RT Journal
A1 Merz B
T1 MOre details of aids-linked, viruslike infectious agent revealed
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1989
FD June 16
VO 261
IS 23
SP 3361
OP 3362
DO 10.1001/jama.1989.03420230013003
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03420230013003
AB LIKE SALOME'S VEILS, layers of mystery enshrouding the identity of a reputed infectious agent are being cast aside.Two were shed recently with publication of reports by Shyh-Ching Lo, MD, that have brought a long-awaited description of a novel virus-like infectious agent (VLIA) that, for the last 3 years, had been intermittently rumored to be a possible causitive agent in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The reports indicate that the agent can be isolated from tissues of some patients with AIDS and that it causes a wasting disease in monkeys.Lo, who is head of the AIDS pathology division of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology's molecular pathobiology laboratory, reported in February (Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1989;40:213-226) that he had isolated and cloned VLIA from 7 of 10 patients with AIDS—3 years after he had informally announced that he had discovered the agent. In April (Am J Trop Med Hyg