Subject: Researchers Devise Faster, Cheaper Test For AIDS Antibody
Date: Published: 2/17/87 69 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Researchers Devise
   Faster, Cheaper Test
   For AIDS Antibody
    ---
   Group Also Says It Isolated
   Virus in Cats That May
   Be Good Model in Studies
    ---
   By Marilyn Chase
   Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

   Researchers at the University of California at Davis said
they have devised a faster AIDS antibody test, and isolated a
virus found in cats that may provide a good model for tests
of therapies and vaccines against the fatal disorder.
   In a report in The Lancet, a British medical journal,
James R. Carlson and co-workers at the university, with
researchers from the National Institutes of Health and
Centocor Inc., of Malvern, Pa., described the new test as
more rapid and economical than the currently used antibody
tests, which determine whether a person has been infected by
the virus.
   The scientists assert that their test can show within 30
minutes whether the antibody is present, compared with
currently used tests, which usually take two to four hours.
The group said it believes its test can be produced for "well
under" the current $1 to $6 cost.  Mr. Carlson, a professor of
pathology and medicine at the University of California here,
said the new test can be performed in remote areas without
laboratory facilities, making it suitable for use in Africa,
where the virus is believed to have sickened and killed large
and uncounted numbers of victims.  He asserted the test is 99%
accurate in diagnosing AIDS viral infection.
   The group said field testing began last summer in Africa
and that tests are continuing.
   Separately, Niels C. Pedersen of the university's School
of Veterinary Medicine said in a report in the journal
Science that he and co-workers isolated a virus in cats,
which he named FTLV (or feline T-lymphotropic Lentivirus),
that is distinct from both the human AIDS virus and from
other cat ailments like feline Leukemia virus (or FELV).  The
researchers said they noted that cats infected with FTLV
exhibited symptoms strikingly like those of humans with
acquired immune deficiency syndrome, including diarrhea,
wasting, and neurological disorders.
   This contrasts with the simian AIDS virus which can cause
infection, but not disease as does human AIDS. Thus, the
researchers believe the new cat virus might serve as a model
for tests of AIDS therapies or vaccines.  Tests on chimpanzees
are now a standard for vaccine development, but the animals
are rare and expensive, commanding a $50,000 fee for one
animal.  In addition, chimpanzee tests are an inexact
yardstick because the animals never develop AIDS. 
   AIDS ravages the immune system, leaving its victims
vulnerable to death by a variety of rare infections and
cancers.  It is spread by sexual contact, contaminated blood
and shared needles.  More than 30,000 cases of the disease
have been diagnosed in the U. S. since 1981, and half of those
people have died so far.

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