Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 02/24/94
From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" <[email-masked]>

AIDS Daily Summary 
                     February 24, 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

"H.I.V. Counseling Keeps Mothers Connected"
New York Times (02/24/94) P. A22  (Gottfried, Richard N.)
     A recent New York Times article about the New York State Health 
Department panel's decision to reject a proposal for obligatory 
HIV testing may have been misleading, says Richard Gottfried, 
chairman of the Assembly Health Committee in Albany.  The panel's
focus, Gottfried corrects, was not "how to balance the rights of 
women with those of their children," but to identify the most 
effective way of detecting HIV-positive newborns and treating 
them.  The panel favors mandatory HIV counseling of all pregnant 
women and new mothers, but with HIV testing on the basis of 
consent.  This approach, contends Gottfried, will identify and 
treat more HIV-positive mothers than will mandatory testing 
without consent, which will drive some mothers and babies from 
the system.  If this results in compromised health for even a 
fraction of the 300,000 babies born each year in the state, he 
says, mandatory testing will do more harm than good.  On the 
other hand, HIV testing with consent and HIV counseling keeps 
mothers and babies connected to the hospital for care, Gottfried 
concludes.
      
"Therion Biologics Corp. Wins Federal Approval to Test AIDS 
Vaccine on Humans"
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (02/24/94)
     Therion Biologics Corp., a small pharmaceutical firm in 
Cambridge, Mass., has been granted approval from the federal Food
and Drug Administration to test its AIDS vaccine on humans.  
Fifty volunteers at four medical centers will receive the 
vaccine, known as TBC-3B, which is designed to inoculate people 
so that they are no longer vulnerable to AIDS.  The drug, which 
passed FDA safety reviews, has previously been tested only on 
mice, rabbits, and monkeys, according to Dennis Panicelli, 
Therion's president and chief executive.  While TBC-3B uses eight
proteins to stimulate a defensive response in the body, Panicelli
says there are five or six other vaccines in development which 
use only a single genetically engineered HIV protein.  The human 
tests of TBC-3B, to be conducted by the National Institute of 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will determine the safety and 
efficacy of the drug.  According to  Panicelli, tests are 
scheduled to begin next week, and will run for 18 months.
      
"Study Finds Benefits to Early AZT Treatment"
Reuters (02/23/94)
     Baltimore--Early treatment with the antiviral drug AZT can 
prolong life even after the onset of AIDS, concludes a new study.
The findings run contrary to a 1993 French and English study 
which cast doubts on AZT therapy by suggesting that early 
treatment with the drug actually hastens death once full-blown 
disease develops.  "Starting AZT treatment early--before 
AIDS--gives the person some extra survival time before AIDS 
begins, but also extends the time before the first AIDS symptoms 
appear," explains Dr. Alfred Saah, an associate professor of 
epidemiology at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and lead 
author of the new study.  "AZT works after AIDS, even in someone 
who received it before AIDS."  Saah said that early treatment may
give patients extra survival time while they are relatively 
healthy and still able to enjoy a better quality of life.  The 
study followed more than 3,000 men who were already infected with
HIV, became infected, or developed AIDS during the course of the 
study.
      
"German Ministry Links Rise in AIDS to Sex Tourism"
Reuters (02/22/94)
     Bonn--"Sex tourism" is contributing to the spread of HIV in 
Germany and other countries, the German Health Ministry declared 
on Tuesday.  In a statement based on preliminary results of a 
study it commissioned, the agency said that travelers must be 
informed about the risks of prostitution tourism, which occurs 
when vacationers--men, in particular--visit countries with large 
sex industries.  In that study, more than half of the men 
surveyed admitted to paying for sex.  "The risk of HIV/AIDS 
infection through unprotected sexual intercourse has increased 
dramatically in recent years in the main destination countries of
prostitution tourism," such as southeast Asia, read the 
statement.  "New infections with the HIV virus in Germany are 
linked to the sex engaged in by German holidaymakers."  The 
ministry said that preventive measures were necessary and would 
be developed, in part with tourism companies.  "We have to 
educate the tourists and the companies, make them aware through 
leaflets and by discussing ways with the industry of using their 
brochures to promote safe sex," commented a ministry spokeswoman.
      
"Court Rejects Tainted Blood Class Action Suit"
Reuters (02/18/94)  (Willmer, Tanya)
     Toronto--Last week, a Canadian court rejected a class action suit
filed against the Red Cross and the federal government by a woman
who contracted HIV from contaminated blood.  Ontario court judge 
Robert Montgomery denied certification of the class action, 
saying that lawsuits involving tainted blood should be launched 
individually.  The law firm handling the class action case is 
considering an appeal.  "The decision in no way ... exonerates 
either the Red Cross or the government," which are charged with 
negligence, commented Nicholas Fursmann of the law firm Siskind, 
Cromarty, Ivey, and Dowler.  He pointed out that it was the 
Ontario government that introduced legislation allowing class 
actions only last year, and that individual actions would be more
time- and money-consuming.  The woman who launched the class 
action suit was one of about 1,000 Canadians who became infected 
with HIV from contaminated blood distributed during the late 
1970s and early 1980s in what now constitutes a national scandal.
Hemophiliac groups say rejection of the class action places added
pressure on those who have to decide by a March 15 deadline 
whether to accept a government compensation package, which waives
future rights to litigation.
      
"France Supports Methadone in AIDS, Heroin Fight"
Reuters (02/17/94)
     Paris--Alarmed by the wildfire spread of AIDS among intravenous 
drug addicts, France has reversed a previous stance and now 
supports the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction.  The 
country had a long-standing opposition to the substitute drug, 
which can be used to wean addicts from heroin, because it did not
want to encourage the use of any narcotic.    But Social Affairs 
and Health Minister Simone Veil revealed that the use of needles 
by drug addicts is currently the leading cause of HIV 
transmission, particularly among women.  "For 10 years, France 
ignored the question although it was the country worst hit by 
AIDS," she said.  "It [methadone] is all the more necessary today
as it's a weapon against AIDS."  Veil said the state is now 
encouraging methadone treatment, and hopes to enroll 1,000 users 
in a national program by the end of the year.  The United States 
and many other countries have already established active 
methadone treatment centers.
      
"Dealing With HIV at the Day-Care Centre"
Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (02/22/94) P. A21  (Wainberg, 
Mark A. and Renaud, Anne)
     In recent weeks, Canadian media have focused attention on 
two-year old Jessica, who has been banned from a Montreal 
day-care center because the facility learned that the toddler is 
HIV-positive.  The decision to ban the child, say Mark A. 
Wainberg and Anne Renaud of the McGill AIDS Centre, has renewed 
old fears and passions based on ignorance and misunderstanding, 
and serves as a reminder of just how few strides have been made 
in AIDS education, despite concerted efforts.  An estimated 
12,000 HIV-positive Canadians are thought to be living in Quebec,
say Wainberg and Renaud, and they have daily contact with other 
people.  While there is no guarantee that HIV transmission can 
never occur in a day-care environment, it must be understood that
although there are thousands of HIV-positive children attending 
day-care centers, no case has ever been reported of the virus 
being spread among children attending them.  Furthermore, 
Wainberg and Renaud speculate, it is probable that there are some
infected day-care employees.  They conclude that illogical, 
ill-placed, emotional hysteria should not be permitted to 
distract society from the true methods of HIV 
prevention--behavior modification and responsible sexual 
relationships.
      
"UK Newspaper Goes Quiet on Challenge to HIV/AIDS Link"
Nature (02/10/94) Vol. 367, No. 6463, P. 500  (Clarke, Maxine)
     Britain's Sunday Times newspaper appears to be slacking off from 
its independent effort to discredit the relationship between HIV 
infection and AIDS disease.  Last year, the publication ran 25 
stories--most of which were intended to challenge the scientific 
validity of claims about the causal relationship between HIV and 
AIDS, and to question the severity of the AIDS epidemic in 
Africa.  In comparison, the Times has run only one AIDS story 
this year, and that was a widely published report on a woman who 
is suing Wellcome over her husband's treatment with AZT.  
Although reader correspondence concerning the debate on the link 
between HIV and AIDS has been closed by the Times, reports in 
scientific documents and anecdotal reports from African nations 
continue to refute the paper's views.
      
"AIDS Digest: AAPHR Issues Guide for HIV-Infected Doctors"
Washington Blade (02/11/94) Vol. 25, No. 6, P. 31
     The American Association of Physicians for Human Rights (AAPHR), 
a gay doctors' organization, recently announced the release of a 
legal guide designed for health care workers who are infected 
with HIV.  The Legal Rights and Obligations of HIV-Infected 
Health Care Workers, a 47-page booklet, provides information on 
job discrimination, informed consent laws, privacy and 
confidentiality, and insurance.  AAPHR said an overwhelming 
number of phone calls it received prompted the association to put
out the guide, which was published jointly by AAPHR and the 
National Lawyers Guild AIDS Network.
      
"Redistribution of HIV Outside the Lymphoid System With Onset of 
AIDS"
Lancet (Great Britain) (02/12/94) Vol. 343, No. 8894, P. 382  
(Donaldson, Y. K. et al.)
     Researchers still have a poor understanding of the basis for many
symptoms and pathological transitions observed in AIDS patients. 
To explore the extent to which direct HIV infection produces 
disease manifestations of AIDS, Donaldson et al. used a 
quantitative polymerase chain reaction in a comparison of five 
AIDS patients who died from AIDS-defining illness and three 
HIV-positive subjects who died without HIV-related disease.  In 
the AIDS patients, Donaldson et al. found HIV infection at 
various sites, including the brain, lung, colon, and liver.  But 
in the HIV patients, the researchers found no evidence of 
significant infection of any non-lymphoid organ.  In both groups,
however, there were high levels of HIV infection in the cells of 
the spleen, lymph nodes, and peripheral blood.  Pathological 
examination of tissues from the AIDS patients revealed many 
abnormalities, some of which were specifically linked to high 
levels of HIV infection.  The findings of Donaldson et al. 
suggest that the spread of HIV beyond immune system cells is a 
late event in HIV infection, and is extremely sensitive to the 
degree of immunosuppression in the patient.