
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 9, 1994                   TAG: 9408090104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN                                LENGTH: Medium

3 MILLION GOT AIDS IN 1993

A record 3 million people caught the AIDS virus during the past year around the world, and a looming AIDS explosion in Asia could drive the toll far higher, experts said Monday.

While the infection rate has leveled off in Western countries, the latest figures portray an epidemic that is raging out of control in much of the world, especially Africa and Asia.

In all, the World Health Organization estimates that about 17 million people have been infected with HIV, the AIDS virus. Three million of them got it in the last year alone, more than ever before.

Sub-Saharan Africa is still the part of the world most devastated by AIDS. About 10 million infected people live there. But the virus is now spreading fastest in Asia, and many fear a sweeping epidemic here.

Dr. Michael Merson, head of the World Health Organization's AIDS program, outlined the global epidemic at the 10th International Conference on AIDS, which is being held for the first time in Asia.

``It is so urgent to act here in Asia before we get an explosion of infection,'' Merson said. ``We are running out of time. There is no excuse.'' WHO officials calculate that setting up basic AIDS prevention programs in Asia would cost between $750 million and $1.5 billion.

Among other reports:

A cure for AIDS is ``virtually impossible'' by the end of this century, according to Jay A. Levy of the University of California at San Francisco. The best that can be hoped for is a means of extending the lives of patients stricken with the HIV virus.

Dr. Dani Bolognesi of Duke University predicted that an AIDS vaccine will not be available for widespread testing for at least one to three years.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said new evidence suggests that an overactive immune system may hasten the damage caused by HIV.

AZT and other approved drugs for AIDS fail to significantly prolong life, because the virus evolves quickly to elude them, Dr. Stefano Vella of the Laboratory of Virology in Rome said.

by CNB