The Nation : New Virus Found; Tied to Cancer, AIDS

Italian researchers have found a fifth virus in the family of viruses that causes leukemias and AIDS in humans. The new virus, called HTLV-5, has been linked to a rare kind of leukemia that causes skin eruptions, called mycoses fungoides. It also appears to react partially to the AIDS-antibody tests, according to a report in Science magazine. There are about 1,000 cases of mycoses fungoides reported in the United States annually, and it is not known what percentage of these may be associated with HTLV-5, if the link is confirmed. The HTLV family of viruses is the first group of viruses shown to cause cancer in humans. It is also in the category of viruses called retroviruses because they reverse the usual method by which viruses multiply in the cell. The HTLV-5 find was reported by a team led by Vittorio Manzari at the University of Rome.