The Miami Herald, Inc.; Sunday, September 29, 1996 Edition: Final Section: Local Page: 4B Word Count: 566
Stephen Smith, Herald Health Writer

While refusing to circle a date on a calendar, Dr. Robert Gallo predicted that current advances reported by scientists will be hailed by the turn of the century as the beginning of the end for an epidemic that has struck 57,000 Floridians.

"I think AIDS is going to be a clinically curable disease, and this may become evident by the end of the century," said Gallo, lionized and vilified for his work at the dawn of the epidemic. "However, it must be affordable, it must be available, and we cannot let overconfidence get in our way."

Gallo's assessment stunned Sheri Kaplan, among the 400 people gathered in a convention center hall for the fourth Living with HIV conference. Since being diagnosed, Kaplan has gone from HIV sufferer to AIDS activist.

"I gasped," said Kaplan, founder and executive director of the Center for Positive Connections, an AIDS service agency. "It made me say, `Oh my God. Whoa!' To hear it coming from his mouth, that's something."

A scant three months ago, when the world's top AIDS scientists gathered in Canada, they studiously avoided using the word cure, preferring more circumspect assessments of scientific advances. But a spate of recent findings -- involving drug therapies and better understanding of how the AIDS virus does its damage -- has encouraged disease experts to utter what once seemed so unthinkable.

"We are not not fighting in just one direction anymore," said Jean-Claude Chermann, a French researcher. "We are fighting in all directions."

Among the advances fueling hope:

* Potent drug cocktails continue to show impressive strength in squelching the virus. The results have been so consistently good that doctors are now contemplating removing patients from the combination to see if the virus will stay in remission.

"It's a needed approach," said Gallo, who now runs the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland. "But is it risky? Yes. If I was the person and I was keeping the viral load down, I'm not sure I'd want to have this played with."

* A study released last week showed that in a small percentage of people exposed to HIV, the virus never takes root. Understanding why that happens could open an important door to stopping the disease from developing in other patients.

* Research at Gallo's institute and other scientific centers is showing the power of genetic armaments against AIDS. Such treatments involve deploying an army of genes that enter healthy cells, affording them permanent protection against infection.

It now involves removing bone marrow and infusing it with the stealth gene -- a process so costly and cumbersome that it would surely remain beyond the reach of most patients. So Gallo and his associates are hunting for a method of introducing the gene via an intravenous inoculation, a process Gallo labels the "most affordable, easy" way of halting the virus.

While the rate of scientific advances in recent months has given AIDS patients a strong reed of hope to hold onto, Gallo told the assembled crowd that he felt regret as much as triumph:

"I can only apologize," he said, "for science not being much quicker."

CAPTION: photo: Robert GALLO

Published by: The Miami Herald, Inc.; a Knight Ridder publication. One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693

Copyright (c) 1997 Miami Herald. All rights reserved. Reprint Permission: The contents of each issue of The Miami Herald are protected under the federal copyright act. Reproduction of any portion of any issue will not be permitted without the express permission of The Miami Herald. Reprints: 305-376-3719 Staff photos: 305-376-3756. Internal or personal use: Copyright Clearance Center, 508-750-4283, ext. 888; fax 508-750-4744. The Miami Herald or Knight Ridder shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
960929
MH960901

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1996. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1996. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .