Nation IN BRIEF : GEORGIA : AIDS Heat Therapy Patient Improving

The second AIDS patient to undergo an experimental blood-heating treatment showed progress and was “doing very well” two days after the procedure, his doctor said. Tony Mascio, 38, came to Atlanta Hospital with AIDS-related tumors on his lungs, tonsils and liver. The treatment involves heating the body by passing the blood through a machine. The theory is that it heats the body beyond a temperature it can naturally attain in order to kill the virus--in the same way fever fights disease. The first patient to undergo the heat treatment, Carl Crawford, appears to have improved steadily since he underwent it on Feb. 20. Crawford and the doctors say his AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma cancers have virtually disappeared from his body and no sign of the virus has been detectable in his blood. He claims to be feeling none of the AIDS symptoms that prompted him to prepare his will.