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- <text id=89TT1562>
- <title>
- June 12, 1989: Silent AIDS
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- June 12, 1989 Massacre In Beijing
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- MEDICINE, Page 61
- Silent AIDS
- </hdr><body>
- <p>A troubling finding
- </p>
- <p> Researchers have known for some time that people may harbor
- the AIDS virus without showing symptoms or even producing
- telltale antibodies. But the duration of such latent infections
- has been uncertain. Now a study has shown that some people may
- carry the AIDS virus for three years or longer without its being
- detected by widely used antibody screening tests. If the results
- are confirmed, they could mean that latent AIDS infection is
- more common than was once believed.
- </p>
- <p> The study, reported last week in the New England Journal of
- Medicine, followed 133 men without AIDS antibodies who
- continued to engage in high-risk sexual activity. A team led by
- researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found
- that of 31 who carried the AIDS virus, 27 had not produced
- antibodies up to three years after the virus was detected. While
- the study raises questions about the effectiveness of current
- screening tests, which zero in on AIDS antibodies and not the
- virus itself, there is a bright side: some infected people may
- remain healthy for longer than was previously thought.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-