Virus

PHILADELPHIA - Smallpox once was mankind's most deadly natural enemy, having killed more people in history than any other disease - 300 million in the 20th century alone. Though it was officially eradicated in 1980, concern over its use as a biological warfare agent has prompted the U.S. government to take an enormous interest in the virus. "One day there was this slew of poxvirus requests for applications," said Stuart Isaacs, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania. "I nearly fell out of my chair."

Carroll Hospital Center had no new cases yesterday of an infectious stomach virus that sent 10 people to the hospital and sickened a dozen of the staff over the holiday weekend. "By late Sunday evening, things seemed really bad," said Brenda Kitchen, infection control coordinator at the Westminster hospital. "We had a lot of staff calling in sick and 10 patients with symptoms." In addition to dealing with an "unusual number of patients at the same period of time and on the same unit," the hospital also had 12 employees out sick Monday, Kitchen said.

More good news arrived in regard to the outbreak of the equine herpes Type 1 virus in Maryland yesterday. The horse suspected of having the virus at the Bowie Training Center has tested negative for the disease. On Feb. 1, the horse, which is trained by Chris Grove, showed neurological signs associated with the virus and was removed to an otherwise unoccupied barn on the Bowie property. Both blood and nasal tests on the horse were negative. "Obviously, we're delighted," said Maryland Jockey Club chief operating officer Lou Raffetto.

West Nile virus, the mosquito-borne pathogen that sickened 73 Marylanders and killed eight at its peak in 2003, made only five people in the state seriously ill last year and didn't kill any of them. Although experts say the diminished toll is welcome news, virus trackers are interpreting the downward trend cautiously. The reason: West Nile is turning out to be a wily virus. It has followed a seemingly predictable boom-and-bust pattern in most states -- but showed signs last year of making a comeback in spots where it previously had waned.

BARCELONA, Spain - A novel experimental drug showed highly promising results in two large late-stage trials, offering new hope for thousands of patients who are infected with drug-resistant AIDS virus, scientists reported at the 14th International AIDS Conference here yesterday. The drug, T-20 or Enfuvirtide, is a member of a new class of drugs called fusion inhibitors that fight the human immunodeficiency virus, which can lead to AIDS. When added to combinations of standard drugs, T-20 reduced high levels of HIV in the blood in at least twice the percentage of patients with documented resistant virus than among those who took the standard drugs.

A 77-year-old Sykesville woman has died of a West Nile virus-related illness, becoming the first county resident ever and the fourth Maryland resident this year whose death has been linked to the mosquito-spread disease, county and state health officials said yesterday. An 89-year-old Finksburg woman also has tested positive for the virus, and doctors have said that her prognosis is poor, said Larry L. Leitch, director of the Carroll County Health Department. The Sykesville woman was admitted Sept.

Battling one of the nation's worst HIV epidemics, Baltimore has joined a growing list of cities to employ a test that detects the virus at an early stage of infection - and could lead authorities to "hot spots" where the virus is being transmitted. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the city's health commissioner, said his department recently made the test available at the city's east- and west-side health clinics. The agency also plans to make it available through community organizations offering HIV testing and counseling.

Avian flu has been detected in mallard ducks on a farm on the Eastern Shore, though officials caution that the low-pathogenic strain poses no risk to humans and is not the type that has been blamed for more than 140 deaths around the world. Experts said the presence of the virus likely would not affect the $1.5 billion Delmarva poultry industry. Samples taken from chicken houses in the vicinity of where the ducks were found have tested negative for the virus, and though it is not known if the strain could infect chickens, such a scenario remains unlikely, they said.

As troubling new questions emerged about SARS overseas, federal researchers here at home continued yesterday preparing to bring infected patients to the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health to learn more about how the virus affects the body. Scientists have proposed studying SARS patients - those still ill and those who have recovered - at the NIH Clinical Center to help unlock some of the mysteries surrounding the coronavirus thought to be behind the worldwide outbreak. "The idea is to understand better several continually puzzling aspects of the disease," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

In her office overlooking the once-grand buildings of Park Heights Avenue, Synthia Smith recalls the 50 to 75 people she used to count as her closest drug-using buddies. Today, she can think of three who are alive. The rest, she says, succumbed to AIDS, drug abuse or both. Smith, who tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus in 1985, spent time living in abandoned buildings and begging for spare change to support her habit. She kicked drugs five years ago and joined a group that's fighting AIDS in the city's northwest corridor, a neighborhood where plywood boards have replaced picture windows and given tree-lined streets a downcast look.