Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 09:08:13 -0500 (EST) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 02/28/94 AIDS Daily Summary February 28, 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 "Blood Transfusion Unsafe in Philippines" Reuters (02/28/94) Manila, Philippines--A study financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development has discovered that blood transfusion services in the Philippines are not safe because some blood is tainted with syphilis, hepatitis, and possibly HIV, announced Health Minister Juan Flavier. A team of Filipino doctors, who re-tested blood samples from 136 government and private blood banks, found that even blood that was screened contained at least 4 percent contamination. The study also reported that only about half of the blood banks were capable of testing for HIV. Fewer than half were equipped to conduct the four required tests against AIDS, syphilis, hepatitis B, and malaria. Blood transfusion services in the Philippines are "unsafe, inefficient, and wasteful," the study concluded. "Sex Education's Tough Question" Washington Post (02/28/94) P. D1 (Buckley, Stephen) Amid concerns about teenage sexuality in the age of AIDS, an advisory panel is recommending that Maryland's Montgomery County Board of Education consider condom distribution in the area's 21 high schools. Eugene Sussman, chairman of the Montgomery County Medical Advisory Committee, said that although the panel would like the school system to stress abstinence, "we want to protect those who are at risk. We want to educate them as to how to use protection, and we want to make that protection accessible." Sussman, a pediatrician, said the panel based its recommendation on statistics indicating that 700 county residents were diagnosed with AIDS between 1983 and 1992. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 7,000 people in Montgomery County are carriers of HIV. Despite these figures, the proposal to distribute condoms in schools has met with mixed reaction from school board members and parents. If it is approved, Montgomery County will join the District of Columbia and Alexandria, Va., as the only area school systems to supply students with condoms. "AIDS Drug Falters, Merck Says" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (02/28/94) New York--A two-year effort by Merck & Co. to develop a powerful new anti-AIDS drug has suffered a serious setback, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal. According to Merck, an initial trial that began last summer produced promising results. The drug reportedly reduced viral load in the bloodstream more than any other drug to date. For approximately six months, blood tests of four patients receiving the drug remained low. In late January, however, an especially sensitive test indicated that some time within the six-month time frame, virus levels had returned to near the levels observed before treatment was initiated. Company scientists said they are not sure why the drug's promising initial effect was short-lived. One researcher suggested that HIV may have become resistant to the drug. Related Story: Boston Globe (02/26) P. 4 "Criticism of a Review Board Official Mounts" New York Times (02/28/94) P. B3 (Hicks, Jonathan P.) Thomas K. Duane and three other New York City councilmen are calling for the dismissal of a member of the Police Civilian Complaint Review Board for his written remarks that AIDS could be spread during the Gay and Lesbian Olympic Games scheduled to be held in the city in June. Although he has been criticized for not seeking the official's removal, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said he stands by his decision not to call for the resignation of Rev. Ruben Diaz. The mayor stressed that he did not agree with Diaz's comments in the Spanish newspaper Impacto, but in a letter to Duane said "there is nothing in his performance that merits the Mayor condemning him or joining in the call that he be dismissed." "Hospitals to Study HIV-Positive Women" Chicago Tribune (02/25/94) P. 1-7 (Gurnon, Emily) A consortium of four Chicago hospitals has been awarded a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a pioneering three-year study on women and AIDS, hospital officials announced. Cook County Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, and the University of Illinois Hospital and Clinics--as well as five other sites across the country--will receive funding for the research, which will involve a total of 2,500 women. "Through these efforts, we're finally going to be able to define what it means to be a woman with HIV infection," said Northwestern physician Patricia Garcia, who noted that almost all previous studies have focused on men. "There are so many questions that our patients bring to us every day that we don't know about." The HIV-positive women enrolled in the study will be examined every six months for three years to determine whether they have higher rates of other gynecological diseases and infections, and are less responsive to treatment for these diseases than are uninfected women. "French Cheap Condoms Campaign Victim of Success" Reuters (02/26/94) Paris--Condom sales have skyrocketed 13 percent in France since last summer, with more than five million sold since the beginning of 1994 alone, reports Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. The soaring sales are the result of a government-initiated, safe-sex campaign in which condom makers agreed to sell the sheaths at the low cost of 17 cents each. The aim was to counter the spread of AIDS among France's youth, but the outlets are quickly running out of supplies. "It's a real, enormous success," says Douste-Blazy. "But today ... there are stock shortages, sometimes there are problems in finding 17-cent condoms. We must ensure this program lasts." His country has the highest number of AIDS cases in Europe. "AIDS Molest" Associated Press (02/26/94) Riverside, Calif.--A 37-year-old California woman has been charged with child endangerment and being an accessory to molestation after her husband allegedly raped her 7-year-old daughter, infecting her with HIV. The woman, a probation officer whose identity is being concealed for her daughter's protection, could face more than six years in jail if convicted. Her 43-year-old husband, a former probation officer, allegedly lured the girl to a bedroom during he and his wife's wedding party at the bride's home on Jan. 15. He has opted not to fight the charges, and is scheduled to enter a plea at an arraignment next month. If convicted, he could spend up to 45 years in prison. According to authorities, the couple was aware that the husband had AIDS. The girl has tested positive for HIV. "France--Tainted Blood" Associated Press (02/26/94) (McDowell, Patrick) Paris--Last week, Claire Duplessis filed a lawsuit against former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and former Deputy Health Minister Edmond Herve, accusing them of poisoning her by stalling anti-AIDS measures in the mid-1980s for political, not medical, reasons. The 61-year-old widow lost her husband to AIDS after he was infected during cancer surgery with blood donated by an HIV-positive prisoner. One day after his death, Duplessis discovered that she was also infected with the virus. "I would like to shake things up, alert people who received transfusions and were infected and don't know it," she said. Her suit is the latest filed against the ex-ministers and aides following well-documented revelations that they deliberately delayed the French marketing of an American AIDS test so that a domestic alternative could be developed. Duplessis' case is different, however, in that neither she nor her husband was a hemophiliac. Hers is the first case to stem from a transfusion during routine surgery, and there are an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 other cases like hers. "No Dose" Advocate (02/22/94) No. 649, P. 41 (Brownworth, Victoria A.) American firm Eli Lilly and Co. was able to manufacture streptomycin--a key drug in the treatment of HIV-related tuberculosis--by purchasing the required bulk product from France's Rhone-Poulenc Rorer pharmaceutical company. But when a Food and Drug Administration inspection found the French processing plant to be below FDA standards, the agency refused to authorize continued importation of bulk product. Eli Lilly was forced to halt production and sale of streptomycin in May 1993. By the end of February 1994, all U.S. supplies of the drug are expected to be depleted, and physicians warn that lives are in danger. Once the leading drug for TB, streptomycin is now a second-line drug that is an alternative to common TB treatments and is essential for treating multi-drug resistant TB. Because TB is increasingly a major opportunistic infection among HIV patients that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affects as many as one in three, a dearth of streptomycin could have serious implications. The bottom line, contend CDC officials, is that more people are going to die without the availability of the drug. "We are still searching for drugs to treat HIV and AIDS," agrees Dr. John Turner, an AIDS specialist at Philadelphia's Graduate Hospital. "This is a drug we know works against TB; we've used it for years. Why would we want to get rid of it? This will just present one more crisis for people with AIDS." "AIDS Budget is Higher, but not for Prevention" Washington Blade (02/11/94) Vol. 25, No. 6, P. 23 (Campbell, Kristina) AIDS activists were outraged by the Clinton administration's recently proposed budget for fiscal year 1995, which increases total AIDS funding by five percent but includes no increases at all in prevention dollars. The proposed budget submitted to Congress by President Clinton on Feb. 7 includes an increase of $191 million for AIDS, according to figures released by the White House's Office of AIDS Policy. Alexander Robinson, president of the D.C. CARE Consortium, said he was "distressed" that National AIDS Policy Coordinator Kristine Gebbie is not fighting for more prevention funding. Gebbie conceded that prevention money at the Centers for Disease Control is flat-funded, but pointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Security Administration, which was designated $15.5 million for HIV prevention work. "Yes, there is a need among the substance abuse community to do HIV and AIDS prevention, but what about all the other sectors of the community?" Robinson asked. "Those dollars are long overdue." A spokesman for Gebbie said that the AIDS policy coordinator and the AIDS policy office have been advocating an increase in prevention funds, but the tight budget has resulted in little success.