From ny000570@mail.nyser.net Fri Nov 19 01:12:34 1993 From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary November 18, 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 "Clinic Director Replaced" Washington Post (11/18/93) P. D.C. 1 (Harris, Hamil R.) In a decision that reverses a previous, supportive stance, the head of the Whitman-Walker Clinic has replaced the director of an AIDS outreach center who admitted that he falsified his resume to secure the position. Jim Graham, executive director of the clinic, hired Maurice O. Franklin in August to run the Max Robinson Center in Southeast Washington, D.C., under the belief that the 33-year-old had a master's degree in management and an undergraduate degree in psychology. Upon learning that Franklin holds only an undergraduate degree in leisure studies, Graham announced his support of Franklin, and claimed that he would have hired him anyway because of his strong AIDS experience. Less than one month later, Graham has appointed Lamar Dwayne Revis, a manager at the Treasury Department for the past five years, as the new director of the Max Robinson Center. Graham has, however, generated even more controversy by hiring a replacement who AIDS activists say has no experience in operating such a facility. Graham also said that Franklin had been transferred to the development department of Whitman-Walker, but Franklin contradicted this statement, insisting that he is no longer an employee of the clinic. "AIDS Threatens Asian Economic Growth--Researcher" Reuters (11/18/93) (da Silva, Wilson) Sydney--The fight against AIDS is being lost in Asia, the region where it is spreading the fastest, a disease expert warned delegates at the International Congress on Clinical Chemistry in Melbourne, Australia. "There's the potential in a number of countries for AIDS to derail economic growth," said John Dwyer, director of Sydney's Prince Henry Hospital AIDS research center, citing Thailand, India, Burma, and China. "We know that the invisible epidemic becomes visible after a few years and when it does the socio-economic consequences ... are devastating and add up to very big dollar losses," added Dwyer, who is also president of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific. Dwyer informed the conference that by 1997, Asia will have more AIDS-infected people than Africa. By 2000, he predicted, the soaring infection rates will result in 1 million AIDS cases annually. Yet Asian politicians, distracted by immediate economic and social issues, are "frighteningly unimpressed" by the potential peril of the virus, which is downplayed even more by the fact that only 5,000 people in the region have actually died from the disease, said Dwyer. "NAPWA Condemns American Airlines' Actions in Holless Case--Calls on Federal Government to Investigate" PR Newswire (11/16/93) Washington--The National Association of People With AIDS has denounced American Airlines for its treatment of an infected passenger, who was forcibly removed from a flight Sunday for failing to cover lesions on his face and for attaching an IV bag to his seat. Timothy Holless, 33, of San Francisco, was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport on charges of disorderly conduct "We are appalled by the actions of American Airlines employees who would ask a man with AIDS to cover his face," lambasted NAPWA executive director William J. Freeman. "The apathetic reaction of the corporation signals a blatant disregard for civil rights and simple compassion." Freeman called on American Airlines to implement mandatory employee education programs at all levels. American Airlines policy dictates that passengers may not use IV bags in flight and may not display open sores, said corporate officials, who contend that the incident does not warrant a response. In an April incident, attendants for the same airline sparked rage in the AIDS and gay communities when they reportedly changed the linens following a return flight of people participating in the March on Washington for gay and lesbian civil rights. As the holiday season approaches, it is recommended that people with HIV or AIDS consult with doctors and make travel arrangements through agents or directly through the airlines when booking flights. "Russia--AIDS" Associated Press (11/17/93) Moscow--Most new AIDS cases in Russia indicate that the virus was transmitted from one Russian to another, creating a new stage in the spread of the disease, according to newspaper reports on Wednesday. AIDS is primarily spread in Russia by homosexual contact or drug use, said Dr. Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Russian Center for the Prevention and Fight Against AIDS, as quoted by the Commersant newspaper. Russia, and the Soviet Union before it, previously insisted that the virus was being spread mainly by foreigners. Pokrovsky concurred that from 1987, when the first AIDS case was diagnosed in Russia, until 1990, the disease was in fact spread either by foreigners or as a result of poor medical practices. From 1988-89, 256 children contracted AIDS because multiple-use syringes were not being properly sterilized in Russian hospitals and other medical institutions. But since 1990, contends Pokrovsky, AIDS has been spread mostly by Russians, particularly homosexuals and drug addicts. He also said that 638 people in Russia have been identified as AIDS carriers. "Minnelli Shoots Video for AIDS Anthem" Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (11/16/93) P. C4 Hundreds of Torontonians showed up Monday to audition for unpaid, non-singing roles in Liza Minnelli's music video, which will raise money for international AIDS research. The video features Minnelli singing "The Day After That," a song from the musical "Kiss of the Spider Woman." It also coincides with a CD to be released on the Sony label. The idea for the project began when Minnelli saw the musical and was touched by the song's optimistic message. "This song is about the war against despair and it's about hope," she said. "The lethargy of AIDS was bothering me." The CD includes Minnelli's English version of the song, as well as a Spanish version by Gloria Estefan and a French translation by Charles Aznavour. The CD is being shipped to stores next week, and the video will be shot Monday and Tuesday. Both the CD and the video will be officially released on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. "NASA Battles AIDS" Industry Week (11/01/93) Vol. 242, No. 21, P. 42 Now joining in the fight against AIDS is NASA, which is working with American BioTechnologies Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., to build a three-dimensional computer model of the AIDS virus. The model, created from X-ray crystallography data, could be key in designing drug therapies for the disease. "Epidemiology and Transmission of HIV-2" Journal of the American Medical Association (11/03/93) Vol. 270, No. 13, P. 2083 (De Cock, Kevin M. et al.) HIV-1 and HIV-2 share common means of transmission; however, their epidemiological traits are not alike and the global spread of the latter has been limited. Studies suggest that a difference in viral load--high for HIV-1 and significantly lower for HIV-2--through most of the natural history of infection accounts for their notably different epidemiology. Lower transmissibility and shorter duration of infection affects the rate of reproduction, or the average number of secondary cases generated by one infected individual. The reproductive rate, in turn, determines the ability of an infectious agent to cause an epidemic. HIV-1 has spread by epidemic proportions in America, Europe, and Asia, primarily through homosexual sex, intravenous drug use, and, increasingly, heterosexual sex. HIV-2, however, is most prevalent in heterosexual West African populations, and has spread very little to other regions. Because of its natural history and low transmissibility from asymptomatic persons, HIV-2 infection is not likely to evolve into a rapidly developing international epidemic. And because of promising evidence indicating that HIV-2 perinatal transmission from mother to child is less likely than HIV-1 transmission, a pediatric HIV-2 infection also may not surface as a significant problem. Since both infections eventually cause AIDS, differences in their transmission are of greater public health significance than differences in their disease incubation periods, which have previously been the focus of concern. "Compulsory HIV Tests for TB Patients?" Lancet (11/06/93) Vol. 342, No. 8880, P. 1165 (Bader, Jean-Michel) French Delegate Minister of Health, Philippe Douste-Blazy, was unsuccessful at the Senate's Social Affairs Commission in defending his proposal for the social protection law. The senators approved 60 modifications of his proposal, the most noteworthy of which was a provision to require HIV testing for all tuberculosis patients. "We must have the courage to do so," said Senator Jean Cherioux, without specifying why. Douste-Blazy opposed the modification, but was unable to persuade the Commission despite support from various senators. The opponents argued that such mandatory testing was not feasible because it would involve testing every three months, which the health budget could not afford. If mandatory HIV testing for tuberculosis patients was to be implemented, why limit testing to only TB, queried Douste-Blazy and others. Senators in favor of the modification contended that some action must be taken against the spread of the AIDS epidemic in France. "Medical Briefs" Advocate (11/02/93) No. 641, P. 33 With an increase of more than 100 percent since 1989, heterosexual transmission is now the fastest-growing category of HIV infection, according to a Sept. 9 article in the Medical Tribune. The number of cases accounted for by gay or bisexual men rose 21 percent, while cases involving heterosexual intravenous drug users increased 43 percent. The only decline occurred among blood-transfusion recipients. "Erotica Booms in a Dangerous Era" American Demographics (11/93) Vol. 15, No. 11, P. 14 Thanks to the fearful environment created by the AIDS epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases, hard data on sexual activity is a rarity. Statistics do show, however, that one in every five Americans is infected with some form of sexually transmitted disease other than AIDS, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Reactions to this data have prompted Americans to downplay the freewheeling attitudes of the past and invest in alternatives. Spending on pornography, sex toys, and other sex-related items have skyrocketed since 1978, indicate surveys conducted by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. "Because of fears about sexually transmitted diseases, [people] are having fewer partners," says Dr. Ted McIlvenna, president of the institute. "So now they're buying paraphernalia." Sexy novels, too, are on the rise. "I think the books have gotten hotter because of sexual fears," speculates Katherine Falk, publisher of Romantic Times, a special-interest journal. "The books are safe sex," she says. ------- End of Forwarded Message