THE JOSEPH STOKES, JR.. RESEARCH INSTITUTE

  THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

34th STREET & CIVIC CENTER BOULEVARD

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 19104

WERNER HENLE, M.D.

Professor of Virology,
Director,
Division of Virology

(216) 596 - 9436

(216) 387 - 6180

May 10, 1985

Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
School of Medicine
Dept. of Microbiology G Immunology
University of California
San Francisco, CA 94143

Dear Harold:

Your letter of April 26, 1985 reached me only yesterday. That left little

time for reflection for a proper name for the species of virus now variously
called LAV, HTLV-I11 or ARV and to get my answer to you by May 15.

My wife and I have debated this problem in some detail and we both feel that:

(1) abbreviation used already for other viruses should by all means be avoided.

(2) AIDS as part of the designation also ought to be out because:

    a. not everyone becoming infected by the virus will develop AIDS
  b. the public has been made so afraid by the news media that infection by the

virus under the name of AIDS or AIDS-associated virus would be considered
  a death sentence.


c. it is not yet 100% certain that the virus per se is the cause of AIDS or
whether or not other factors (viruses) have to act in concert.

(3) HTLV-I11 is to us an incorrect designation because:

a. the acronymes initially stood for human T-cell leukemia and are still
taken as such for HTLV-1 and HTLV-2;

b.  HTLV-1 and HTLV-I1 do not belong into the same category as HTLV-111,
they are C- and not D-type viruses, are lymphoproliferative and not
lymphocytocidal, etc.

(4) LAV seems to us the most acceptable name because:

    a. it historically was the designation of the first virus isolated;
b. lymphadenopathy is clinically "neutral", appears to be a transient

response in primary infections by the virus as recently reported from
Australis and may become persistent and generalized whether or not the
patient subsequently develops AIDS.

-2-

Dr. Harold E. Varmus

S/lO/SS

(5)  A decision should be made as soon as possible because once a
  designation
  world it will be difficult to change. We ought to know because the
Epstein-Barr virus , used*as a temporary name, should really have
  been renamed infectious mononucleosis virus (IMV) because practically
  all herpesviridiae are named after the major diseases they cause.
  By the time the causal role of EBV in IM was generally accepted,  it
  was too late to make the change which also would have complied with
   rule 8.

has become solidly entrenched in some parts of the

   I know that our recommendation
but here they are for what they are

ill not please some of our colleagues

With best wishes I am

Sincereay yours ,

Werner Henle, M.D.