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A vaccine developed by Genentech Inc prevented two injected monkeys from becoming infected with the AIDS virus, but experts are cautious about the experimental vaccine's possible use in humans. The vaccine is designed to stimulate the immune system to fight off the virus before it becomes infection

Dr. Daniel F. Hoth, who directs the division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., said French researchers had used a cocktail of different types of vaccines, each of which included a different component of the AIDS virus. The Genentech findings are 'a potentially very important step' toward the goal of developing an effective AIDS vaccine, Hoth said. He added, 'It's another brick in the wall we are building to show that an AIDS vaccine is feasible.' Many researchers favor a subunit vaccine for AIDS because it contains only a portion of the virus and thus is unable to cause disease. Vaccines made from the whole virus can cause disease if the virus is not killed in the preparation of the vaccine

In addition, the vaccine appeared to work against one strain of the AIDS virus. It is not known how many strains there are and whether any one vaccine would work against all of them. For example, researchers had to develop vaccines against each of the three strains of polio virus. The vaccine achieved such results in two chimpanzees. They were injected with the AIDS virus after they were given the vaccine. Dr. Daniel F. Hoth, who directs the division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., said French researchers had used a cocktail of different types of vaccines, each of which included a different component of the AIDS virus

Dr. David Gelmont, who headed the intensive care team that treated Mr. [Jim Henson] at New York Hospital, believes he died from toxic shock syndrome produced by the streptococcal bacteria. The condition is similar to the toxic shock epidemic from staphylococcal infections that struck women who used a certain kind of tampon in the early 1980's. Streptococci Group A, the type that killed Mr. Henson, also causes scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. Health officials suspect that Group A is becoming more powerful and is occurring more often. Among the unanswered questions about Mr. Henson's death are: why he became infected with the streptococcal bacteria when he did; why his immune defenses failed to check the rapid advance of the microbes; and why, among the scores of microbes that cause pneumonia, was it the streptococcus that struck him? In trying to detect pneumonia on routine examinations, physicians use their hands and ears. With the fingers of one hand placed over a rib, the physician thumps with a finger from the opposite hand to detect the usual resonant sound. A dull sound may be the clue to a patch of pneumonia in the lungs

After years of questioning the potential hazards of second-hand smoke, a growing number of scientists and health officials are becoming persuaded that the dangers are real, broader than once believed and parallel those of direct smoke

Doctors probably did not begin swearing to the Hippocratic oath until about 1100. But ''it is as hard to find a carefully researched history of the oath as it is to find out its current use,'' said Dr. Albert R. Jonsen, who heads the department of medical history and ethics at the University of Washington in Seattle. ''There is a lot of mythology about the oath,'' he said. The basic axiom of medical ethics, ''above all, do no harm,'' is often attributed to the oath. But the axiom comes from another Hippocratic work, ''Epidemics.'' I will not be ashamed to say ''I know not,'' nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery

Lawrence K. Altman reviews 'The Atlas of Human Anatomy' by Frank H. Netter

ATLAS OF HUMAN ANATOMY. By Frank H. Netter

New research by Luc Montagnier, the French co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, has suggested that a microbe may be an accomplice in the disease's killing of human cells. The microbe is a mycoplasma with no cell wall

Also, because much of the flavor we get from food is in its smell, not its taste, the words taste and odor are often misused. In this case, what the woman perceived as taste actually was an odor. The surgeon was stumped. He referred her to another otolaryngologist, Dr. Donald Leopold, who directs a unit at the State University of New York Health Science Centre in Syracuse. It specializes in taste and smell disorders. With the doctors' prompting, the woman realized the taste she had difficulty describing was the odor of stale fish. 'She never figured it out on her own,' Leopold said