THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 38 lines
After more than a decade of advances by a murderous epidemic, medical warriors combatting AIDS are about to test another new weapon.
Let us all hope that this is the medical equivalent of a nuclear bomb.
So far the AIDS epidemic has claimed 319,849 American lives and is the leading killer of U.S. men between the ages of 25 and 44.
Researchers are hopeful that their new ``therapeutic vaccine'' will stop HIV infection from turning into full-blown AIDS or at least delay the onset of the deadly disease.
Rather than preventing infection as traditional vaccines do, the new drug - Remune - may keep people already infected with HIV from developing AIDS.
The vaccine is expected to boost the body's immune system to fight the virus. Staff writer Marie Joyce reported recently that Remune might help the immune system hold the HIV invader at bay, allowing the patient to live out a normal life span without developing AIDS.
Eastern Virginia Medical School is one of 50 U.S. locations selected to hold trials for the new drug. That is good news for local HIV-infected people. And more reside here - 3,208 - than anywhere else in the state.
When it was reported last week that 50 HIV-infected people would be allowed to participate in the double-blind, three-year test of the drug, more than 100 people called to volunteer.
The large number of people asking to be included in the test indicates how desperate HIV-infected people are for good news. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta estimates that 1 million Americans are infected with HIV.
Worldwide, the epidemic is staggering. The World Health Organization estimates that 6 million people have already developed AIDS. More frightening is the WHO estimate that 18 million people are HIV-positive but not yet afflicted with AIDS.
For the sake of all, hope Remune will defeat AIDS. by CNB