 When
the first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981, Richard G. Wyatt
was a pediatrician-researcher in the intramural program of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases studying
diarrheal diseases of children. He recalls features of the NIAID
laboratory where he worked that would have made it an ideal
place to begin investigating the cause of AIDS, as well as some
reasons their group did not gear up to study the disease, highlighting
problems associated with newly discovered infectious illnesses.
At the time, the NIAID team was making progress towards a vaccine
for rotavirus, which causes a serious and sometimes fatal diarrhea
in children. “When AIDS first came along, there wasn’t
any way of knowing what the agent was,” explains Dr. Wyatt.
“To bring materials, possibly containing unknown etiological
agents, into a laboratory where we were working on candidate
virus vaccines didn’t really make sense.”
In early 1983, Dr. Kenneth Sell, NIAID’s scientific director,
drafted Dr. Wyatt as a special assistant on AIDS-related research.
In this position, he organized an NIH workshop, summarized by
Dr. Albert Sabin, to consider the possible causes of AIDS. Dr.
Wyatt recalls scientists proposing a range of viruses, including
herpesviruses, hepatitis viruses, cytomegaloviruses, and parvoviruses.
He also remembers how a late addition, retroviruses, was added
to the agenda. The “wide net” approach, he explains,
was recommended by Dr. Sabin in an era where little was known
about the cause of AIDS and no viable option could be ruled
out.
Dr. Wyatt’s other AIDS-related responsibilities included
working with the New York Blood Center to collect and store
human fluid and tissue samples for future study. Dr. Wyatt also
attended and reported on some of the early meetings of the U.S.
Public Health Service AIDS Executive Committee.
Currently Dr. Wyatt is executive director of the NIH Office
of Intramural Research. |
