HIV, cancer link proposed
■ A UNL researcher is
studying the transmission
of the two viruses.
By Michelle Starr
Staff writer
A UNL researcher may have found
a link between the transmission of a
virus commonly found in people
infected with HIV and Kaposi’s
Sarcoma, a skin cancer.
Charles Wood, a molecular virolo
gist, in collaboration with researchers,
from the University of Miami and the
University of Zambia, hopes to find a
way to stop the spread of the Herpes
Virus Type VIII, which would stop the
skin cancer.
Only people infected with the
Herpes Type VIII virus are able to
develop Kaposi’s Sarcoma, Wood said.
The cancer, which is characterized
by red or purple lesions on the skin or
around mucous membranes, spreads
to other organs such as the lungs or
liver.
The researchers have found that
the transmission of the Herpes virus is
similar to the transmission of the HTV
virus, Wood said.
Their research might be used to
find a way to stop the transmission of
HIV Wood said.
The research, which started in
September 1998, is focusing on the
number of HIV patients suffering from
Herpes Type VIII; people that have
Herpes Type VIII and Kaposi’s; and
people not infected with HIV but who
have Kaposi’s Sarcoma in the United
States and Africa, said Hmakwa
Mantina, a researcher from the
University of Miami working on the
project.
The Herpes Type VIII virus, dis
covered in 1994, is die most recent her
pes virus found.
“It’s quite interesting. Not only is it
the newest (herpes) virus, but it’s
linked to HIV, AIDS and cancer -
specifically Kaposi’s Sarcoma,” Wood
said.
Not everyone infected with the
Herpes Type VIII virus will get cancer.
Under the conditions of a suppressed
immune system, such as in people
infected with HIV and Herpes Type
VIII, patients are more susceptible to
Kaposi’s Sarcoma, Wood said.
“It’s a risk factor. That’s what we
could say at this point,” Wood said.
Wood found that in the United
States, between 50 to 70 percent of
HIV patients have Kaposi’s Sarcoma
cancer, compared to a 5 to 10 percent
infection rate in people not infected
with HIV Woods said.
Woods began his research in the
United States four years ago and
expanded to Africa because there is an
increase in Herpes Type VIII and
Kaposi’s Sarcoma.
“It’s one of the most common can
cers for AIDS,” Wood said.
In Africa, Wood found a 40 percent
infection rate of Kaposi’s Sarcoma
among the people not infected with
HIV
More than 30 percent of the popu
lation is infected with HIV and AIDS,
and of those people, 90 percent of
them have Kaposi’s Sarcoma, Wood
said.
“It’s a major problem in African
countries. One in three are infected
with HIV” Wood said.
The number of patients with
Kaposi’s Sarcoma is lower in the
United States because of the HIV-sup
pressant drugs, Wood said.
Wood found that about 40 to 50
percent of HIV-infected individuals
carry the Herpes Type VIII virus in
both Africa and the United States,
Wood said.
Mantina said he began the research
because he is from Africa and worked
as a doctor for cancer patients.
Wood will continue his research
looking at whether Kaposi’s Sarcoma
is connected to the Herpes Type VIII
virus by studying infants exposed to
the virus to see if they develop the can
cer as they get older.
“If we can block the virus, we can
block the disease,” Wood said.
btenbergr Reconsideration
of grain merger necessary
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
State Attorney General Don
Stenberg asked the Justice Department
on Oct. 21 to reconsider the approval of
a merger between the first and third
largest grain exporters in the nation.
The Justice Department approved
the merger of Cargill Inc. and
Continental Grain on Nov. 10, 1998,
creating the world’s largest grain
exporting company.
The merger took place for an undis
closed amount, adding Continental to
Cargill,- the nation’s largest privately
owned business before the merger.
The attorney general asked the dis
trict court of the District of Columbia,
which is currently considering the”
merger, to appoint someone to review
the merger and make a recommenda
tion to the court, an attorney general’s
office press release said.
Stenberg argued the merger of
Cargill and Continental would tighten
entry of other agricultural companies
into the market and, in general, be anti
competitive.
Deputy Attorney General Steve
Grasz said prices on agricultural goods
would be lower if the merger is allowed,
a factor the Justice Department did not
consider entirely.
“(Cargill and Consolidated) would
u—— —
(The Justice
Department) didn’t
seem to look at the
bigger picture."
Steve Grasz
deputy attorney general
be in a situation where they did not have
real competition,” Grasz said. “(The
Justice Department) didn’t seem to look
at the bigger picture.”
Justice Department officials said
they could not comment on the merger.
But according to a press release, the
Justice Department required both com
panies to sell grain elevators and rail
road terminals across the nation to
lessen the pair’s combined market
power.
Specifically, the Justice Department
targeted port and river elevators under
the authorization of the Chicago Board
of Trade in Illinois.
“This concentration would have
increased the risk that prices for
Chicago Board of Trade com and soy
bean futures contracts could be manipu
lated,” the Justice Department press
release said.
‘Blair’ burgh prepares for holiday
BURKITTSVILLE, Md. (AP) -
The Blair Witch believers are back, just
in time for Halloween. And this time,
Burkittsville is ready.
Last summer, curiosity seekers
pverran the startled western Maryland
hamlet where the hit hoax horror film,
“The Blair Witch Project,” is set.
They snatched road and cemetery
signs and vandalized tombstones,
prompting a beefed-up police presence
in the quiet farming community.
Burkittsville has since wised up -
and cashed in.
i With the movie’s recent release on
home video and with Halloween this
weekend, many of the 214 townsfolk
are embracing - rather than bracing for
-- another wave of what local artist
Trude Head calls “the Blair Witch
virus.”
Roll into town on the narrow road
over South Mountain, and you’ll see a
hand-lettered cardboard sign, “WITCH
STUFF,” on a telephone pole near
Head’s 200-year-old yellow house.
Her sidewalk display offers $7 ver
sions of the rocks and stick-figure
totems featured in the film.
So is Margaret Kennedy, a painter
and gallery owner whose sales have
zoomed since she started selling Blair
Witch T-shirts and totems to tourists.
Up and down Main Street, the Blair
Witch has become a cottage industry,
supported by several Internet sites and a
market that expanded with the movie’s
international release and video sales.
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