Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1983. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - October 27, 1983
But a report by the research group emphasized, "These results are extremely preliminary."
The fungus, which has never been known to cause disease in human beings, has been found in the blood of victims of AIDS. The fungus produces a substance chemically similar to cyclosporin, a new drug used temporarily to lower natural immunity in transplant patients.
Unusual forms of the fungus, called Thermoascus crustaceus, were found in the blood of three AIDS patients by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. The work was described in a letter in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
AIDS destroys the body's ability to fight off disease. No one knows its cause, and the fungus is the latest suspect. Many other scientists say they think a virus is the likely culprit.
The fungus makes a chemical, which the researchers call CyAIDS, that has a molecular weight near athat of cyclosporin. It also shows up in a chemical analysis that is intended to monitor levels of cyclosporin in the blood.
CyAIDS causes mild suppression of immunity in the test tube. But so far, the scientists are not sure what effect it has in the body. However, they cautioned that the fungus might turn out to be simply another opportunistic infection, one of the often bizarre illnesses that befall AIDS victims, or even a contaminant of the culture.
"Our main interest is to get this to the scientific community and let them take a shot at it," Dr. Folks said in an interview. "We have some information that's very encouraging but not solid. We want to see if other scientists can find the fungus. We need a lot of people to be looking for it."
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