FH may be superior to PP in eliminating all viral activity; both methods retained nutrients and destroyed bacterial contamination. Heat-treated breast milk merits further study as a safe and practical infant feeding option for HIV-positive mothers in developing countries.

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) immunized with an inactivated whole SIVmac vaccine and muramyl dipeptide (MDP), incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA), or aqueous suspension were challenged intravenously with 0.1 TCID50 of cell-free SIVmac. Whereas virus was readily recovered from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 10 of 10 nonvaccinated controls following this challenge dose, virus was not recovered from the three animals that received the vaccine with MDP nor from one of two animals that received the vaccine with IFA and one of three animals that received the aqueous vaccine. The animals that were protected against challenge were those that had detectable SIV antibody response to the envelop, both the outer glycoprotein (gp120) and the truncated transmembrane glycoprotein (gp31). Protected monkeys tended to have higher titers of syncytial inhibition antibody prior to challenge. An anamnestic response after challenge was observed only in the vaccinated monkeys that became infected. Vaccinated animals that became challenge-infected tended to live longer than infected controls. These results confirm those at two other primate centers and indicate that killed whole SIV vaccines can protect against low challenge doses of SIV and prevent early death in those monkeys that do become infected. The mechanism of this protection remains undetermined. This finding adds optimism to the possibility of an eventual AIDS vaccine.

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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) load markers are being used increasingly to monitor disease progression and evaluate antiretroviral therapy. This study examined plasma HIV RNA and p24 antigen levels before, during, and after 15 AIDS-associated opportunistic disease events in patients with AIDS (median CD4 cell count = 65/microL). Plasma HIV RNA was detected during 13 of the 15 events (median level before an event = 21,000 copies/mL). There was an increase in the level of plasma HIV RNA with the onset of an AIDS-associated opportunistic disease during 11 of 13 events for which HIV RNA was detectable (median level during an event = 145,000 copies/mL). There was a decline in the level of HIV RNA with the recovery from disease (median level after an event = 29,700 copies/mL). In contrast, there was no consistent or significant change in p24 antigen levels or CD4 cell counts with either the onset of or recovery from an event. Clinical interpretation of plasma HIV RNA changes must take into account this reversible elevation during AIDS-associated opportunistic disease.