AIDS Daily Summary November 2, 1993 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD "EEOC Sues Fund for AIDS Patient" Baltimore Sun (11/02/93) P. 9C (Woodruff, John E.) In a national effort to protect the health benefits of AIDS-infected employees, federal authorities are suing a Baltimore Teamsters union welfare fund. "This is a test case to challenge a ... decision that unilaterally eliminated AIDS from its coverage," said Leslie R. Stellman, one of the attorneys involved in the case. The case surfaced when Harry Johnson Jr., a member of the Teamsters Local No. 355, complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that the union welfare fund was denying him health insurance and sick leave based only on the fact that he has AIDS. Today, Johnson is very ill and hospitalized, according to EEOC lawyers, who contend that the welfare fund violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing Johnson medical coverage throughout his illness and cutting his sick leave. "We cut him off, that's a fact," conceded Luther West, the fund's lawyer. West justified the action by insisting that federal law permits the fund to "pick and choose what benefits we provide and what illnesses we cover." The case is one of several being pursued across the nation by the EEOC to test the agency's power to protect health benefits of AIDS patients. "New Strategy Backed for Fighting AIDS" New York Times (11/02/93) P. C1 (Altman, Lawrence K.) Outside of the United States and Western Europe, by far the greatest number of global HIV infections are transmitted via heterosexual contact. While condoms protect men from infection, sexually active women have no comparable protection. They can ask, but not force, partners to use conventional prophylactics. The female condom is an alternative, but it is expensive and unproven in prevention of HIV infection. With no immediate prospects for an AIDS vaccine and limitations of HIV drugs, the World Health Organization is looking toward a new research strategy. The goal is to develop a safe and effective substance that women can insert into the vagina, without the knowledge of their partners, in gel, foam, sponge, or other form to kill the virus, or at least prevent it from infecting cells in the body. Health officials also hope to identify a substance that will work against other sexually transmitted diseases, since research indicates that reduction of other STDs, which facilitate HIV entry into the body, would reduce the risk of HIV infection. One substance being tested is nonoxynol-9, a spermicide sold in America and many other nations. Research has shown that, when used as a vaginal microbicide, it effectively prevents transmission of chlamydia and gonorrhea. At least 10 other substances are being explored as well. Researchers must be especially cautious and sensitive in assuring that a potential microbicide does not kill the microbes that are natural to the vagina and benefit female hygiene, and that it does not impair a woman's ability to bear children, or affect spermatozoa and cause defects. "A Political Battle on AIDS Research" New York Times (11/02/93) P. D1 (Meier, Barry) After more than a year of heated debate, Congress is expected to begin deliberating on whether to kill funding for expanded human trials of an experimental AIDS vaccine, GP-160. The controversy has been introduced primarily by those who assert that the vaccine's manufacturer, Connecticut-based MicroGeneSys, received the $20-million government appropriation through the efforts of an influential lobbyist, and not because the vaccine has exceptional therapeutic potential. But Franklin Volvovitz, MicroGeneSys' chief executive, says that GP-160 could help the immune systems of AIDS patients combat established infections, and that all of the argument surrounding the trials is obscuring the potential of the vaccine. Volvovitz further asserts that his company hired Washington lobbyist Russell Long because it was refused hearings in the capital. Long persuaded senators to include the $20 million for testing of GP-160 under a $250-million Defense Department appropriation. Under the legislation, the trial would be conducted unless the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Defense Department agreed within six months not to do so. When the agencies decided to conduct the trial, but also opted to include other producers' vaccines, MicroGeneSys refused to donate its vaccine. The agencies, again, have the power to choose one of three routes: halt financing, conduct multi-vaccine trials, or redirect the $20-million appropriation into general AIDS research. "A Timely AIDS Documentary" Boston Globe (11/01/93) P. 14 The newly released documentary "Sex Education in America: AIDS and Adolescence" made its Washington, D.C., premiere yesterday. According to the editors of the Boston Globe, the timing of the documentary could not have been more fortuitous. It portrays the tragic story of a society that, despite the increasing rate of teenage AIDS cases, continues to deny adolescent sexuality and the high risk teens run of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. This message is delivered by young Americans who have already contracted the virus. The Boston Globe calls the documentary "heartbreaking." With such undeniable facts, say the editors, one would think parents and educators would literally be forcing all imaginable, detailed information about sex and its risks on young people. Instead, they say, small but conservative alliances rally against comprehensive sex education and condom distribution. Produced by a former medical news reporter in Boston, Jeanne Blake, the Boston Globe says this documentary is a "wake-up call to teenagers on the life-or-death threat posed by AIDS." "United Biomedical Two Steps Closer to an Effective Multicomponent Synthetic AIDS Vaccine" Business Wire (10/31/93) Hauppauge--At Sunday's annual NIH Conference on Advances in AIDS, United Biomedical Inc. reported two significant milestones in the development of a safe and effective multicomponent synthetic AIDS vaccine. Preliminary results of Phase I clinical trials of UBI's single-component HIV vaccine indicated that humans could successfully generate antibodies to neutralize a primary field isolate of the AIDS virus, said director of Virology, Dr. Barbara Potts. UBI also reported success in showing that primary field isolates of globally diverse strains of HIV could be neutralized by immunizing animals with an experimental multicomponent vaccine concocted from mixtures of synthetic antigens representing variable worldwide strains of HIV. "The accomplishment of these two significant milestones enables UBI to accelerate its timetable for the development of a safe and effective global AIDS vaccine," said Dr. Wayne Koff, vice president for Vaccine Research and Development. "Report: AIDS Has Struck 339,250 in This Country" Philadelphia Inquirer (10/29/93) P. A30 AIDS is now the primary killer of men aged 25-44 years, and the fourth-leading cause of death among women in the same age group, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic in 1981, the disease has infected 339,250 Americans, and killed 204,390. The government's tab of diagnosed cases was augmented this year by some 48,915 Americans who fell under the new, expanded AIDS case definition. In the first three quarters of this year alone, the CDC added 85,526 new cases, a 141-percent increase over the previous year. "Cuba Says Nearly 1,000 People Infected With AIDS" Reuters (10/27/93) Havana--A total of 965 Cubans are infected with HIV, reported news agency Prensa Latina, quoting specialists from the Cuban AIDS control program. Of the HIV population, 224 persons have developed AIDS symptoms, including three who have died. Twelve HIV-infected individuals died of other causes, said the agency. The figures for those ill with AIDS and those who died from it are higher than those cited in a U.S. study released earlier this month. That study, by Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes of the University of California at Berkeley, reported that there were 187 cases of full-blown AIDS and 111 AIDS deaths on the island. Still, because measures taken to control AIDS are much more strict in Cuba than elsewhere, the numbers indicate that the disease is being kept in check among the population of nearly 11 million. "British Teenagers Get AIDS Facts From TV Soaps" Reuters (10/27/93) London--British adolescents are educated about AIDS more often from television soap operas than from school teachers, according to a survey by Barnardo's, a British children's charity. The survey said that 7 out of 10 teenagers first heard about the disease on TV programs such as the soap opera EastEnders. In comparison, only one in 10 learned about AIDS in the classroom or at home. HIV/AIDS education has been dropped from the national curriculum in British schools, and beginning in 1994, parents will have the authority to remove their children from sex education classes. "Many children watched the programme [EastEnders] to find out more because they were a little embarrassed about raising it at home," said Neil Churchill, a spokesperson for Barnardo's. Two-thirds of the 530 British children aged 11 to 14 years who were surveyed admitted that they were concerned about the disease. "Though mountains of words have been written about AIDS and HIV, the message is still not getting through to millions of school students," said Susanna Dawson, an actress whose character on the British soap has AIDS. Dawson is featured in a video, funded in part by Barnardo's, that addresses the AIDS experience of two EastEnders characters. The video is being promoted in schools across the country. "Research Using Genes Shows Promise to Fight AIDS" Reuters (10/19/93) New Orleans--Research using genes to trigger the body's immune system response to the AIDS virus have shown encouraging results, reports University of Philadelphia researcher Dr. David Weiner. Immune responses were triggered in mice, rabbits, and primates from inoculations with HIV genes, said Weiner. The mice produced antibodies, T-cells, and killer T-cells, all indications of positive immune system response. Rabbits produced an immune response even more quickly than did the mice. Of the three primates studied, two immediately began producing T-cell and antibody responses. "We know now that we can vaccinate mice, rabbits and primates," Weiner said. "Eventually we may be able to vaccinate people, too." "Occupational HIV Infection" Lancet (Great Britain) (10/16/93) Vol. 342, No. 8877, P. 980 (Bignall, John) The UK Communicable Disease Surveillance Center (CDSC) received 176 reports of occupational exposures to HIV between the years of 1985 and 1992. Ninety-nine persons with percutaneous exposures had follow-up data for three months. Of these, two have seroconverted, in addition to the seroconversion of two other health care workers whose exposures were not reported to the CDSC. Of that total of four infected health care employees, two are nurses, one is a phlebotemist, and all had needlestick injuries that seroconverted within three months. They received their needlesticks through resheathing a needle, insertion of an intravenous cannula, transfer of blood samples from a syringe with the needle attached to a specimen bottle, and venepuncture in a restless child. ""Getting Real" About HIV and Homeless Youth" American Journal of Public Health (10/93) Vol. 83, No. 10, P. 1490 (Clatts, Michael C.) Information on prevention, HIV testing and counseling, delaying the onset of sexual initiation, and condom distribution are all measures that need to be taken to curb the spread of AIDS, says Dr. Michael C. Clatts of the Youth at Risk Project. However, he says, to think that these alone can breed prevention is tragically shortsighted. This is especially true for homeless youths who, as a population, have a seroprevalance rate of nearly 20 percent. Thousands in number, they often have a chronic reliance on the trade of sex for money, food, and shelter. The fact is, according to Clatts, most people who in the upcoming decade will become infected with HIV will do so not because of inadequate information, myths, or failures of intention. Instead, he claims, they will suffer because of social and economic inequities. Clatts suggests that health care providers "get real" about circumstances such as poverty, sexual abuse, homelessness, homophobia, and limited unemployment that prompt young people into high-risk situations. Until these conditions are addressed, the course of AIDS is not likely to be stemmed among this segment of the HIV population, he says. ------- End of Forwarded Message