not going to be 
solved by this," said Basilico, chairman of the Department of 
Microbiology at New York University School of Medicine.

But he said the final decision on whether to act on the committee's 
recommendations will rest with Wistar, the oldest private, nonprofit 
biomedical research and training institute in the nation.

Wistar officials were not available for comment Thursday.

Basilico made his comments Thursday afternoon after four of the five 
committee members met at New York University.  The committee will issue 
a final report by Sept. 15, he said.

Many details of the committee's recommendation that polio vaccine 
samples be tested remain to be worked out, Basilico said.

"In all frankness, it may not be all that easy to find people to do this 
testing because it's a lot of work," he said.  He said it probably would 
be too expensive to test all of the samples found, which number "no more 
than 100."

At least one scientist is eager to do the work and said he would perform 
it for free.

Robert C. Bohannon said he was prepared to test at least 100 samples for 
numerous viruses, including HIV.

Bohannon is director of research for Onasco Companies Inc., a maker of 
vaccines and diagnostic kits for AIDS and AIDS-like viruses.
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Newsgroups: sci.med.aids