Robert T Schooley

In a case likely to have national repercussions, a prominent AIDS researcher in Colorado is defying a state law that requires him to report the names of AIDS-infected study participants and has asked the federal government to help him protect their confidentiality.

In a case likely to have national repercussions, a prominent AIDS researcher in Colorado is defying a state law that requires him to report the names of AIDS-infected study participants and has asked the federal government to help him protect their confidentiality.

"If I have seen further," Sir Isaac Newton, the great 17th-Century physicist, once said, "it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." When the history of the scourge known as AIDS is finally written, perhaps in the 21st Century, Dr. Robert T. Schooley does not expect his name to be numbered among the giants on whose shoulders the conquerors of the dread disease stood. At best, he says, his research may find a place among the footnotes.

Looking back, Jeff Mullican now believes it began during the first tentative stirring of a New England spring. Six months ago, at a time when the earth around him was beginning its annual process of renewal, and his own health, all things considered, was remarkably good, Mullican began to feel that he had turned a dreadful corner.

Looking back, Jeff Mullican now believes it began during the first tentative stirring of a New England spring. Six months ago, at a time when the earth around him was beginning its annual process of renewal, and his own health, all things considered, was remarkably good, Mullican began to feel that he had turned a dreadful corner.

A leading AIDS researcher on Wednesday raised the provocative notion that powerful drug combinations could eradicate the AIDS virus from the body after three years. Dr. David Ho, the highly respected director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, said a mathematical model developed by one of his collaborators projected the three-year period for eliminating the virus from an infected individual receiving a successful drug-combination treatment.

The AIDS epidemic has created a quiet revolution in the way experimental drugs and life-threatening diseases are studied in children. "The tradition until recently has been to 'protect' children from experimental therapy," said Dr. Philip Pizzo, chief of pediatrics at the National Cancer Institute. "The general requirement was that one must complete Phase 1 (safety) testing in adults before beginning with children. When AIDS came along, it required a change of philosophy."

Federal health officials are expected to announce today that they have approved the AIDS antiviral drug DDI, making it the second such drug to be licensed since the 1987 approval of AZT. DDI--also known as dideoxyinosine and didanosine--would provide an alternative treatment for the thousands of AIDS patients who cannot medically tolerate AZT.

Researchers said Wednesday they have identified a type of cell in blood that seeks out the AIDS virus and destroys it, a discovery that may explain why some infected people go on to develop the disease while others do not. The newly discovered killer cells, called cytotoxic T lymphocytes, may also aid in the development of a vaccine against the deadly disease, said doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital who made the discovery.

AIDS-related hospitalizations have plummeted since potent combinations of three drugs have become the standard of care, officials with several clinics--including one from Los Angeles--reported Thursday. But concerns have surfaced that use of the treatment is being stymied by gaps in insurance coverage. The average annual cost of using the drugs is estimated at $15,000.

"If I have seen further," Sir Isaac Newton, the great 17th-Century physicist, once said, "it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." When the history of the scourge known as AIDS is finally written, perhaps in the 21st Century, Dr. Robert T. Schooley does not expect his name to be numbered among the giants on whose shoulders the conquerors of the dread disease stood. At best, he says, his research may find a place among the footnotes.

Federal health officials are expected to announce soon that they will allow wider use of a new experimental AIDS antiviral drug for patients who cannot medically tolerate the two antiviral drugs already approved, knowledgeable sources said Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration will allow patients to use d4T, also known as stavudine, the source said. The drug, manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Although a preliminary inquiry appears to have cleared prominent AIDS researcher Dr. Robert C. Gallo of charges that he stole the first identified AIDS virus, the announcement of a new, expanded investigation has raised fresh concerns about Gallo and the future of federal research on the virus.