Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 11 July 1996
One of the ways measles kills is by attacking the immune systems of the children who contract it, leaving them vulnerable to other diseases, according to Christopher Karp, one of the authors of the report in the journal Science.
Karp's research with other scientists focused on exactly how measles undermines immunity, and found that what happens in measles might also happen in the case of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"It's preliminary, it's pure speculation, but it's exciting enough that we've put significant resources into finding out if it's a reasonable hypothesis," Karp said by telephone from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
The possible AIDS link was a bonus discovery to the scientists' research, which focused on cutting measles' lethal impact among children in tropical regions.
Although a measles vaccine is available, it is more effective among children in rich, temperate countries than among those in tropical countries, which are often poorer, Karp said. This may occur because the natural immunity babies get from their mothers appears to decline faster in the tropics.
The researchers were working to develop a vaccine that would be more effective for these children, one that could be administered very early, possibly at the age of six months.
In the process, they found a way to shut off the flow of the substance that erodes immunity in measles sufferers.
What remains to be seen is whether the same method can be used to shut off the immunity-destroying properties in HIV, Karp said.
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