San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday June 8, 1989
Charles Petit, Chronicle Science Writer

It will take more time and work, perhaps a year or more, to increase the test's accuracy, but it holds promise of determining within two days whether a newborn is infected.

Current methods take a month or more, costing possibly vital time in starting treatment for infants infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

"From 20 to 60 percent of babies of infected mothers are infected, and we've been madly looking for a test to sort them out," said Dr. Peggy Weintrub, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco.

Weintrub leads a group at UC that is among many around the nation studying a so-called PCR test, which stands for polymerase chain reaction, to see whether it can reveal quickly whether a newborn is infected by HIV.

Her group presented promising results this week at the fifth International Conference on AIDS. Other members of the group are Dr. Paul Ulrich, Dr. John Edwards, Girish Vyas, Carol Rumsey and Dr. Morton Cowan, who presented the paper.

The national Centers for Disease Control reports that more than 1,200 babies have been born infected with the AIDS virus since the epidemic began in 1981. As the disease spreads, especially among intravenous drug and crack cocaine abusers, the portion of AIDS sufferers accounted for by infected women and their babies is expected to grow.

The standard AIDS test measures antibodies to the virus, a sign that the body is trying to fight the infection.

However, the maternal antibodies may linger in a child for more than a year after birth.

"Virtually all babies born to antibody-positive mothers are also positive," Weintrub said. "But they may be perfectly healthy."

The PCR test, developed by Cetus Corp. in Emeryville, detects the presence of the virus directly.

The version used to reveal infant AIDS uses genetic engineering techniques to examine the genetic material in the infant's cells, isolates portions of DNA from any invading AIDS viruses and makes hundreds of thousands of copies of the viral DNA fragments. The "amplified" viral DNA can then be easily detected by other chemical tests.

In the Bay Area tests, Weintrub's group obtained blood samples from 22 infants born to infected mothers. The blood was tested with both the PCR technique as well as a laborious, monthlong process that grows the virus in a special laboratory culture.

Both tests yielded no evidence of the AIDS virus in 12 babies.

The PCR test found seven to be positive with the virus; the culture test found just six to be positive. Three babies had "equivocal" or ambiguous results on the PCR test but were negative on the culture test.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1989. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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