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"SARS Death Rate Higher Among HIV Sufferers: Montagnier"
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CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update. Agence France Presse (04.21.03)
Luc Montagnier, the French biologist who was the joint
discoverer of HIV, voiced fears Monday that the death rate from
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) would be much higher
among people who also have HIV/AIDS. "SARS is caused by another
virus [than HIV], and it does not kill lots of people - around 4
to 5 percent [of those infected]. But if the immune system is
depressed by AIDS, the toll would be much higher," Montagnier
said at a Tokyo press conference.
"It would be very alarming if people would be infected with
both SARS and AIDS.... It is a concern especially for southern
China where you have both AIDS infection ongoing and SARS
starting," Montagnier said.
The World Health Organization said on Monday the death toll
from SARS in China had risen to 86, with 1,959 confirmed cases as
of Sunday evening.
Montagnier endorsed isolating patients with SARS and placing
suspect cases in quarantine early on to prevent the spread of the
disease. "We are just beginning to learn how it is transmitted,
the nature of virus... it is very difficult to mount a policy of
treatment and prevention," he said, adding that so far the only
treatment for the potentially deadly pneumonia is to boost the
natural resistance of the carrier. "My strong advice would be for
people exposed to the virus to reinforce their immune system with
antioxidants, immuno-stimulants," Montagnier said.
Despite the lack of an effective drug treatment, Montagnier
was relatively optimistic about the epidemic's development,
arguing that there are many tools available for tracking and
controlling its spread. He pointed out that there were "many more
people who died from flu every year."
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