Faculty Bibliography

It was not clear whether Mr. [Nelson Mandela]'s criticism was meant to include his successor, Thabo Mbeki, who has been faulted for impeding many efforts to test and treat people in South Africa for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. When Mr. Mandela closed the last AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2000, he said the world could not afford to be distracted by the furor surrounding Mr. Mbeki, who at the time questioned whether H.I.V. caused AIDS. Mr. [Bill Clinton] said in an interview on Thursday that he regretted not having done more about AIDS as president. Today, he said he is making AIDS his main interest as he seeks to raise money for the International AIDS Trust, of which he is cochairman with Mr. Mandela

Giving nevirapine to a woman during labor and then to her newborn is considered the most feasible way to prevent transmission of HIV from an infected mother to her newborn in developing countries, [Glenda Gray] said. She said her team undertook the study because she and other pediatricians did not know how effective preventive therapy would be if they gave nevirapine only to a newborn and not to the mother. So Gray, Dr. James McIntyre and their team devised a study to compare nevirapine with AZT among newborns whose mothers chose not to take anti-HIV therapy during pregnancy or labor

The risk of infection increased if the mother breast-fed and the infant received AZT. [Glenda Gray] speculated that one reason for the difference was that AZT irritated an infant's stomach, allowing easier entry of HIV

The drug, T-20 or enfuvirtide, is a member of a new class of drugs called fusion inhibitors that attack HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. When added to combinations of standard drugs, injections of T-20 significantly reduced high levels of HIV in the blood among patients who it had been documented were infected with resistant virus compared with those who took the standard drugs. Once started, lifetime treatment of HIV is needed, AIDS experts say. But because the T-20 trials lasted 24 weeks, the long-term benefits and dangers of the drug are not known. So HIV resistance to T-20 could eventually become a problem, [Anthony S. Fauci] and other AIDS experts said. T-20 blocks HIV's cell machinery at a site different from any of the standard anti-HIV drugs. Existing anti-HIV drugs disrupt enzymes in the virus; T-20 blocks the entry of HIV into body cells. That entry, a process called fusion, releases the virus' genetic material and allows it to replicate

Giving nevirapine to a woman during labor and then to her newborn is considered the most feasible way to prevent transmission of H.I.V. from an infected mother to her newborn in developing countries, Dr. [Glenda Gray] said. She said her team undertook the study because she and other pediatricians did not know how effective preventive therapy would be if they gave nevirapine only to a newborn and not to the mother. So Dr. Gray, Dr. James McIntyre and their team devised a study to compare nevirapine with AZT among newborns whose mothers chose not to take anti-H.I.V. therapy during pregnancy or labor. The risk of infection increased if the mother breast-fed and the infant received AZT. Dr. Gray speculated that one reason for the difference was that AZT irritated an infant's stomach, allowing easier entry of H.I.V

The danger of ignorance was a main topic of the 14th International AIDS Conference, in Barcelona. Up to a half million Americans are either unaware that they are infected with the AIDS virus, not receiving treatment for it, or both

Most people infected by West Nile virus suffer a mild flulike illness or experience no symptoms at all. Data from countries where West Nile has been recognized for decades suggest that even a mild infection confers lifelong immunity. There is no human vaccine for the virus. Scientists do not know why West Nile virus has hit Louisiana harder than neighboring states. Dr. [Lyle R. Petersen] said Louisiana tended to have high numbers of mosquito-borne diseases ''simply because it is an area with a lot of water and a long mosquito season'' and an abundance of ''the kinds of mosquitoes that can potentially spread West Nile virus.'' The main reservoir of West Nile virus is birds that have been bitten by infected mosquitoes. In some areas tests have shown that virtually all dead birds were infected, and health officials no longer test dead birds for the virus. ''It makes no sense to keep testing dead birds when you know all are positive,'' Dr. Petersen said

Already, West Nile has provided some useful, and sometimes painful, information. Most disturbing is the virus' changing face. The frequency of human outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East and this country has risen over the last decade. So, apparently, has the severity of human disease. Also, at 55, the median age of West Nile encephalitis cases in this country this year seems to be a decade lower than in earlier outbreaks. The strain of West Nile virus spreading in the United States is identical to one that infected geese and humans in Israel, but no one knows how it came here. Large numbers of bird deaths from West Nile disease have occurred concurrently with human cases only in Israel and the United States, said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, an epidemiologist who specializes in studying insect-borne infections at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Israeli doctors reported the first epidemics in 1951. A large outbreak of an illness in the region in 1941 may have been West Nile fever, but documentation is lacking because diagnostic tests were not available. Later outbreaks in Israel involved nursing home patients and soldiers, but West Nile was nearly forgotten there by the end of the 20th century

The strain of West Nile virus spreading in the United States is identical to one that infected geese and humans in Israel, but no one knows how it came here. Large numbers of bird deaths from West Nile disease have occurred concurrently with human cases only in Israel and the United States, said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, an epidemiologist who specializes in studying insect-borne infections at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The strain of West Nile virus spreading in the United States is identical to one that infected geese and humans in Israel, but no one knows how it came here. Large numbers of bird deaths from West Nile disease have occurred concurrently with human cases only in Israel and the United States, said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, an epidemiologist who specializes in studying insect-borne infections at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. West Nile virus is here to stay, health officials say. Until a vaccine is developed for humans and a clearer picture emerges of how to stop the virus's spread in nature, West Nile virus is likely to move throughout the Western Hemisphere to cause anxiety, if not major public health problems. West Nile virus has spread to 36 states and the District of Columbia. Birmingham, Ala., recently sprayed to kill virus-spreading mosquitoes. (Associated Press)(pg. F1); Brenda White of the Florida Department of Health holds a dead pet macaw that the state will test for West Nile virus infection. (Reuters)(pg. F6)