AIDS Carrier Without Symptoms May Still Infect Others

The AIDS virus can remain in a person’s body for five years or longer without producing disease although it can still be transmitted to other people, a federal study disclosed Wednesday.

The findings by doctors at the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta indicate that simply because a person who was exposed to the virus years ago has not shown symptoms of the disease does not mean he cannot infect someone else.

It also underscores the importance of blood-donor screening tests now being implemented for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the often-fatal condition that cripples the body’s defenses against disease.

The study’s findings were published in today’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The important thing is the fact that the virus can be found in individuals over a long period of time without apparent symptoms,” said Paul M. Feorino, chief of the CDC’s virology section in the AIDS branch.

“This is perfectly consistent with other viral infections,” said Feorino, the report’s primary author. “Some viruses, such as herpes, remain in a person’s body for as long as they live.”

The study analyzed 25 persons who transmitted AIDS through blood transfusions and six AIDS victims who caught the disease after receiving blood transfusions.

“We conclude that infection with (the AIDS virus) may be persistent and asymptomatic for years,” the report concluded.