AIDS CASE PUTS HEALTH OFFICIALS ON ALERT

Local health officials and AIDS advocacy groups say they are closely
watching the case of a New York man infected with a highly drug-resistant
and possibly aggressive strain of the AIDS virus, but they have not seen
similar cases in the Washington area.

Officials cautioned that it is too soon to say whether the case in New York
represents a return to the more lethal, early days of the AIDS epidemic in
this country. But they said the patient's story is a critically important
reminder of the need to keep preaching about safe sex and prevention, more
than two decades after the AIDS epidemic began.

The New York man reportedly had unprotected sex with hundreds of partners
last fall while high on crystal methamphetamine.

"We have to yell as much as we can that this disease is not over," said
Lydia L. Watts, director of HIV-AIDS administration in the District, where
at least 22,000 people are believed to be infected with HIV or full-blown
AIDS. The case "tells us how important our messages must be -- not having
multiple sex partners, using protection all of the time."

New York City health officials announced last week that a man in his
mid-forties was infected with a strain of the human immunodeficiency virus
that was resistant to most of the drugs used to treat HIV infection.

Although such resistance is not unheard of, especially in urban
populations, the case stood out because the man developed AIDS far more
quickly than normal, officials said. His case raised the possibility that a
fast-moving and hard-to-treat strain of virus had emerged.

However, medical experts say aspects of this case might have more to do
with the patient's own immune system, which could be severely compromised
because of genetic factors, drug use or some other reason. Several doctors
noted that most drug-resistant forms of the virus move slowly, and that a
virulent or aggressive strain would be a departure from the norm.

"It's more probable that two unrelated things are going on," said David
Wheeler, medical director of the Inova Juniper Program, which treats HIV
patients in Northern Virginia. He speculated that the patient "got infected
with a drug-resistant virus . . . and he had the bad luck to be a rapid
progressor."

Health department officials in the District, Maryland and Virginia said
they often see drug-resistant strains of HIV, but never a case where the
virus also develops quickly into AIDS.

"We're on heightened alert," said Hania Habeeb, chief of epidemiology at
the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's AIDS Administration.
"We're following the story."

Elaine Martin, a spokeswoman for Virginia's Division of HIV, STD and
Pharmacy Services, said the agency's hotline has received no inquiries
about the New York case. "Things tend to surface in bigger cities first,"
she said.

Across the country, California officials are looking for a San Diego man
infected with a strain of HIV that closely matches the genetic makeup of
the virus identified in New York. They want to determine whether there was
any contact between the two men, and whether the disease developed rapidly
for the San Diego man as well.

The Whitman-Walker Clinic, among the largest providers of AIDS-related
services in the District and its suburbs, received several phone calls
about the New York case over the weekend, then posted a statement on its
Web site urging people not to panic but to be vigilant about preventing the
spread of the disease.

"People are well aware of what is risky, but they are still engaging in
high-risk behavior," clinic medical director Philippe Chileade said.

Brendan Harrington, a bartender at a bar on 17th Street NW, overheard six
customers talking in worried tones about the case during happy hour Tuesday
night.

"You can hear they are concerned, as they should be," Harrington said. "If
you're already practicing safe sex, then you have nothing to worry about.
But if you're one of those people who view being HIV-positive as a
manageable disease, instead of a terminal disease, then this should be a
wake-up call."