NYT: Tests Pending in Cases Tied to Fierce H.I.V.

[DeepModem Mom]

Tests Pending in Cases Tied to Fierce H.I.V.
By MARC SANTORA

Published: March 30, 2005


Investigators looking into the possible spread of a virulent strain of H.I.V. detected in a New York City man have identified several patients who may have a related strain of the virus, but the investigators have cautioned that they cannot yet say if the cases are connected, health officials said yesterday.

Because of the complexity of the lab testing involved in matching strains of the virus, it could be months before health officials will be able to determine if others have indeed been infected with the dangerous strain, the officials said....

"The extent to which this strain has spread remains under investigation," said the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in its first public statement since issuing a public warning last month about the man's case.

That warning, on Feb. 11, was provoked by the case of a gay man in his late 40's who engaged in unsafe sex with many partners while he was using crystal methamphetamine, and whose strain of the virus was at once quickly advancing and resistant to many drugs. The announcement brought an immediate backlash from some prominent AIDS researchers who believed that too much was being made of a single case.

Since that time, investigators have been able to trace all of the sexual partners the man could remember by name and have now closed that part of the investigation, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city's health commissioner....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/nyregion/30aids.html

[sharonking21]

1. I'm glad they released the information . .

There has been some controversy over whether NYC should have released this information.

Some people think they are just trying to scare the gay community back into more cautious ways. I don't think that is true, by the way, although there is widespread prevention fatigue among older gay men and many younger gay men have the attitude common to all young people that they are immortal--it isn't going to happen to them, etc. or if it does, it won't be so bad now that drugs are available. These attitudes are not exclusive to the gay community, by the way. (Search your own conscience here).

I was an HIV/STD epidemiologist at a state agency until I retired recently. Had I heard of a case like this, were it fully explained yet or not, I would have considered it unethical NOT to release the information.

I will be interested in hearing about the outcome of not only the tracing of partners and concomitant tests on the genetic characteristics of their HIV, but also about any investigation into the immune system status of the original case.

Some scientists think that perhaps the index case just had an unusually disordered immune system that permitted the quick progression to AIDS. Could be, but that still doesn't explain the multifaceted resistance.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for your informed viewpoint, sharonking...

based on the interesting and important work you did.