AIDS Daily Summary April 13, 1994 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 "AIDS Patients Living Longer, New Study Says" Philadelphia Inquirer (04/13/94) P. A5 Newly infected HIV patients can expect to live about a year longer than those who were infected when the epidemic began more than a decade ago, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Typical survival was a year longer in 1993 than in 1983, said the study's lead author, Dennis Osmond, an assistant professor at the University of California at San Francisco. The improvement was largely due to doctors' success in fighting pneumocystis carinii (PCP)--which affects about half of infected patients--rather than in battling the virus itself. Of the 370 gay, male study participants, most of the improvement was expressed among patients who received preventive therapy or treatment for PCP. Related Stories: New York Times (04/13) P. A17; USA Today (04/13) P. 1D "AIDS Plan" Associated Press (04/13/94) National AIDS Policy Coordinator Kristine Gebbie yesterday unveiled her proposed new plan, which centers around 15 research, service, and prevention goals. Those objectives include providing accurate and timely prevention information to all Americans, early help for those living with the deadly virus, and identifying and removing obstacles to the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. Critics said that Gebbie must flesh out the proposal and find ways to finance the goals. "It's a skeletal plan," said Greg Gonsalves of the Treatment Action Group in New York. "Unless it's linked to a budget, it's meaningless." Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, agreed. "It really isn't an action plan," he said. "These are just a set of goals." Related Story: Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (04/13) P. A7 "AIDS Services Decision Ignites City Hall Protests" New York Times (04/13/94) P. B3; Hicks, Jonathan P. Two dozen activists from the AIDS advocacy group ACT-UP were arrested yesterday afternoon while protesting a proposal by the administration of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to cut back or eliminate the city's Division of AIDS Services. The office, which helps HIV patients access city services, has become the focus of one of the most volatile budget issues to confront the administration. Marva L. Hammons, commissioner of the Human Resources Administration, said no decision had been made regarding the cuts as of yet--a statement that was later confirmed by Mayor Giuliani. Hammons said, however, that she had developed plans to provide services if the agency was eliminated or narrowed. The possibility that the agency may be dismantled has spawned a series of protests over the past few weeks by members of ACT-UP, who have chained themselves to pillars at City Hall, and hung a banner on the building reading, "AIDS Hall of Shame." Yesterday's disturbance followed a day of related turmoil, in which the mayor confronted a raucous crowd of hecklers protesting the potential cuts, and in which two groups attempting to conduct what they considered routine press conferences on the steps of City Hall were denied access. "Safe-Sex Presentation Spurs Abstinence Talks" Houston Chronicle (04/12/94) P. 21A; Moran, Kevin Parent complaints about an AIDS patient's safe sex demonstration at a Texas high school prompted the district to hire another speaker to lecture at three high schools on the topic of sexual abstinence. The infected patient violated Texas City Independent School District policy when he used slang for body parts, and displayed a condom while speaking at Texas City High School on March 25, according to Okie Anderson, district student assistance coordinator. Although Health District Director Ralph Morris felt some responsibility for the incident, he defended the speaker's message. "Abstinence is the only 100-percent effective way to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus. That point can't be driven home too strongly," said Morris. "However, if that's all you say, then you're only telling half the story. There's a significant number of people--adolescents and others--who do not practice abstinence for whatever reason. For those people, you have to reach out and tell them that there are ways that will provide them with partial protection." After the complaints, the district retained David Davis, author of "Surviving as a Teenager," to talk to the students about abstinence, said Anderson. Related Story: USA Today (04/13) P.5A "AIDS Survival Rates Up in New York" United Press International (04/12/94) While AIDS patients may live longer than they did 15 years ago, there remain disparities in the survival rates between men and women, blacks and whites, and gay men and intravenous drug users, reports a newly released survey from the New York City Department of Health. The study, which followed 23,000 infected patients from the beginning of the epidemic to June 1989, found that people diagnosed within the last three years of the 1980s survived an average of 16.4 months after an AIDS diagnosis. That figure compares to a median survival time of only 11.4 months for people diagnosed at the very beginning of the epidemic and 14.8 months for those diagnosed in the mid-1980s. The increase in survival time may have been influenced by AIDS awareness and earlier diagnosis in some instances, said Dr. Pauline Thomas, director of the Health Department's Office of AIDS Surveillance. She also said improvements in medical care and treatments have helped prolong the lives of AIDS patients. In general, men lived longer than women after diagnosis; whites lived longer than blacks and Hispanics; and homosexual men lived longer than IV-drug addicts. Thomas said the variations between race and gender could be explained by access to health care. "Man Who Bit Officer Says He Has HIV" Houston Chronicle (04/12/94) P. 27A A man who bit a Waco, Texas, police officer while being arrested for public intoxication says he is HIV-positive, according to a department spokesperson. The suspect, 26-year-old Charles Guglioatta, reportedly bit the officer on the hand, breaking the skin. Guglioatta was taken to McLennan County Jail, where he was charged with the third-degree felony of exposing another person to AIDS. It was not certain whether the bitten officer took an HIV test after the attack. "Political Rally Demonstrators Sue City" United Press International (04/12/94) A federal lawsuit has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of an AIDS protester, in connection with an appearance by President George Bush in Strongsville, Ohio. The suit seeking $4 million was filed by H. Paul Schwitzgebel of Canton and James DeLong of Akron, who claim their First Amendment rights were violated when they were removed from a rally because they displayed signs indicating disapproval of what they called Bush's inaction toward AIDS. "Structure of HIV-1's Principal Neutralization Site Determined" Chemical & Engineering News (04/04/94) Vol. 72, No. 14, P. 24 AIDS scientists have long focused on a region of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein called the V3 loop, which is essential to HIV infection. In laboratory experiments, antibodies that recognize the V3 region prevent infection even if the virus has already attached to the target cell. Now, investigators at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and Repligen Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., have determined the 3-D structure of the peptide segment that forms the active part of the V3 loop. Led by Scripps' Ian A. Wilson, the research team demonstrates that the segment assumes an S-shaped conformation not predicted by previous studies. Scientists should now be able to tailor small molecules to bind the receptor for that region, thus inhibiting the ability of HIV to infect cells or indirectly cause the destruction of immune system cells. The new findings may be useful in helping researchers produce more effective synthetic vaccines against HIV. "HIV in Zambia: Myth or Monster?" Nature (03/17/94) Vol. 368, No. 6468, P. 183; Godfrey-Faussett, P.; Baggaley, R.; Scott, G. et al. Parts of Africa are experiencing a new revisionism embracing the idea that HIV is irrelevant to AIDS, and that the disease in Africa is a myth. Finding a forum in the British and African press, the stories claim that old enemies such as tuberculosis and diarrhea reflect more imminent danger. They blame malnutrition and poverty, coupled with climate and political disruption, for the declining health of observed in the past decade. Advocates of this view say the myth was created to sustain the resources of AIDS researchers at the expense of other causes of morbidity, and that the myth is part of a conspiracy to prevent development and investment in Africa. But Godfrey-Faussett et al. contend that the AIDS-is-a-myth mentality is a myth itself. Serological surveys in different populations and mortality data support their claims. In addition, 7,761 cases of AIDS and 21,973 cases of AIDS-related complex have been reported to the National Prevention and Control Program by October 1993. Head of the program, Dr. Roland Msiska, is certain that these figures are gross underestimates. Therefore, the AIDS-is-a-myth myth, say Godfrey-Faussett et al., flies in the face of every feasible explanation of these events. And it is dangerous, they say. All of the AIDS awareness programs that have been installed in Zambia and other parts of Africa will be fruitless in terms of safe sex if people are given a reason to ignore the truth. "Ultraviolet Light--An Answer to Tuberculosis?" EPRI Journal (03/94) Vol. 19, No. 2, P. 5 The health care industry has used ultraviolet (UV) light to kill bacteria for half a century, and some physicians are now urging widespread use of UV to control tuberculosis. According to medical experts, UV light can kill many airborne viruses and bacteria, such as measles and chicken pox. The National Tuberculosis Coalition is now beginning a controlled study of the use of UV lamps to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. The coalition, with help from EPRI, Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, the Lighting Research Institute, and other sources, intends to study use of UV lamps in six urban areas in the United States. In the plan, UV lamps would be installed in homeless shelters, which often serve as breeding grounds for the disease. Researchers, over a five-year period, will study the spread of the disease among workers and homeless people in the shelters. Some tuberculosis bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. According to Myron Jones, who is managing EPRI's involvement with the coalition, "Tuberculosis could become a real health crisis in the next 5 to 10 years. By supporting this research, electric utilities may ultimately help hold down health care costs in their service territories. And by reducing these costs, utilities are also helping to keep their commercial customers more competitive."