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About 1 percent of all people infected are ''slow progressors,'' who take decades to get sick. The reasons are unknown, but some have genetic mutations that disable the receptors on the outside of the CD-4 immune system cells to which the virus attaches. The man in New York, who is clearly a fast progressor, has a ''dual-tropic'' strain of the virus, which means it can attach to two types of receptors, which are nicknamed the R5 and X4 receptors, on the outside of the CD-4 cell. In the vast majority of people who get infected, said Dr. Robert C. Gallo, a co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, the first infections are attached to the R5 receptors. Only after several years do the X4 receptors kick in, and then the patient's condition often worsens quickly

About 1 percent of all people infected are 'slow progressors,' who take decades to become sick. At the other end of the spectrum will be 1 percent to 2 percent who are 'fast progressors,' who go to full-blown AIDS -- meaning low numbers of CD-4 immune-system cells and opportunistic infections such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia - - in months. The average time between infection and AIDS is seven to 10 years. The New York man, who is clearly a fast-progressor, has a 'dual- tropic' strain of the virus, which means it can attach to two types of receptors, nicknamed the R5 and X4 receptors, on the outside of the CD-4 cell. In a vast majority of infected people, said Dr. Robert Gallo, a co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, the first infections are attached to the R5 receptors. Only after several years do the X4 receptors kick in, and then the patient often goes downhill quickly

On the day after the announcement a rare strain of the AIDS virus was found in a New York City man, scientists said much work needed to be done to assess just how dangerous the virus is. Anthony Fauci, a prominent AIDS researcher and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he had seen cases where two sexual partners had been infected by the same strain and 'one does reasonably well, and the other progresses fulminantly' - meaning the immune system of the second person collapses rapidly. At the other end of the spectrum will be one to two per cent who are 'fast progressors,' who go to full-blown AIDS - meaning very low numbers of CD-4 cells and opportunistic infections like pneumocystis carinii pneumonia - in months. The average time between infection and AIDS is seven to 10 years

The strain, A/California/7/2004 (H3N2), was first identified from a specimen taken from a patient who had influenza in September, said Dr. Carol Glaser, chief of the viral branch of the California Department of Health Services. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta identified the strain as a new one in January, Glaser said. On Thursday at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, a panel of influenza experts recommended including the California strain in next season's vaccine. The panel meets twice a year to try to match the strains included in the vaccine recommended for each hemisphere with those expected to be circulating in those hemispheres during the next season. The vaccine is produced in sequential steps. The manufacturers start about January with the strain that they least expect to be changed, then move to the second strain. In a third step, they produce the newest strain, expected by the end of March. Then they produce the entire vaccine

In May 2003, the man tested negative for H.I.V., health officials said. Investigators believe he contracted H.I.V. in October 2004, when he engaged in unprotected anal sex with multiple partners while using crystal methamphetamine. The man found some of his partners on an Internet Web site, officials said, though they would not identify the site. Health officials said they were working with those who used the Web site to reach as many people as possible who might have been infected or are worried that they could have been. ''We believe that the transmission of treatment-resistant H.I.V. was a disaster waiting to happen, particularly in communities where safer sex is not practiced regularly and in light of people using drugs like crystal meth,'' Dr. [James Braun] said. ''All primary care providers in acute care settings need to know how to diagnose H.I.V. in its earliest stages and where to refer people so that new infections are properly worked up and treated.'' A rare strain of H.I.V. is resistant to three of the four classes of drugs used to treat the disease. Here is how H.I.V. replicates, and the points in the process where drugs can act

The limited epidemiological investigation in this case shows that the patient could have developed AIDS in as quickly as two months, but that it might have taken as long as 10 months, [Thomas R. Frieden] said. On average, it takes 10 years from the time a person is first infected with HIV to the development of AIDS. So for some patients AIDS can occur in months, while in others it can take 20 or more years. In May 2003, the man tested negative for HIV, health officials said. Investigators believe that he contracted HIV in October 2004, when he engaged in unprotected anal sex with multiple partners while using crystal methamphetamine. The man found some of his partners on an Internet web site, officials said, although they would not identify the site. Health officials said they were working with those who used the Web site to reach as many people who might have been infected or might be worried that they could have been. In fact, Frieden said all people newly diagnosed with HIV should be tested to see if the strain is drug-resistant. He said the means are available to conduct the tests, which are complex to perform and expensive. Frieden asked physicians to report any case in which a strain is resistant to three classes of drugs

'This case is a wake-up call,' [Thomas R. Frieden] said. 'First, it's a wake up call to men who have sex with men, particularly those who may use crystal methamphetamine. Not only are we seeing syphilis and a rare sexually transmitted disease, lymphogranuloma venereum, among these men, now we've identified this strain of HIV that is difficult or impossible to treat and which appears to progress rapidly to AIDS.'

The strain, known as A/California/7/2004(H3N2), was first identified from a specimen from a patient who had influenza in Santa Clara County in September, said Dr. Carol Glaser , chief of the California Department of Health Services' viral branch in Richmond. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta identified the strain as a new one in January, Dr. Glaser said. The standard flu shot is composed of three strains of influenza virus. The California strain will substitute for A/Fujian, Dr. [Klaus Stohr] said. The two other strains will remain the same: A/New Caledonia 20/99(H1N1), which has been included for the last six years, and B/Shanghai/361/2002, which has been included for two years

From 1951 to 1965, Dr. Crosby, who grew up in Oil City, Pa., was chief of the department of hematology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, in Washington, D.C. From 1960 to 1965, he was also chief of the cancer chemotherapy program at Walter Reed General Hospital. While Dr. Crosby was at Walter Reed, his interest in a link between anemia and a bowel disorder, sprue, led him and Heinz W. Kugler to develop a device to remove tiny pieces of tissue from the small bowel, or intestine. The device became known as the Crosby- Kugler capsule, and its patent was assigned by Walter Reed to the two inventors