Xref: utzoo sci.med.aids:2632 soc.motss:45807
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!usenet
From: DGREEN@IBM.COM (Dan R. Greening)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids,soc.motss
Subject: HIV Vaccine Causes Faulty Infection Diagnosis.
Message-ID: <1991Feb21.135348.18416@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: 20 Feb 91 19:16:44 GMT
Sender: usenet@cs.ucla.edu (Mr. News Himself)
Reply-To: dgreen@cs.ucla.edu
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Lines: 47
Approved: phil@wubios.wustl.edu
Note: non-commercial reproduction.
Nntp-Posting-Host: squid.cs.ucla.edu
Archive-Number: 3024

I received this note as a personal e-mail message.  Given some recent
discussions in sci.med.aids and soc.motss regarding HIV antibody positive
status for VAXSYN vaccine recipients, I suspected others might find this
interesting (my friend finds it alarming).  I obtained permission to post
it anonymously.  My friend and I are uninfected and in the VAXSYN vaccine
study sponsored by NIH.  We both have strong gp160 and gp120 antibody
response, and a strong Elisa positive response.

Dan Greening / dgreen@cs.ucla.edu
-------------

Dear Dan,

I just received my HIV blood test results yesterday, from an anonymous,
free test site in California.  The State of California has certified me as
HIV positive based upon reactive results on both ELISA and IFA
[immunoflourescent assay], and showing gp160/gp120 bands on Western Blot.
It took a while to obtain the results as --- County detected conflicting
results on the first two tests and sent my specimen to the State for
confirmation.  The State then claimed they never received my sample but
then found it.  This process took about 6-weeks.

I don't think my results should have been categorized positive just
on those two bands.  This is scary, as I was always told that it takes
several more bands for confirmation.  The ones used are only envelope
antibodies.  [envelope proteins include gp160, gp120, and p41]  Sigh.

Some times the news is good, sometimes it is not.
-------------

A little more background from Dan:  In fact, the State of California does
look for HIV core proteins, which more conclusively indicate infection.
As expected, my friend had no antibody response to any core proteins on the
State of California test.

I mentioned in an earlier posting that a bad Western Blot reader could
misinterpret us as positive.  It seems that the State of California is a
bad Western Blot reader:  the Western Blot was accurate, but the diagnosis
was false.

My friend, by the way, was also denied insurance based solely on his
involvement in a vaccine study!

--
____
  /Dan Greening	until Feb 25:  NY (914) 784-7861
/ dgreen@cs.ucla.edu	CA Northern (408) 973-8081 / Southern (213) 825-2266