Faculty Bibliography

Both vaccines have gone through the first two stages of a three-stage testing system, evaluating safety and immunologic responses. The third phase tests the vaccines' ability to protect against the disease, and the trials being planned could involve several thousand volunteers. The experiments are aimed at determining whether the vaccines can prevent infection with HIV, not whether they can prevent AIDS in people already infected with HIV. Developing an AIDS vaccine has been a top priority for public health officials around the world since 1981, shortly after AIDS was first recognized. But the goal has become more urgent as the number of people infected with HIV has surged. WHO estimates that 17 million people have been infected and 4 million have AIDS. Even a vaccine with a low degree of protection would be valuable

Now, despite reports that a World Health Organization team has found that plague did strike in two cities, Indian experts in infectious diseases maintain that the epidemic was not plague, but was due to some other as yet unidentified agent. Their contention is based largely on two points: that the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, was never isolated from any case and that the types of laboratory tests used in India are not definitive. Failure to isolate Y. pestis from any case has been one of the major puzzles of the Indian epidemic. But the lack of evidence does not exclude plague because the ability to culture the organism depends on doing the requisite bacteriological tests. But lack of an isolate does eliminate the ability to determine whether the Indian plague epidemic was due to a new strain of Y. pestis as some experts have suggested. India had not reported plague for about 30 years, leading to the mistaken belief that Y. pestis had disappeared from the country. But apparently the only thing that had disappeared was the expertise to diagnose and deal with plague. In the early days of this year's epidemic, doctors and health officials in India were scurrying to get information on plague, but officials at first refused to ask for outside help or even to accept it when offered

At the same time, however, anyone from the area with any fever resembling plague was labelled as a suspected plague case. Most of the more than 6,000 suspected plague cases reported were due to other diseases, Dr. [David Dennis] said. The measures overwhelmed the laboratories and the health system's ability to investigate the epidemic

Letters of support from well-wishers poured into Mr. [Ronald Reagan]'s home in California. But there was little comfort in reports that the 83-year-old Mr. Reagan, whose talent as a storyteller was legendary, now forgets the punch lines to some of his favorite jokes

Now, nearly six years after he left the White House, after serving two terms as president, [Ronald Reagan] has said he has Alzheimer's disease. A statement from his doctors said he was 'entering the early stages of this disease.' It is characterized by progressive mental and physical deterioration, which can occur swiftly or over a period of years. The 83-year-old Reagan recently disclosed the diagnosis through his office in Los Angeles with the same openness he displayed in discussing a variety of other ailments he suffered as governor of California and as president, including prostate enlargement and colon cancer. Many of the estimated four million Americans who have Alzheimer's disease have trouble acknowledging that they have a problem, said Dr. Calvin Hirsch, an expert in Alzheimer's disease at the University of California at Davis. 'It takes guts to do that,' he said of Reagan's disclosure. Indeed, in Reagan's case it raises speculation about how long he may have been suffering from the disease. His 1990 lapses of memory when questioned about the Iran-Contra affair were widely discussed. During the questioning he was also unable to remember the name of his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

One part of the diagnosis of the dementia of Alzheimer's disease uses a relatively simple test of the patients mental state and abilities, like this one, called the Mini Mental State Inpatient Consultation Form

Rumors of Reagan's illness had spread through political circles for months, spurred in part by visits with friends who were struck by the deterioration in his thought process. Edmund Morris, Reagan's biographer, described him as forgetting the punch line of a favorite story. Reagan's doctors said they began considering a diagnosis of Alzheimer's a year ago. One of Reagan's associates, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said Reagan 'was having a definite memory problem' two years ago, and other associates said he had changed markedly in recent months. Reagan's failing memory might be caused by other factors related to the variety of medical problems that have affected Reagan during the years, [Daniel Ruge] said. Among them are the subdural hematoma, the numerous anesthetics he had for surgery on his colon, prostate and gunshot injuries, and the period when his blood pressure fell to dangerous levels from bleeding after the assassination attempt

Former President Ronald Reagan's announcement on Nov 5, 1994 that he has Alzheimer's disease and diagnosis and treatment of the degenerative disorder are discussed

In disclosing that he had developed Alzheimer's disease, former President Ronald Reagan said he wanted to make more Americans aware of the incurable illness, which is characterized by progressive mental and physical deterioration and which affects an estimated 4 million Americans. Experts like Dr. Calvin H. Hirsch of the University of California at Davis said it is theoretically possible that Alzheimer's affected Reagan in the final months before he left the White House in January 1989, nearly six years ago. But they cautioned against overinterpretation of any anecdotes that might surface now that Reagan's diagnosis is publicly known. In an interview in 1980, Reagan talked about how his mother, Nellie, was senile 'for a few years before she died' of a stroke as a complication of arteriosclerosis at age 80. More recently, noting that his memory failed from time to time, Reagan told an associate that he wondered whether he might have inherited Alzheimer's from his mother

In disclosing that he had developed Alzheimer's disease, former President Ronald Reagan said he wanted to make more Americans aware of the incurable illness, which is characterized by progressive mental and physical deterioration and which affects an estimated 4 million Americans. Dr. Daniel Ruge, who was the White House physician in Reagan's first term, said Sunday that he did not notice any indication of Alzheimer's disease in talking to the president almost daily during the White House years. In an interview in 1980, Reagan talked about how his mother, Nellie, was senile ''for a few years before she died'' of a stroke as a complication of arteriosclerosis at age 80. More recently, noting that his memory failed from time to time, Reagan told an associate that he wondered whether he might have inherited Alzheimer's from his mother