New studies suggest that a dormant AIDS virus can be activated
by unrelated viruses, and this may explain why some people
infected with the AIDS virus do not develop any symptoms until
years later, a scientist says. The test-tube research also
suggests that diet, drugs or other environmental factors may be
able to activate a dormant virus of the acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, said researcher Dr. Malcolm Martin of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In a
report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
he said he and colleagues studied how various viruses affected
the genetic "on-off" switches that control activities of the
AIDS virus. In test tubes, they planted those switches in
various kinds of human cells, and then exposed the cells to
different kinds of viruses unrelated to AIDS. The other viruses
included those that cause herpes, chicken pox and respiratory
infections. The results suggest that infection with those other
viruses could activate a dormant AIDS viru