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Dietmar Fuchs, PhD; Arno Hausen, PhD; Gilbert Reibnegger, DSc; Ernst R. Werner, DSc; Manfred P. Dierich, MD; Helmut Wachter, PhD
University of Innsbruck Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for AIDS Research Innsbruck, Austria

JAMA. 1987;258(18):2525-2526.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversion has occurred in three health care workers who have been exposed to blood but not via needle-stick injury.¹

It is now well established that activation of T lymphocytes regulates HIV reproduction. It is likely that macrophages activated with gamma interferon contribute to HIV production also. We have concluded that activation of T lymphocytes by foreign or modified histocompatibility complex determinants represents a crucial event in HIV infection.^2,3 We have demonstrated a high frequency of elevated neopterin levels in all high-incidence groups for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), even in HIV-seronegative individuals.² Since neopterin is produced specifically from human macrophages on stimulation with gamma interferon, we concluded that early steps in the activation cascade of cellular immunity are induced in those individuals.⁴ Moreover, this status was found to parallel progressive HIV infection, eg, patients with AIDS have the highest neopterin . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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