AIDS Patient to Receive Baboon Marrow
In a sign of doctors’ growing desperation in the fight against AIDS, a patient with the disease will soon receive a bone marrow transplant from a baboon to rebuild his ravaged immune system.
The transplant, described Tuesday at a conference sponsored by the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, is meant to resupply the human bloodstream with baboon blood cells, which do not become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
“Given the fact that there is no treatment for AIDS, people have been very comfortable with moving ahead,” said Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, who is directing the experiment.
Many questions remain, however, including whether baboon blood cells can carry out the same functions inside a human.
Ildstad said the experiment will take place within a few months at San Francisco General Hospital.
Collaborators on the experiment include Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Robert Gallo, a pioneering AIDS researcher at the National Cancer Institute.
