Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 09:34:59 -0500 (EST) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 01/31/94 AIDS Daily Summary January 31, 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 "Patents: A Female Condom, Attached to Underwear, to Prevent AIDS" New York Times (01/31/94) P. D2 (Chartrand, Sabra) A seamstress from Sebastopol, Calif., has patented a female condom designed primarily to prevent the spread of AIDS. Jane Hunnicutt says that her latex or polyurethane condom, which attaches to the midsection of specially designed underwear, will be comfortable and easy to use. "You would purchase underwear with a removable matching fabric crotch section," said Hunnicutt, explaining that the panties would be worn during intercourse. "The underpants could have a French cut or look like a black lace belt." A woman would then replace the crotch section with a latex or polyurethane transparent crotch with a vaginal liner, which would be available anywhere condoms are found, said the inventor. Liners would be available in a variety of lengths to fit different underwear sizes, and would probably snap into the underwear, she said. Hunnicutt said she has tested prototypes to make sure that the liner would not pull out or come loose. The vaginal sheaths would be about twice the thickness of a male condom, although Hunnicutt hopes to develop a "heavier-duty vaginal liner for people who already have AIDS, to make sure there is no breakage or leakage." She said she expects the Food and Drug Administration to approve her invention, since it has already allowed the only other female condom, Reality. Hunnicutt said she hopes her condom will be less expensive than Reality, which will sell for about $2.50, because it is more simple to manufacture. "Vietnam Confirms 150 New HIV Carriers" Reuters (01/31/94) Hanoi--More than 150 Vietnamese were diagnosed with HIV in January, elevating the country-wide total to 1,167, reported a spokesman with the national AIDS committee. Although there was no increase in the number of AIDS-related deaths, the number of Vietnamese with full-blown AIDS in January rose to 63--six more than in December. In addition, the first case of HIV in the province of Lang Son, a booming trade center on the border with China, has been confirmed in a prostitute. Increasing levels of prostitution and drug abuse have facilitated the spread of the virus. HIV was first discovered in Vietnam in December 1990 and the country's first AIDS case was confirmed last year. "Japan Says It Found 364 New AIDS Victims, Carriers" Reuters (01/27/94) Tokyo--Some 364 new HIV/AIDS patients were reported in Japan last year, according to the Health Ministry. The figure is 129 fewer than the total number of cases reported in 1992, but excludes those who contracted the virus through blood transfusions. Ministry statistics cite that Japan had 2,914 HIV-positive people at the end of November and 685 people with AIDS. By the end of last year, 374 had died from AIDS. The Ministry also said that while the number of infected foreign women dropped last year, the number of infected Japanese men rose. "Survivors of AIDS Virus Inspire Research" Los Angeles Times (01/30/94) P. A4 (Haney, Daniel Q.) More than 100,000 Americans have died of AIDS-related causes, and an estimated 100 more die each day. Despite these grim odds of survival, scientists are encouraged by the fact that a third of HIV-positive patients remain healthy even 14 years after diagnosis. The disease is so new that no one knows how long an infected person can survive, but the latest speculations suggest that 10 to 17 percent will be alive and disease-free two decades after acquiring HIV. The study of long-term survivors, therefore, has become a hot topic among AIDS researchers. "It's a question of following clues," says Dr. Lewis Schrager of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "We hope the clues will give us new ideas and directions for vaccine development and therapeutic strategies." Long-term survivors, in their own words, credit their survival with factors such as attitude, diet, medication, exercise, meditation, vitamins, and the like. Scientists find no evidence, however, that long-term survival is linked to how people get infected, sex habits, diet, or anything else they do. Researchers have their own theories about why some people survive longer than others, the first of which is that they simply are genetically different. A second theory is that their immune systems may work differently, and another possibility is that they are infected with less rapacious strains of the virus. "NYCLU Wants to Butt in on Condom Availability in Schools" United Press International (01/28/94) New York--The New York Civil Liberties Union on Friday announced its decision to go to a Brooklyn appeals to court in an effort to reverse a judicial decision restricting the availability of condoms in the city's public schools. The decision, which forces the Board of Education to give parents a say in a condom program, "is nothing short of a public disaster," declares Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU. Even though the Board of Education circumvented the court decision by voting on Jan. 11 to allow parents veto power in the condom distribution program, Lieberman called that move "shortsighted." "Even though the court decision was made moot by the board's vote, future boards should be free to change their mind," she said. "Germany--AIDS" Associated Press (01/29/94) Bonn, Germany--For six years, the Federal Health Office in Berlin covered up suspicions that hundreds of patients received AIDS-tainted blood during transfusions, reported German Health Minister Horst Seehofer. In 1988 and 1989, he said, a pharmaceutical company called Firma Immuno told the government health agency that "several hundred" people may have been treated with tainted blood products that it had sold. The Federal Health Office, however, did not inform Seehofer of the suspicions until he asked on Friday, according to the health minister. "It's an outrage that despite the public discussion of the past few months that the Federal Health Office did not make this public on its own," Seehofer criticized. He said the patients received the blood before 1985, but did not confirm whether any had developed AIDS or whether Firma Immuno would face charges. The apparent cover-up could renew a scandal over contaminated blood that caused German panic and anger last year. During that time, Seehofer fired the head of the Federal Health Office and an aide when the agency was found to have hushed up reports that 373 people were treated with blood products contaminated with HIV. "British AIDS Campaign Vetoed for Being Offensive" Reuters (01/28/94) London--After finding it too explicit and offensive, British health ministers struck down an AIDS campaign promoting safe sex and condom use. A major theme of the $3 million campaign--the first effort in two years to target the general population at risk for HIV infection--was where to buy condoms, and how to use them. Junior Health Minister Baroness Cumberlege believed that all but one of the planned posters and movie ads would cause offense, according to the Independent newspaper. Health Education Authority director Lindsay Neil, however, said that she was puzzled by the decision to veto the project. "We were assured by senior civil servants that it was acceptable when we submitted the campaign to the health department before Christmas," she said. Neil said the material had been widely tested among adolescents and their parents, who found it to be "appropriate, effective, and did not cause offense." "France to Host 17-Country AIDS Summit in June" Reuters (01/27/94) Paris--This spring, France will host an international summit to discuss new strategies to combat AIDS, announced French Social Affairs and Health Minister Simone Veil. According to an interview with the Liberation newspaper, Veil said that the June 17 meeting would convene government leaders, public health officials, and AIDS researchers from France and 16 other nations seen as leaders in the AIDS fight. French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur will chair the meeting, which will also be attended by U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and European Commission President Jacques Delors. The summit hopes not only to propose new ways of battling the epidemic, but also to estimate the necessary funds. "Lowell AIDS House Wins 10-Year Grant" Boston Globe (01/29/94) P. 24 Julie House, a group residence for people with AIDS, has received a 10-year federal grant of $16,320, as well as a $150,000 grant for renovation from the city of Lowell, Mass. Julie House will provide a home for 10 men and women with AIDS who would otherwise be homeless. The home is the second such residence established by Catholic Charities in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The first, Seton Manor in Brighton, opened in 1990 and houses 27 AIDS patients. "Study Says AZT Helps HIV-Infected Pregnant Women" American Medical News (01/17/94) Vol. 37, No. 3, P. 12 Promising new preliminary evidence suggests that AZT can prevent intrauterine transmission of the virus that causes AIDS, which results in the HIV infections of between 1,400 and 2,100 babies each year in the United States. One study compared HIV-infected mothers who received AZT during pregnancy with those who did not. While pregnant women have about a 25 percent chance of passing on the virus to their newborns, the study found that not one of the 19 women taking AZT gave birth to an infected baby. However, 11 of the 35 HIV-infected pregnant women who did not get AZT transmitted the virus to their infants. More research is under way, as 56 hospitals in the United States and France test the strategy on 748 pregnant women randomly assigned to receive either AZT or placebos. Despite the promise of AZT, doctors caution that the drug is not likely to be the entire solution to newborn AIDS. There are cases of pregnant, HIV-infected women receiving AZT who still passed the virus on to their newborns. In addition, some experts worry that pregnant women routinely taking AZT may transmit resistant viruses. Doctors are investigating other methods of reducing the risk of intrauterine HIV transmission, including washing out mothers' vaginas with a virus-killing solution before labor and vaccinating newborns.