Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 09:15:13 -0500 (EST) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 01/27/94 AIDS Daily Summary January 27, 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 "White House Considers Funding Needle Exchanges to Fight AIDS" Washington Times (01/27/94) P. A1 The Clinton administration is studying the idea of providing federal funding for needle-exchange programs aimed at curbing the spread of AIDS among intravenous drug users, White House AIDS Policy Coordinator Kristine Gebbie announced yesterday. While she declined to say when a decision would be reached, Gebbie said state and local officials did not need to await the federal government's decision, because "the real conversations have to happen at the state and local level." IV-drug addicts are at high risk for HIV infection, and about one-third of all American AIDS patients are users or the sex partners or children of users. Despite this demographical evidence supporting the need to target this segment, criticism quickly arose against the idea of using federal tax dollars to provide clean needles for drug users. Calling the idea "an outrage," Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), said, "it's almost a government acquiescence to intravenous drugs." Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) agreed, saying that such programs would encourage, rather than discourage, drug use. And Kristi Hamrick of the Family Research Council said, "it is absolutely ludicrous that the administration is considering funding illegal, criminal, and dangerous behavior." Federal funding of needle exchanges has been banned, until sufficient evidence proves that the programs effectively reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. Although recent studies have shown just that, opponents are not satisfied and want more concrete proof. "Networks Slow to Air Condom Ads" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (01/27/94) P. B8 (Hall, Jane) When the federal government unveiled its candid new anti-AIDS campaign openly endorsing the use of condoms, it also announced that all four major broadcast networks had agreed to air the public service announcements, which target the 18- to 25-year-old age group. Three weeks later, however, ABC is the only network to have fulfilled that pledge. Claiming that the government's campaign--though important--still is only one of numerous worthy causes competing for air time, executives at Fox, NBC, and CBS said they still plan to air the spots, but did not know when they would begin. All four networks have said that they will restrict the times when the ads can be broadcast in order to reduce the chances of young children being exposed to them. Victor Zonana, spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control, which developed the campaign, said the agency is not discouraged by the delay in airing the spots. "We have commitments from the networks that they will include the spots in their regular PSA inventory," he said. Still, others have criticized the delay, as well as the restricted broadcast times. "These ads aren't doing anybody any good as long as they don't appear on television," said Dr. Roy Schwarz, senior vice president for medical education and science at the American Medical Association. "A lot of money and creativity was put into making the ads and they carry an important message." In addition, Schwarz argued with the networks' reluctance to view the ads during prime time, saying that the prime time is the best time to reach the target audience. "Government Denies It Canceled Johnson's Visit" United Press International (01/27/94) Jakarta--The Indonesian government today denied that it had retracted an invitation extended to former U.S. basketball star Magic Johnson to play in an exhibition game because of his HIV-positive status. Sports Minister Hayono Isman said that the postponement of Johnson's arrival was made by the organizers of the basketball match in which Johnson was scheduled to play, and that "the government has yet to make a decision whether to bar or allow Johnson to visit the country." The organizers who canceled the invitation said they did so because they did not want "Johnson's visit to put the government in a difficult position and create national instability." Hayono said the government would investigate the case next month. He said that while Indonesian immigration laws dictate that officials may bar entry to persons who are insane or infected with contagious diseases, he added that the country has also ratified a Vienna convention stipulating that the country cannot bar the arrival of anyone with HIV or AIDS. A facsimile letter from Johnson's headquarters said that the basketball great was "very upset" and that "without Johnson, there will be no Johnson All Star team to come to Indonesia," disclosed Ary Sudarsono, a promoter for the exhibition. The letter also requested that officials make a definite decision within the next 48 hours. Johnson and his team are scheduled to arrive in Indonesia on Feb. 24 for a four-day visit. "Focusing on AIDS, and Life" New York Times (01/27/94) P. C1 (Joyner, Will) Nearly a year has passed since the death from AIDS-related causes of American tennis great Arthur Ashe. Now, his wife, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, has turned fledgling educator. "I want to carry on Arthur's work," she says. "I was always involved in it, but he was running the show. I'm feeling more confident I can juggle these things." Moutoussamy-Ashe is acting chairperson of the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS. She has overseen the publishing of her husband's memoir, as well as the publishing of "Daddy and Me," her own pictorial chronicle of the relationship between Arthur and their seven-year-old daughter Camera, and the child's understanding of her father's illness. The idea for the book was conceived before Ashe's death, as the couple failed to find a volume on AIDS that was appropriate for young children. "We thought by showing the relationship between Camera and Arthur, we could best illustrate how important the role of the child as care-giver could be." The words accompanying the photos in the book are in Camera's voice, in the present tense. She recalls her father's good and bad days, reading and playing with him, as well as trips to the hospital and helping to keep track of his many pills. Moutoussamy-Ashe says that while she is HIV-negative, she lives with AIDS everyday. While she is still grieving, she adds, she is able to help others. "Medical Volunteers" Associated Press (01/26/94) Nashville, Tenn.--Dr. Barney Graham, a researcher at Vanderbilt University, fears that reports about radiation experiments on unknowing humans are hindering efforts to recruit volunteers for an AIDS study. AIDS studies in progress at the university require 10 to 15 volunteers each month, but Graham notes that only five or six participants have been enrolled in the last three months, the time in which reports about the radiation experiments since World War II were released. "Is society going to give up science altogether because of a 50-year-old hysteria, or are we going to get serious about supporting a program that is important to all of us?" asks Graham. The current Vanderbilt studies inject volunteers with protein from HIV, but there is no risk of infection and no radioactive materials are used. Researchers then observe study participants for any immune system reactions to the protein. "AIDS is Top Killer for Ages 25-44 in Mass." Boston Globe (01/26/94) P. 1 (Knox, Richard A.) AIDS is now the leading killer of adults aged 25 to 44 in Massachusetts, according to a new report released Tuesday by the state public health department. Although the disease was the primary cause of death among men in that age group, AIDS deaths among women have been increasing steadily, and the new statistics are the first to implicate AIDS as the top cause of mortality among all adults in the category. Of the 53,804 state residents who died in 1992, 701 deaths were attributed to AIDS and related causes--a 57 percent increase over 1990. Of those, 558 were under age 45. In addition, the new mortality statistics show that AIDS is making further inroads into minority populations. "Zimbabwe's False AIDS Cure" Lancet (01/15/94) Vol. 373, No. 8890, P. 170 Dr. Timothy Stamps, Zimbabwe's health minister, is threatening to enforce legislation banning unsubstantiated claims of AIDS cures. The claims at issue have been made by a traditional healer, who charges as much as $800 per patient, and a microbiologist, who claims to have a preparation for a cure. Since Stamp's threats, there have been no new claims for AIDS cures in that country. "AIDS Ads Need Target" Advertising Age (01/17/94) Vol. 65, No. 3, P. 18 The new AIDS-prevention advertising campaign initiated by the federal Centers for Disease Control features frank talk and animated condoms. It also is creating a tone for debate over the future role of government advertising in battling AIDS, according to the editors of Advertising Age. The folks behind the campaign aim to deliver sexual advice into millions of homes to target the widest cross-section of the 18-to-25-year-old population. But, speculates Advertising Age, how is this kind of campaign most appropriate when the disease risk has proven to be greatest in identifiable segments, such as homosexuals and intravenous drug addicts? Already, some commentators have questioned the technique. John Leo in U.S. News & World Report declares that "...propagandizing the whole nation about condom use is a stupefyingly ineffective way to fight AIDS." As advertising, say the editors, the campaign is being applauded for its honesty and candor concerning the dangers of reckless sexual behavior. But, Advertising Age concludes, the purpose of the campaign is to help control the AIDS epidemic and, by that standard, it may fail. "Fighting HIV: A Clue From Hemophilia" Science (01/07/94) Vol. 263, No. 5143, P. 27 Five hemophiliacs, seemingly doomed to contract HIV from contaminated blood products in the late 1970s and early 1980s, have escaped infection. What's more is that HIV antibodies surfaced in their blood--indicating infection--then disappeared. A team of researchers at Tulane University School of Medicine are studying these five for clues to conquering AIDS. Scott Tenenbaum, who helped head the study, has several possible explanations about how these hemophiliacs may have resisted permanent HIV infection. Small doses of the virus may have triggered an effective cell-mediated immune response in the patients, clearing infected cells or retarding the production of a new virus. Another possibility, although remote, suggests that the hemophiliacs were never infected at all. Instead, they may have been vaccinated against the virus by the clotting factor which, even before HIV screening, was treated with chemicals to purify it. The virus may have been killed in some of the batches, and the killed HIV may have then acted as a vaccine, causing a transipient rise in antibodies. While these five hemophiliacs do not represent the first cases of "seroreconversion," scientists believe they offer a chance at better understanding HIV. "Us Helping Us Is 'On The Move'" Washington Blade (01/07/94) Vol. 25, No. 1, P. 6 (Van Hertum, Aras) Faced with limited treatment, many HIV patients are looking to alternate therapies. Us Helping Us, a Washington, D.C., group that targets gay black men, is one organization that advocates such an alternative approach: holistic medicine. Herbal supplements, meditation, acupuncture, visualization, and other holistic techniques, some say, are becoming more acceptable as complements to conventional western medicine. Us Helping Us uses these methods to help guide HIV-positive black men in altering their lifestyles to better face their conditions. "So much of the healing process of AIDS requires a lifestyle change--changing your diet, beginning to exercise, really beginning to examine your mental attitude about yourself and the disease, and also getting in touch with your spirituality," says executive director Ron Simmons. He believes spirituality is critical to the healing process, especially for gay black men who have been raised as Christians. "A large number of the African-American gay men who have AIDS believe that they're being punished by God for being gay," explains Simmons. The organization has six trained volunteer facilitators who conduct weekly support groups, which are attended by 75 to 100 people each year. The organization has seen "steady growth," Simmons says. Us Helping Us was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from the Washington AIDS Partnership to fund Simmons' position, and also recently moved into an office on Capitol Hill.