AIDS Case From 2nd Virus Called No Public Threat

The first known AIDS case in the United States caused by a second AIDS virus poses no threat to public health or to the nation’s blood supply, federal officials said Thursday.

The patient was a West African woman who contracted the disease before coming to the United States last year to visit friends and family, epidemiologist Stanley H. Weiss of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey said in a telephone interview.

While in the United States she was diagnosed with AIDS and the cause was traced to human immunodeficiency virus-2 or HIV-2, which was discovered in West Africa more than two years ago. Most cases of AIDS throughout the world--including all previously reported U.S. cases--are caused by the related virus HIV-1.

Since arriving in the United States, the woman has not engaged in sexual intercourse, used intravenous drugs or donated blood, activities that could transmit the virus, Weiss said.

“This is simply an isolated case of HIV-2,” and there is no evidence that anyone has caught it from her, Weiss said. “None of the woman’s family or known contacts have antibodies to the virus,” he added.

“This does not represent a change in the AIDS situation in this country,” said infectious disease specialist Robert Horsburgh of the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. “It does not indicate that the virus is here.”

Blood Not Contaminated

Dr. Robert E. Windom, assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, also noted that federal studies showed that the U.S. blood supply has not been contaminated by the virus.

The woman is currently in isolation at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Hospital in Newark, where she is being treated for a severe bacterial infection. AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, destroys the body’s immune system, leaving the victim vulnerable to infections and cancer.

Health officials are not sure how the woman--whose race, age and family status were not revealed--contracted the disease, but they noted that she does not belong to any groups considered at high risk in the United States. The woman does have a history of heterosexual relations in her home country, although she is not a prostitute, “and she received injections while hospitalized there,” Weiss said.

She was referred to the university for treatment of a neurological disorder, a common complication of AIDS.

17% Believed Infected

HIV-2 is thought to infect as much as 17% of the population of West African countries. There has been continuing debate since its discovery two years ago about whether it can cause AIDS. “There can be little doubt now that it can,” Weiss said.

About 150 people in Europe have been confirmed to be infected with HIV-2, but there have been no previous cases in the United States.