Reports on AIDS Reflect Mistrust Among Scientists
Behind the simultaneous transatlantic announcements that scientists have found a new relative of the AIDS virus lies an unspoken hostility and mistrust arising from a long-running feud that has divided French and American AIDS researchers over the question of who discovered what--and when.
Sources said Wednesday that researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health had not intended to release their findings until one week before their scheduled April 11 publication in the journal Science but that they made the announcement Wednesday “to protect themselves” after several weeks of rumors that scientists at the Pasteur Institute were about to reveal similar findings.
Relations between U.S. researchers studying AIDS and those at the Pasteur Institute have been strained for months over Pasteur’s claim that its scientists were the first to discover the virus that causes AIDS, called HTLV-III by the Americans and LAV by the French.
In December, the Pasteur Institute filed suit in the United States seeking millions of dollars in royalties from a patented blood test that screens for antibodies to the AIDS virus.
Dr. Robert C. Gallo, the director of the National Cancer Institute’s tumor cell biology lab--and the American credited with discovering the HTLV-III virus--said Wednesday that Dr. Myron (Max) Essex, the lead American researcher on HTLV-IV, “has been openly talking about his work at scientific meetings for the past three or four months,” implying that the French began their research only after hearing of his preliminary findings. HTLV-IV is the name given the new virus by Essex.
Jonathan Allan, a member of the Harvard team, said his colleagues first published a paper on its early work on the virus last December and presented it at an international AIDS meeting in Brussels attended by the French. “I think the flags went up that we had something,” Allan asserted.
‘Facts Will Be Known’
Gallo, himself a protagonist in the ongoing dispute, agreed. “The scientific world knows Max (Essex) has been talking about this for months,” he said. “When Max first presented it, all of us were interested. If I wanted to--if any of us wanted to--we could have gone off to West Africa and done our own research. But no--we wait until Max publishes.”
Gallo added: “I don’t know whether to feel sorry for him, or for the field. But we will give enough lectures and talk about it enough to make it clear--the facts will be known to everyone.”
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute could not be reached for comment.
Wednesday’s announcements came after two weeks of rumors that the Pasteur Institute was about to release new findings concerning AIDS. Efforts by American journalists to learn the nature of the announcement--if indeed one was forthcoming--were unsuccessful until Wednesday, when the Pasteur Institute released a terse press release saying that researcher Luc Montagnier had discovered a new virus from West Africa that may be associated with rare cases of AIDS. The French named their new virus LAV-II.
French Move ‘Unorthodox’
While it is common practice for researchers to discuss their work at scientific meetings, it is rare for a public announcement of such findings to be made before publication in a scientific journal. Gallo described the French announcement as “unorthodox.”
American scientists involved in AIDS research were also intrigued by the rumors. Essex, who late last year announced that he had discovered a new virus in humans living in West Africa that appeared to protect infected individuals from getting AIDS, suspected that the pending French announcement had to do with his West African virus or one related to it.
On Monday, Essex heard that Montagnier was planning to release his findings on the West African virus later this week. Although his knowledge of the substance of the French report was incomplete, sources said he had reason to believe it involved a virus similar to HTLV-IV.
A frenzy of telephone calls followed between Harvard and the office of Science magazine in Washington. The Harvard team sought approval from Science to break the embargo. Science refused.
Journalistic Pressure
At the same time, journalists began calling scientists, as well as Science, seeking to find out the contents of the new findings, what they meant--and when they were to be released.
Gallo said that Essex was so angry and frustrated that he intended to use a scheduled lecture Wednesday before the American Society of Microbiology here as a vehicle to make his announcement. “Science wouldn’t let him talk to journalists, so he felt that was the only way he could get the information out,” Gallo said.
The magazine relented, however, after the Pasteur Institute announcement became known and after Montagnier participated in a television interview in Lisbon where he described his findings.
Marlene Cimons reported from Washington and Harry Nelson from Los Angeles.
