NEW DELHE: The French biologist who discovered AIDS virus eight years ago has now presented new data that might help crack the mystery of how the deadly virus kills humans and yield alternative treatment approaches.
Professor Luc Montagnier and his team at the Pasteur institute in Paris have found that blood cells in AIDS carriers die by “programmed suicide”, a process that could bring about the final deadly phase of the disease.
Dr. Montagnier who was in India on a three-day visit, in New Delhi said, it is possible that the viral infection could set off a process that leads to this programmed cell death called “Apoptosis”.
It might be possible to prevent programmed cell death by using special growth factors called “Cytokines” and prevent the final, deadly phase of the disease in which opportunistic infections invade the AIDS carriers.
This phase usually follows the silent period of the infection, lasting between four and 10 years, during which the AIDS virus lies dormant in the carrier.
Cytokines could help prolong this latent period of the infection, said Dr. Montagnier, who was here on an invitation of the council of scientific and industrial research, Dr. Montagnier said as the AIDS virus spreads, other diseases like Tuberculosis might become more difficult to control as the bacteria become more resistant in AIDS comics. Such resistant bacteria could even effect people who are free of the AIDS infection, making conventional treatment of diseases like Tuberculosis difficult.
Dr. Montagnier said while educational campaigns were helping check the spread of the AIDS virus in the West, there seems to be rapid progression of the infection through heterosexual transmission in the tropical regions. According to some estimates, around 90% of the infections will be in the third world by the turn of the century, he said.
Dr. Montagnier said since the virus is primarily transmitted through blood and sexual contact, the spread of the virus could be slowed down considerably through screening and education. MATHURA: The state government of the most populous state of northern India, Uttar Pradesh, is” actively considering to deploy army in the Sikh pockets of Terai region, according to the state’s minister of state for home Surya pratap sahi.
Militants’ activities Math Let constantly on the rise in the Terai region for the past few years bu there had been a spurt in their activities in the past six months.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 20, 1991
