Laboratory findings reshape AIDS research

The code sought to protect breastfeeding while recognizing appropriate use of substitutes.

The assembly adopted the code as a recommendation that countries could implement through national measures.

Its adoption did not make all advertising restrictions automatically binding in every country.

Institut Pasteur researchers published their first paper on the new human retrovirus in Science.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was central to the collaborative research reported on this date.

Identifying and publishing the retrovirus supported later work on tests and medicines; effective treatment did not yet exist.

The assembly adopted a resolution committing to global eradication of poliomyelitis.

The resolution called for immunization and coordinated surveillance in affected countries.

Countries and health workers were asked to work together to interrupt transmission.

The 1988 vote was a political commitment; polio still required decades of field work.