AIDS Daily Summary December 6, 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 "Health Officials Say Casual AIDS Transmission Rare" Reuters (12/05/93) (McCabe, Alec) New York--Despite two new cases in which American children contracted the AIDS virus through a rarely documented form of transmission, U.S. public health officials say casual AIDS transmission is rare and the risk minimal. In one case, the virus was transmitted through a razor shared by two hemophiliac teenage brothers, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The other case involved a five-year-old, whose infected blood apparently permeated a rash on the skin of a two-year-old who lived at the same foster home, reported researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey. While the two cases are rare, they are documentary proof that HIV can be transmitted by vehicles other than sexual contact or needle-sharing, the two primary means of transmission. The infections probably never would have occurred if CDC precautions had been heeded, contend public health officials. Among the recommendations, issued in 1985, are refraining from using the toothbrushes of HIV carriers and avoiding unprotected contact with their wounds. Dr. Lawrence Frankel of Rutgers University said that the cases are a warning to parents to adhere to strict precautions if they have one child who is HIV-positive and another who is negative, although he cautioned against using the findings to segregate infected children. Related Story: New York Times (12/04) P.33; USA Today (12/06) P.10; Chicago Tribune (12/04) P. 20. "AIDS Creating a Booming Business in Safe Sex Products" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/06/93) In the era of the AIDS epidemic, safe sex sells, and so do rubber gloves, dentist masks, blood processors, home infusion therapies, and medical waste disposal services. As the virus has influenced the country's political and cultural outlook, the demand for AIDS-related products and services has at the same time transformed and created industries. Society and industry both hope for a cure in the long run. In the meantime, however, the focus is on products and services. While the expense of infectious waste proposal is prompting hospitals to switch to re-usable products, AIDS precautions have moved dentists to buy more disposable products than ever before. This trend is evident in sales at dental supply companies, which are skyrocketing. The hot seller in recent months has been the hand drill, which is thought to be the tool that infected a Florida woman, whose AIDS death focused national attention on the possibility of contracting the virus in the dental office. "An awful lot of business has been generated because of the fear of AIDS," testifies Marc Selman, who two years ago opened a consulting practice to help doctors and dentists deal with growing regulations concerning AIDS. His innovative entrepreneurial effort has been transformed into a $1 million business. "Massachusetts Firms Take Lead in Drug Development" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/06/93) (Rosenberg, Ronald) With about a dozen biotechnology firms working to develop AIDS drugs, therapies, and vaccines, Massachusetts has taken the lead in AIDS drug development. The most advanced, by far, is Repligen Corp. of Cambridge, which is currently developing two vaccines--one to delay progression of the disease, and one to prevent those coming in contact with the virus from contracting it. Cambridge Biotech Corp. of Worcester has developed Stimulon, an adjuvant derived from Peruvian tree bark, which is designed to boost the body's immune response to an AIDS vaccine. Also working toward an AIDS cure is Therion Biologics Corp. of Cambridge, which is teaming up with Harvard Medical School researchers on a live vaccine based on the permanent deletion of a critical gene from the AIDS virus. Other state biotech companies involved in AIDS research include Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., T-Cell Sciences, Procept Inc., the Virus Research Institute and Biogen Corp., Hybridon of Worcester, Nissin Molecular Biology Institute Inc. of Boston, and Boston BioMedica Inc. of West Bridgewater. Although the national Biotechnology Industry Organization claims that the threat of drug price controls under the Clinton health care initiative has effectively slowed the pace of AIDS-related research, there is no evidence of this slow-down in Massachusetts. "Army Offers HIV Tests Over German Scare" Chicago Tribune (12/04/93) P. 1-20 In the wake of a large-scale AIDS scare in Germany, the U.S. Army is offering free testing for the virus to former American military personnel who served there. Eligible for free HIV tests are American citizens who have been treated with blood products in German hospitals since 1985 and who have at any time been eligible for health care in Army medical facilities, announced the 7th Medical Command, based in Heidelberg. The U.S. Army said that investigations into the German pharmaceutical company at the core of the national scandal have been completed, and no Americans have been identified as potential HIV carriers. "French Will Offer Youths Condoms at Discount Price" Philadelphia Inquirer (12/04/93) P. A13 In a government campaign to promote safe sex among adolescents, condoms in France will be available to young people for a fraction of the normal cost. Junior Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy announced that, starting today, condoms will be on sale in pharmacies for 17 cents each. The current price for a package of three condoms is $1.70, which is often too expensive for most youngsters, according to surveys. "AIDS Ads" Associated Press (12/04/93) Ann Arbor, Mich.--In a move that will break a long-standing taboo, condoms will be mentioned in a federally funded public service advertising campaign on AIDS to be unveiled Dec. 21 by the Centers for Disease Control. Medical experts have long recommended condoms to help prevent the spread of AIDS, but both the Reagan and Bush administrations refused to publicly support their use. The campaign, which targets young people, will "reflect the changes we're going through here," said national AIDS policy coordinator Kristine Gebbie. She promised that the condom ads "will be very different than anything you've ever seen before." "Abbott--AIDS Test" Associated Press (12/02/93) (Gold, Jeffrey) Newark, N.J.--Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of a faulty blood test once used by most hospitals and blood banks, had a responsibility to warn the public that the test might not always detect HIV, ruled a state judge. The decision permits a New Jersey woman to continue her lawsuit against the company, whose test was revised after she received contaminated blood during a 1986 surgery. The new test, approved in January 1987, is used by about three-quarters of the country's hospitals and blood banks, including the American Red Cross, disclosed the company. The 42-year-old woman has AIDS-related conditions, but has not yet progressed to full-blown AIDS. She charges that Abbott knew of uncertainties concerning the effectiveness of the test as many as five months before her operation and was negligent in its failure to notify the public. State Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Sciuto ruled that the company did not clearly define "false negatives," (when a test fails to detect HIV infection), on inserts accompanying the tests. He also said that correspondence between Abbott and the Food and Drug Administration "conclusively" indicate that the company knew about the test's deficiencies. "While Abbott investigated the problem and sent the FDA a proposed statement to be included in the package insert, they cannot escape liability," he wrote. "Abbott continued to manufacture, market, and distribute the screening test without warning against the sensitivity problem." While the court contends that Abbott "did nothing in the hopes that they would not be held accountable," the company has asked for a dismissal on the grounds that it was pre-empted by federal regulations governing medical devices. "Finding May Greatly Improve Potential AIDS Therapy" Reuters (12/02/93) (Riordan, Teresa) Washington--Colleagues at the University of Colorado say they may have discovered a way to improve the effectiveness of one experimental AIDS treatment. Thomas Cech and Bruce Sullenger think they have learned to make an antiviral agent that acts as a guided missile, aiming at the exact location within a cell that harbors an RNA molecule encoding the AIDS virus. The agent reaches its target, splitting it into two and making it harmless. A decade ago, Cech helped make the revolutionary discovery that RNA molecules could perform important functions. Viruses consist of strands of DNA or RNA, which can cause an array of diseases from the common cold to AIDS, by entering normal cells and using them to replicate the virus. Since this finding, scientists have been developing molecules called ribozymes that will slice apart disease-carrying RNA molecules. But promising lab results have not been repeated when the molecules are locked in a cell. Cech and Sullenger, in their new report, suggest that this is because a cell is much like a large house with many locked doors. Unless the ribozyme emits a specific signal that acts as a password to let it enter the room where the AIDS-encoding molecule is living, it will be automatically ushered into another room. Cech and Sullenger are developing a type of gene therapy in which genes that will encode HIV-seeking ribozymes are moved to bone marrow, where blood cells are manufactured. Newly made cells would contain the anti-HIV ribozyme and, ideally, work as a "man-to-man" defense. "AIDS Tests Demanded for U.N. Peacekeepers" Reuters (12/01/93) Zagreb--The Croatian Victimologist Society, a pressure group, has announced that it wants the United Nations to give AIDS tests to peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia. The organization said it would contact the U.N. and the World Health Organization to demand compulsory HIV testing among the troops. "Among the 15,000 [U.N.] soldiers taking part in the peacekeeping operation in Croatia, some come from the high-risk areas of Africa and South America, so there is a justified fear that our country could be endangered by the spread of AIDS," reasoned Zvonimir Separovic, president of the society. "We don't want to discriminate against anyone, but it is in the interest of society to protect all those who are potentially endangered, not only those who are already ill." According to Josip Begovac, a Croatian AIDS specialist, four U.N. soldiers--two from Kenya and one each from Nigeria and Argentina--had been diagnosed with AIDS. Two had died. But, adds Begovac, "No one can allege that U.N. troops are responsible for spreading AIDS." Croatia documented 58 HIV-positive persons over the last eight years, 39 of whom have died. "D.C. Condom Sales Top U.S." Washington Business Journal (11/12/93-11/18/93) Vol. 12, No. 26, P. 3 (Workman, James) October proved to be a fruitful month for condom sales in the nation's capital. According to Information Resources Inc., a New York-based market research firm, Washington, D.C., bought more condoms per capita than any other city in America--75 percent higher than the national average. And Information Resources subsidiary Towne-Oller & Associates reports that condom sales in the District rose 15 percent per capita, the highest percentage in the country. Condoms, taboo as they are, have been a hard sell in the past. But acceptance and flourishing of condoms is evident in Washington. The Whitman-Walker Clinic crushed traditional barriers and reversed network policies to air televised condom ads for the first time in history. Condomrageous, a condom store, expanded its wholesale operations and plans to move into the Atlanta market. And Populations Services International, a nonprofit organization based in the capital, sold 388,000 condoms in Kenya in one month. Glenn McKinney, co-owner of Condomrageous, attributes the booming condom business in the District to the area's large gay and single population, as well as a high level of awareness.