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UCLA Center in the Forefront of AIDS Research

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Times Medical Writer

UCLA’s Center for the Health Sciences has been at the forefront of AIDS research since the summer of 1981, when its infectious disease experts were among the first to notify the world that healthy young male homosexuals were dying of a mysterious, unknown ailment that seemed to destroy their immunity against infections and cancer.

That disease, formally known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, has since become a major source of concern on every continent and the object of intense research at medical centers here and in Europe.

UCLA scientists are now engaged in a broad spectrum of research aimed at learning not only how the virus believed to cause AIDS does its damage to the immune system, but also ways in which the virus can be killed and the immune system restored.

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Still other aspects of research deal more with the psychosocial effects of AIDS. These include programs aimed at helping patients and their families and friends to cope with the usually fatal illness.

UCLA, where actor Rock Hudson was admitted early Tuesday suffering from AIDS, is one of six medical centers selected by the National Institutes of Health to test an experimental drug called suramin for its toxicity and effectiveness against the AIDS virus. The Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the USC School of Medicine is an another of the six centers.

UCLA on Tuesday said it could give no details yet of its suramin trials, but Dr. Alexandra Levine, the physician in charge of the USC study, said recently that preliminary results indicate that the drug has some benefits--but is not a cure.

Other research is aimed at learning why a significant number of persons infected by the virus, known as HTLV-III, do not develop symptoms of AIDS. Researchers wonder if, in addition to the viral infection, a so-called “co-factor” must be present. And if so, they want to learn what the co-factor might be.

To get such answers, Dr. Barbara Visscher, chief of epidemiology at UCLA’s School of Public Health, is engaged in a four-year follow-up of about 1,500 young homosexual volunteers.

Questionnaires, Tests

By means of detailed questionnaires and periodic tests for the presence of the virus, Visscher hopes to be able to find life style habits or sexual practices that will distinguish those volunteers who develop symptoms from those who do not.

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To date, she said, being the receptive partner in anal sex is the only factor that has been associated with having a positive blood test, which indicates that the virus is or has been present.

The psychosocial aspects of AIDS are being studied by Dr. Fawzy Fawzy, assistant director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, whose programs include giving psychological support to patients and helping relatives and friends of patients understand the disease so that they, too, can help support the patient.

He said his research indicates that patients are clearly helped emotionally when they are given the opportunity to talk about the difficulties they are experiencing.

Fawzy said he is concerned about a relatively new symptom in AIDS patients typified by memory loss, confusion and disorientation.

Early Symptoms

“Sometimes patients experience depression or confusion even before they have the weight loss and diarrhea that are characteristic of the disease,” the psychiatrist said.

Scientists believe that these neurological symptoms are caused by the virus’s affinity for brain cells in addition to their other main target in the immune system. Examinations of deceased AIDS patients have revealed the presence of HTLV-III in brain cells, Fawzy said.

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Another kind of psychosocial help is provided by UCLA’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Immunology and Disease, which gives outside agencies educational aid to help them cope with AIDS. For example, the center gives police, firefighters and paramedics the kind of information they need if they come in close contact with an AIDS patient.

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