Faculty Bibliography

For years, scientists have known that H.I.V. rapidly invades the lymph nodes and lymph tissues that are abundant throughout the gut, or intestines. The gut becomes the prime site for replication of H.I.V., and the virus then goes on to deplete the lymph tissue of the key CD4 H.I.V.-fighting immune cells. Dr. [Anthony S. Fauci], James Arthos, Claudia Cicala, Elena Martinelli and their colleagues showed that a molecule, integrin alpha-4 beta-7, which naturally directs immune cells to the gut, is also a receptor for H.I.V. A protein on the virus's envelope, or outer shell, sticks to a molecule in the receptor that is linked specifically to the way CD4 cells home in on the gut, the researchers said. ''The work we did took nearly two years, and there's little doubt that what we have found is a new receptor,'' Dr. Fauci said in an interview after giving a lecture here, adding that ''we certainly have to learn a lot more about it.''

''It's likely that some cultural influences are involved, and I am sure that people are doing what their grandmothers and aunties did in practices carried through generations,'' Dr. [Kenneth L. Dominguez] said. The first two cases involved boys from Miami infected in the mid-'90s. One boy's infection was detected when he was 39 months old, shortly before his death, after previously testing negative for the virus twice. The mother, who was infected, reported pre-chewing food for the boy. The second boy's mother was uninfected but lived with an infected aunt who pre-chewed his food. He survives. In the third case, a girl from Memphis was found to be infected in 2004 at 9 months old after testing negative for the virus three times. Her mother was infected and pre-chewed food for her daughter

''Making breast feeding safe is an urgent need,'' Dr. Taha Taha, a researcher from Johns Hopkins who led a study in Malawi, said at a news conference. ''Breast feeding has proved to be a major stumbling block in preventing further H.I.V. transmissions from mother to child,'' said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. ''The next series of studies will need to determine the optimal time for treating mothers and infants,'' said Dr. Fauci. whose agency paid for the fifth breast-feeding study

In the study, all the men and women agreed in writing to participate after they were informed about other ways to prevent HIV infection, wound care and abstention from sex after the surgical circumcision. The men were offered free condoms and the couples were counseled and tested for HIV. There were 1,015 HIV-infected men who agreed to having circumcision immediately or waiting two years for purposes of a scientific control group. The timing was chosen at random, researchers said

For many years, epidemiologists observed that the incidence of AIDS was higher in areas of Africa where men were not circumcised and lower in areas where men were circumcised. But many scientists were skeptical that circumcision played a role in acquiring H.I.V. Then in recent years, three scientifically controlled studies in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda convinced the skeptics by showing that male circumcision could reduce the risk of H.I.V. infection by 50 percent to 60 percent. Male circumcision took on new importance because of the failure of scientists to develop a vaccine to prevent AIDS. The success rates of male circumcision were high enough for many AIDS experts to call the procedure a virtual ''vaccine.'' In the study reported here, all the men and women agreed in writing to participate after they were informed about other ways to prevent H.I.V. infection, wound care and abstention from sex after the surgical circumcision. The men were offered free condoms and the couples were counseled and tested for H.I.V. There were 1,015 H.I.V.-infected men who agreed to having circumcision immediately or waiting two years for purposes of a scientific control group. The timing was chosen at random, researchers said

Scientists said they were surprised by the finding because they had believed that mutations of this type generally made the virus less potent and less easily spread among people. The predominant influenza virus circulating this winter is influenza A/H1N1. The Tamiflu-resistant form of the virus, known as influenza A(H1N1 H274Y), has been found with varying frequency in four European countries, Canada and the United States. There are no immediate plans to recommend changes in the use of Tamiflu, which is also known as oseltamivir, officials from WHO and the United States said, because the incidence of the mutant virus is still small. Tamiflu is one of the antiviral drugs used to treat influenza in its early stages. In the United States, the Tamiflu-resistant strain was found in 9 of 237, or 3.8 percent, of patients from whom influenza type A and B viruses were isolated this winter, and all 9 were in the A(H1N1) category, or 6.7 percent of the 135 cases in that category, [Alicia Fry] said

Scientists said they were surprised by the finding because they had believed that mutations of this type generally made the virus less potent and less easily spread among people. The predominant influenza virus circulating this winter is influenza A/H1N1. The Tamiflu-resistant form of the virus, known as influenza A(H1N1 H274Y), has been found with varying frequency in various areas of four European countries, Canada and the United States. There are no immediate plans to recommend changes in the use of Tamiflu, which is also known as oseltamivir, officials from the W.H.O. and the United States said in interviews, because the incidence of the mutant virus is still small. Tamiflu is one of the antiviral drugs used to treat influenza in its early stages. In the United States, the Tamiflu resistant strain was found in 9 of 237, or 3.8 percent of patients from whom influenza type A and B viruses were isolated this winter, and all 9 were in the A(H1N1) category, making them 6.7 percent of those 135 cases, Dr. [Alicia Fry], said in a telephone interview

The standard influenza vaccine still protects against the mutant virus, said Hayden and Dr. Alicia Fry, an influenza epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.