ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995             TAG: 9512110065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 

IN HEALTH

Child-killing virus hits 44 states

ATLANTA - A respiratory virus that kills about 4,500 children a year, most of them in the wintertime, has hit 44 states in recent months, federal health officials said.

Respiratory syncytial virus sends 90,000 children to the hospital each year, many with bronchitis or pneumonia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report published Friday.

The RSV season usually starts in November and lasts through late April or early May. The virus is most dangerous for infants, but children of any age can become seriously ill with repeated infections of the lower respiratory tract, including the lungs.

In adults, it attacks the upper respiratory tract, infecting the nose, throat and sinuses. Most adults recover, but it can be fatal for those whose immune systems are impaired.

The CDC said vaccines and new treatments are being developed for patients at high risk.

- Associated Press

Implant helps AIDS patients keep sight

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A capsule implanted in the eyes of AIDS patients helps them fight off blindness more than two times better than existing therapy, government scientists agreed Friday.

A study reaching that conclusion prompted an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration to urge, by a 6-1 vote, that Chiron Vision's Vitrasert implant be approved for sale.

But the panel issued a strong warning that AIDS patients cannot simply get the implant and receive no additional treatment, because the virus that is threatening their eyesight can silently invade their other organs and kill them.

``It would be very, very wrong,'' said Dr. Alexander Brucker, an eye surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania.

The FDA isn't bound by advisory committee decisions but usually follows them.

At issue is cytomegalovirus, a virus that most people eventually get and never know it but that devastates and even kills AIDS patients, whose immune systems can't fight it off.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   50 lines