Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 10:00:24 -0500 (EST) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 02/14/94 AIDS Daily Summary February 14, 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 "Fear Conquers Fact to Isolate Those With AIDS Virus" USA Today (02/14/94) P. 3D (Painter, Kim) Government surveys have shown for years that most Americans are knowledgeable about how one can and cannot contract HIV. Fears of casual transmission have long been dismissed by scientists. Nevertheless, irrational fears about AIDS abound despite widespread knowledge. "People know it and yet they somehow don't believe it," explains Jim Graham, director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, an AIDS service organization. "I can't tell you the number of conversations I have these days with people who think that, well, someday we're going to find out there are other ways that it spreads." As a result of these unfounded fears, people with HIV must cope with situations such as co-workers who spray Lysol on anything they touch, colleagues who are afraid to sit next to them, and family members who refuse to use their silverware. As a result of these unfounded fears about AIDS and the actions that reflect them, people infected with HIV become social casualties long before their actual deaths. "'Resisters' May Hold AIDS Clue" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/14/94) P. A1 (Collins, Huntly) The small handful of people who are infected with HIV and remain healthy--long-term survivors--are the subject of intense study by AIDS researchers around the country, who hope that these "resisters" can unlock the puzzle of AIDS. "Obviously, if you can find out what makes people survive for a long time, you can mimic that in a drug or vaccine," says Patricia Fast, an AIDS researcher with the National Institutes of Health. It can take as long as 10 years for an HIV-positive person to progress to full-blown AIDS; typically, most die within 18 months after developing the full-blown disease. Long-term survivors account for only 5 percent of all infected people, and fall into two categories. There are HIV-positive people who, for seven to 10 years after infection, maintain healthy levels of CD4 cells, which help fight infection. The second group of resisters are those who lose large numbers of CD4 cells, but remain healthy nonetheless. Another group represents those who appear to escape infection altogether. All three are under study. "Bonjour, Haben Sie A Condom?" Reuters (02/13/94) (Gaunt, Jeremy) Brussels, Belgium--To remind people of the hazards of unprotected sex, European AIDS awareness activists have organized a Valentine's Day campaign that includes the distribution of 10,000 "Euro-condoms" and a guide to safe sex in 10 languages. "We are trying to emphasize you can have sex, you can have fun, you can be in love, but use a condom," explains Hannah Jones, coordinator of the campaign. The "Euro-condoms" feature blue packaging decorated with the 12 yellow stars of the European Union. The guide translates phrases such as "I'd like to buy some condoms, please" and "Only with a condom" into Dutch, Greek, French, German, Danish, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, and Italian. The guide also presents sobering statistics about AIDS reported by the World Health Organization. At the end of last year, there were more than 103,000 AIDS cases in Europe, and more than four times that number in Western Europe were infected with HIV. The Valentine's Day campaign was organized by British charity CSV Media and funded in part by the European Commission. "Indonesia Requires Expatriates to Carry AIDS Certificates" United Press International (02/13/94) Jakarta--Alarmed by the relentless spread of HIV, the Indonesian government has decreed that all expatriates working in the country must carry certificates indicating that they have tested negative for the virus, according to Antara, the official news agency. Health Minister Suyudi said that foreigners who had tested negative in their home countries would still have to undergo periodical tests in Indonesia. "The measure would be part of the government's efforts to check the spreading of the disease to which no cure has been found," said Azwar Anas, the coordinating minister for people's welfare. He added that foreign tourists are exempt from the regulations. Anas said that 203 Indonesians are HIV-positive, but health officials say the actual number may be as high as 15,000. "Activists Arrested for Giving Needles" Boston Globe (02/12/94) P. 54 Twenty or so AIDS activists were arrested Friday morning after distributing clean hypodermic needles to intravenous-drug users in Boston. The activists, from the Boston-based National AIDS Brigade, had set up an illegal needle exchange in an effort to help stem the spread of AIDS among the addict population. Boston police arrived and confiscated the remaining store of needles. "Rio Tourists Urged to Make Their Sex Safe" Reuters (02/11/94) (Schomberg, William) Rio de Janeiro--Tourists arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Carnival are being bombarded with free condoms as part of a campaign to promote safe sex during the pre-Lenten holiday. Visitors are greeted by billboards throughout the city that praise the virtues of protected sex. "Have a well-laid Carnival," says one. "Without a condom, forget it." Currently, there are an estimated 45,000 registered cases of AIDS in Brazil, nearly 8,000 of them in Rio alone, according to an official with the state health authority. A recent survey in the Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine found that only 7 percent of Brazilian men knew how to properly use a condom. Close to half thought that using a condom "was not real sex," and 50 percent of that number had never used a condom. Brazil's per capita rate for AIDS infection is about the seventh highest in the world. "Anti-AIDS Blood Products Held Back in US--Paper" Reuters (02/11/94) Paris--In the 1980s, American companies sold blood products for hemophiliacs that may have been infected with HIV even though sterilized versions were available, the French daily Le Monde reported on Friday. The newspaper published documents--what it claimed were the minutes of a May 6, 1985, meeting of the Public Health Service Executive Task Force on AIDS--which implied that U.S. health officials knew that pharmaceutical firms were holding back sterilized blood products. "The manufacturers report that non-sterilized anti-hemophilia products are still being used although there is no stock shortage of sterilized products," read the minutes, according to Le Monde. "The FDA plans to put pressure on the manufacturers to stop the supply of non-sterilized products." The task force was at that time Washington's top anti-AIDS agency, whose members included the heads of major health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration. "Americans and Japanese Raise Money for AIDS Shelter" United Press International (02/10/94) Tokyo--Japanese and American AIDS patient advocates donated more than $16,000 to Japan's only shelter for HIV-infected people. Fund-raiser Yuzuru Ikushima said that the two-year-old, secretly-located safe house is important because many Japanese with HIV would otherwise live in isolation out of fear of being ostracized. Joel Karr, chairman of the fund-raising committee, agreed. "In Japan, AIDS is such a social taboo that people don't want to talk about it at all," he said. "They would rather ignore the problem." According to the Health and Welfare Ministry's AIDS Surveillance Committee, the tally of AIDS patients and HIV carriers in Japan totaled 1,410 at the end of 1993. "Foundation Announces Prevention Effort" AIDS Alert (01/94) Vol. 9, No. 1, P. 15 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has approved a $75,000 HIV prevention campaign that includes an evaluation of existing efforts in the United States. "It will help determine what works and what doesn't, and summarize the findings in both a scholarly fashion and in a series of publications directed to community-based organizations," says Dr. Mark Smith, the foundation's vice president. In addition to the assessment, a grant will be awarded to the Harvard AIDS Institute in Boston to develop prevention and treatment guidelines for physicians. Funds will also help establish an electronic bulletin board system to help community-based AIDS organizations communicate with one another and stay abreast of new research, says Smith. "Holy T Cells, Batman" Advocate (02/08/94) No. 648, P. 20 The superhero of the country's third-highest selling comic book series recently revealed to readers that he is HIV-positive. Shadowhawk, an assistant district attorney whose frustration with the criminal justice system transformed him into an armored vigilante, discloses to a police officer that he was deliberately exposed to the deadly virus by drug dealers before he assumed his alter ego. Past installments of Image Comics' Shadowhawk series, which is popular among adolescents, have addressed alcoholism, drugs, and vigilantism.