Teardrops Found to Carry Virus Causing AIDS

The virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in the teardrops of a patient suffering from the disease, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

The discovery is the first evidence that the virus is found in eye fluid, and it raises new questions about whether infection could be transmitted through direct contact with the tears of AIDS patients, particularly by eye doctors and their patients, as well as through contact with the medical instruments used in eye examinations.

There is no evidence that such transmission has ever taken place, said scientists from the National Eye Institute, the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center.

However, sources familiar with the findings suggest that transmission of the HTLV-III virus--which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome--could, in theory, occur through repeated contact with the tears of AIDS patients.

Dr. Robert Gallo, head of the National Cancer Institute’s laboratory of tumor-cell biology, confirmed the discovery.