We performed serological testing for a large number of infectious agents in 26 patients from Atlanta who had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and in 50 controls matched by age, race, and sex. We did not find any agent associated with CFS. In addition, we did not find elevated levels of antibody to any of a wide range of agents examined. In particular, we did not find elevated titers of antibody to any herpesvirus, nor did we find evidence of enteroviral exposure in this group of patients.

The immunologic and virologic status of a chimpanzee inoculated with multiple isolates of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were assessed over 57 months to determine whether prolonged thrombocytopenia and CD4+ lymphocytopenia observed in the animal might be associated with long-term HIV infection. Although the chimpanzee showed no signs of disease, it lost both CD4+ (as low as 134 cells/microliter) and CD8+ lymphocytes approximately 30 months after initial infection, followed by thrombocytopenia that has persisted for greater than 2 years. Lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia were preceded by or coincided with the appearance of antibodies cross-reactive with histone H2B and decreased levels of complement component C4; an eightfold decrease in HIV-specific antibody titers; the inability of CD8+ lymphocytes to suppress virus replication; impaired proliferative responses to T cell mitogens; and the isolation of cell-free HIV from plasma. These data suggest that, given sufficient time, HIV-infected chimpanzees may develop disease.

Previously, we demonstrated that cultures of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) stimulated with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) generate antigen-specific, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that tend to be CD4+ and restricted to HLA-DR antigens. In this study, we present evidence that when HSV-1 stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) are cocultured with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the generation of CD4+, DR-restricted CTL during the 5-day culture period is inhibited. In contrast, HIV-1 had no effect on either natural killer (NK) activity, or on the unrestricted NK-like killers which are often detected in HSV-1-stimulated cultures after the depletion of CD16+ cells. HIV-1 also failed to inhibit the generation of CTL against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a response that principally involves CD8+, CD4-, class I-restricted killers.