Subject: New Virus Is Reported In Nine With AIDS Signs 
Date: Published: 7/23/92 (32 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology:
    New Virus Is Reported
    In Nine With AIDS Signs

    IRVINE, Calif.  (AP) -- Researchers have discovered signs of a
 previously unrecognized virus in nine people who have AIDS symptoms
 but aren't infected by the two known AIDS viruses, a scientist said.
    Dr. Sudhir Gupta, an immunologist at the University of
 California, Irvine, made his announcement against the backdrop of
 the international AIDS conference in Amsterdam where a handful of
 similar cases have drawn world-wide publicity.  Dr. Gupta said it is
 too early to say if he has found an entirely new cause of AIDS or
 even the cause of a new AIDS-like condition.  He has dubbed the virus
 human intracisternal retrovirus, and his results will be published
 in the Aug. 15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
 Sciences.
    Existing AIDS antibody tests, used to ensure the safety of blood
 transfusions, can't detect the newly found virus, but Dr. Gupta said
 he hopes to develop a new test soon.
    Dr. Gupta said the mystery virus was found in a 66-year-old
 Southern California woman.  The woman and her 38-year-old daughter
 have antibodies to the mystery virus.  The daughter isn't yet ill.
    Blood samples from eight other patients with AIDS-like conditions
 were provided by researchers elsewhere.

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