One of the most promising announcements regarded FTC, a new drug that appears to shut down the ability of the AIDS virus to reproduce. Because medications that treat HIV infection are potentially toxic and difficult to administer to newborns, earlier diagnostic and prognostic information could be critically important, says Emory researcher Ronald Reisler. David Rimland, Emory professor of medicine and director of the Georgia Research Center on AIDS and HIV at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, reported that preventive antibiotics greatly reduced the incidence of disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex. DMAC is the most common bacterial infection in people with HIV in the United States. In his study of 1,600 AIDS patients treated with rifabutin and azithromycin, DMAC incidence declined from 11.6 cases per 100 in 1994 to one case per 100 in 1997.
Memory cells remember exposure to a specific antigen and react if exposed again.
Naive cells are available to react to new exposures. Without them, HIV-positive patients may be unable to fight new infections. In four studies of HIV-1 in vaginal secretions, he determined that the virus was produced vaginally and was not simply leaking into vaginal secretions through the blood. Developers of anti-HIV vaccines would also need to take into account any significant differences between viruses in the blood and in genital secretions. This report provides substantial evidence for the entry of HIV-1 into the human population at least ten years earlier than previously believed.