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Two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate that infection with a newly recognized virus seems to interfere with HIV, slowing its progression and prolonging survival of AIDS patients. The findings confirm earlier, smaller studies showing that patients with both HIV and hepatitis G lived longer than those infected with HIV alone. The hepatitis G virus, discovered in 1995, does not appear to cause hepatitis or any other disease, unlike other blood-borne hepatitis viruses that cause liver damage. It is found in about 2 percent of healthy blood donors. What isn't known is exactly how the virus inhibits HIV. Researchers say if they can figure that out, it could lead to new treatments for the AIDS virus.

The Iowa study looked at 362 HIV-infected patients treated between 1988 and 1999. About 40 percent, 144 patients, were also infected with hepatitis G. About 29 percent of those infected with hepatitis G died during the four-year follow-up, compared with 56 percent of patients not infected with hepatitis G. A second study of 197 HIV patients in Germany also found significantly longer survival for the 33 patients with hepatitis G, even after more potent AIDS drugs became available in 1996.

Editor's Note: from the Associated Press