For a change, infection stymies HIV.Infection with an obscure and apparently harmless virus can stall replication of HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , the virus that causes AIDS. It may also prolong the lives of people with HIV, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. two studies published in the Sept. 6 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. . The potentially beneficial virus, dubbed GBV-C GBV-C GB Virus-C , is similar to a handful of other viruses that cause the liver disease Liver Disease Definition Liver disease is a general term for any damage that reduces the functioning of the liver. Description The liver is a large, solid organ located in the upper right-hand side of the abdomen. hepatitis. However, GBV-C doesn't lead to any known illness. A few studies had already indicated that GBV-C infection might slow HIV progression, says Jack T. Stapleton of the University of Iowa Not to be confused with Iowa State University. The first faculty offered instruction at the University in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, the student body numbered 124, of which, 41 were women. in Iowa City Iowa City, city (1990 pop. 59,738), seat of Johnson co., E Iowa, on both sides of the Iowa River; founded 1839 as the capital of Iowa Territory, inc. 1853. Among its manufactures are foam rubber, animal feed, paper, and food products. The city is the seat of the Univ. . So, he and his colleagues looked at stored blood samples from 362 people (mostly male and Caucasian) treated for HIV infection in Iowa City clinics between 1988 and 2000. Among the 144 with GBV-C in their blood, 41 had died by the time the researchers analyzed the data. In contrast, 123 of 218 without GBV-C had died. After accounting for the severity of illness, the kind of treatment, and a person's age, the researchers found that people infected with HIV and GBV-C were about four times as likely to have survived. In test-tube studies, when the Iowa researchers infected immune cells with both viruses, the cells produced 30 to 60 percent less HIV than did immune cells infected only with HIV. The findings suggest that GBV-C hinders HIV replication, Stapleton says. But, an editorial accompanying the report cautioned that GBV-C infection--which, like HIV, spreads through unprotected sex and intravenous drug use--might be merely a marker for other biological differences making some people more capable of fighting HIV infections than others are. Most people who died in the Iowa study did so before AIDS therapies containing multiple drugs were available. So few people getting the newer therapies died in the study that the researchers couldn't determine whether GBV-C infection benefited these patients. A second study suggests it does: A team of German researchers following patients getting multiple-drug therapies showed that 33 people infected with both HIV and GBV-C lived longer before and survived longer after developing AIDS than did 52 people infected with HIV alone. |
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