Immune System

Adding to a recent surge of AIDS discoveries, scientists are reporting today that a small portion of the Caucasian population is genetically protected from becoming infected with the virus that causes the disease.Scientists did not find this protection among any of the blacks they studied, suggesting that the genetic trait has traveled mainly among whites."This opens up a whole new avenue for designing both diagnostics and therapies," said Dr. Stephen O'Brien, leader of the AIDS genetics research team at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick.

A recent newspaper article said that Bob Dylan, my favorite singer, was just released from the hospital after treatment for a dangerous fungal infection called histoplasmosis. I would like to know more about histoplasmosis. How does the infection start? How is it diagnosed and treated?Infection begins when tiny spores of the histoplasmosis fungus are inhaled into the lungs. The fungus grows best on the surface of moist soils, containing bird and bat droppings. Although infection is found worldwide, in this country most cases are in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.

Cel-Sci Corp. reported yesterday that it lost $8.2 million on revenue of $438,145 for its 1997 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.In 1996, the publicly held company reported a $6.3 million loss on revenue of $322,370.Revenue for the Alexandria-based biotechnology company, which has research headquarters at the Seton Business Park in Baltimore, is largely derived from interest on investments.The company said the increased loss in 1997 was primarily the result of Cel-Sci acquiring the rights to two vaccine technologies.

Shirley Nolan, 60, a British woman who established a register of bone marrow donors in an attempt to save her young son, who suffered a rare immune system disease, died of a fatal drug overdose Sunday in Adelaide, Australia. Ms. Nolan suffered from Parkinson's disease and had vowed to take her life before the degenerative disease robbed her of the ability to commit suicide. Her son, Anthony Nolan, died 23 years ago at age 8 of Wiscott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare disease that affects the immune system.

CEL-SCI Corp. of Alexandria, Va., said yesterday that it has signed a 10-year lease for an 11,700-square-foot laboratory facility in Seton Hill Business Park.The company, which tests treatments for cancer and other immune system diseases, said it is locating the facility in Baltimore because of the "good biotech infrastructure and attractive pricing" of city-owned space.CEL-SCI expects to hire as many as 15 people, mostly professional research staff, in the next year as a result of the expansion.

Cylex Inc. will use $6.4 million of newly received venture money to boost market acceptance of a testing technology the company says helps doctors to better measure the health of a patient's immune system, the Columbia-based biotechnology company said yesterday. Using the trademarked product name of "ImmuKnow," Cylex is making and marketing a test kit doctors use to monitor the immune-system health of organ-transplant recipients. The company will next position Immu- Know as a product physicians can employ to manage the treatments of patients with cancer, Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS and other diseases that attack the immune system.

WASHINGTON -- Researchers have discovered a new virus that resembles the AIDS virus and that may be linked to diseases of the immune system.The discovery is a retrovirus, a class of viruses that implant themselves in cells and cause disease much later. It is only the third human retrovirus ever discovered.Until recently retroviruses, common in some animals, were unknown in people.Researchers said the discovery suggested that the retroviruses might play a larger role in human disease than had been thought.

Women infected with HIV may be at a more advanced stage of infection and at a higher risk of developing AIDS than men with identical results on certain blood tests, researchers are reporting.The researchers suggest that treatment guidelines, used for both sexes even though they are based on research involving only men, should be changed to recommend earlier treatment for women. But other researchers say changing treatment guidelines at this point would be premature.The recommendations are based on a study conducted at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, published today in the British medical journal Lancet.

Is there any truth to the idea that you can sweat a cold out of your system? While your body can't literally sweat out germs or toxins, in some cases exercise can be good for fighting a virus, says Dr. Tyler Cymet, who practices osteopathic medicine at Sinai Hospital. If you have a basic upper respiratory virus and are in good shape, doing something active may be beneficial. By raising the temperature of the body (which often drops slightly with a virus), working out can help your system fight the bug, Cymet says.

So you bought the family a Christmas puppy. Or worse, someone surprised you with a beribboned bundle of fur.There's not much you can do with a Christmas puppy today except fall in love. But Monday, veterinary offices will be full of people all wanting an answer to the same question: "Doesn't he need shots or something?"Here's a cheat sheet:* Health. Routine care for most puppies involves a thorough examination followed by vaccinations and wormings.Vaccines are actually weakened doses of the diseases they protect against, and they're placed in an animal to teach its immune system to recognize and destroy a stronger attack of the disease.