Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993 TAG: 9312150299
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN E. ANDERSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It presented an excellent rationale as to why good intentions won't win the war against AlDS, but Davis should proceed further by emphasizing why the nature of AIDS, coupled with the good intentions of government, may impede a technical solution, and where, in fact, a technical solution may be impossible.
Vaccines don't cure people; people cure themselves. A vaccine merely trains the immune system to recognize a virus so the body can develop white blood cells and antibodies, which will rapidly destroy future virus and infected cells before they multiply. Vaccines are engineered from analysis of infected people who exhibit natural immunity, i.e., naturally survive an epidemic. The task is then just to engineer a vaccine that generates effective immunity without adverse side effects in people.
To date, there's no proven case of a person being exposed to HIV/AIDS where his body naturally recognized the virus to generate antibodies; and no one has survived. Rumors exist as to some cases in Africa. Spending vast sums to develop a vaccine before natural immunity is discovered for HIV may be as elusive as building a time machine to transport people to the 18th century. It might be wiser to apply more small sums, to just wait and search for a person whose immune system naturally recognized virus, developed white blood cells and antibodies, and/or cured the disease. From past experience, rather modest sums are then sufficient to engineer an effective vaccine. But even where natural immunity is significant and evident, as with the common cold, development of a universal vaccine may not be inexpensive.
The vast grants of the government generate a vast bureaucracy. This becomes an obstacle for the investor and independent scientist who is most apt to discover a solution. An investor with limited means, compared to the billions of dollars applied to the problem controlled by the government, is leery to risk both the chance that this scientist can indeed implement a good idea and also have it accepted by the government, a sole customer with a high ``not invented here'' factor. The probability for return on investment is much greater whenever another large competing investor is not committed. Hence, the person with a viable idea will probably not attract funds. New ideas are usually radical surprises. A scientist with the correct idea probably will not be viewed positively by the politically correct peer-review board awarding grants, if he's ever given exposure.
Presently, HIV/AIDS is at a science-and-research stage where ideas can occur anywhere, by anyone. The government has never shown proficiency at research. HIV/AIDS is far from an engineering project where scientists have concepts with experimental results. Even the Manhattan project wasn't science, but rather an engineering activity to establish the critical mass necessary to assure explosive fission and to package it into a bomb. Scientists had already established the concept of fission with accompanying experiments to verify that when uranium changed to different elements, energy was released.
HIV/AIDS also is an extremely small virus that can easily pass through nerve tissue into the brain. Normal virus immunity is accomplished in the bloodstream. Can a vaccine be developed that is safe to nerve tissue, and also be a sufficiently small molecule to pass through the membrane of the brain to fight HIV/AIDS there safely? Such small molecules are unique by themselves. Presently, an anesthesiologist must saturate the bloodstream of a person in order to force small amounts of poison through the brain membrane to cause unconsciousness. What side effects must a patient endure with an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine?
Possibly the only HIV/AIDS protection is here now. It's the responsible individual. Evolution will confirm survival of the fittest. HIV/AIDS is a self-limiting, controllable disease. It doesn't happen by chance, or accident. Certain peoples exhibit social behaviors that assure safety, and others use technical approaches, such as condoms, to minimize risk. HIV/AIDS is like Russian roulette. Observers, or people in the vicinity, may also be inadvertently shot. If one hopes to participate even as an outsider and survive, he or she must be serious and take sufficient precautions. Good intentions won't win the war! Neither will dreams for an elusive vaccine.
John E. Anderson is a consultant living in Blacksburg, and is a former research and development director for a pharmaceutical firm.
by CNB