Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 09:10:05 -0400 (EDT) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary July 07, 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 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Elderly AIDS" "Uproar Over HIV Couple's Adoption" "Advisers Start as Listeners on Home Testing for HIV" "Suburban Home for AIDS Patients Urged" "News in Brief: HIV-1 Subtype O" "Compulsory Measures to Combat Spread of HIV in Sweden" "International Shorts: Hospice for PWAs Terrorized in Bogota" "Human Rights Watch Takes on HIV" ************************************************************ "Elderly AIDS" USA Today (07/07/94) P. 3A; Marshall, Steve Senior citizens in Palm Beach County, Fla.--one of the most popular areas for retirees--are contracting AIDS at an alarming rate. According to the July/August issue of "New Choices for Retirement Living," the rate of infection for elderly persons shot up 71 percent between 1992 and 1993 in the area. Fifteen percent of the patients in Hope House, a residence for people with AIDS, are age 50 or older, reports Skip Ciotti of Hope House. One of the reasons for this, he says, is the frequency with which older men seek the services of prostitutes. "Uproar Over HIV Couple's Adoption" USA Today (07/07/94) P. 3A; Marshall, Steve The Florida state welfare agency is in an uproar this week following the revelation that a two-year-old's new adopted parents are both HIV-positive. State caseworkers and the St. Petersburg couple's lawyer were aware of the infections, but said nothing to Circuit Judge Horace Andrews, who granted the adoption in March. Caseworkers were forced to struggle with clashing laws--one guaranteeing the confidentiality of AIDS patients, and one requiring them to conduct their duties with the child's best interest in mind. Judge Andrews said that had he known of the parents' HIV status, he would have taken their health and life expectancy into consideration before granting the adoption. Florida officials are now drawing up a policy to ensure that judges receive all pertinent information, including HIV status, needed to make an informed decision. "Advisers Start as Listeners on Home Testing for HIV" Washington Post (07/07/94) P. A17; Schwartz, John Advisory panels, engineered to provide the public with access to the Food and Drug Administration, begin their process on a particular issue by simply listening. This is true of the advisory panel considering HIV home test kits. Last month, the panel's meeting was, in the words of FDA Deputy Commissioner Mary K. Pendergast, geared toward a "thoughtful debate" on the matter. If approved, Direct Access Diagnostics' test would allow consumers to prick a finger with a lancet and blot the blood onto sample paper, which would then be mailed anonymously to a lab for testing. Users would be able to retrieve results by calling a toll-free phone number. While the AIDS community previously objected to the idea and the FDA rejected previous applications, resistance has ebbed as the epidemic has worsened. Johnson & Johnson, parent company of Direct Access Diagnostics, has worked to allay fears about the tests, assemble an extensive telephone counseling system, and collect statistics to support its case. The advisory panel listened to all of this evidence, as well as to testimony from average American citizens to the likes of former surgeon general C. Everett Koop. After all of the listening, the panel will then take the second step and begin an at-length discussion of the issues. "Suburban Home for AIDS Patients Urged" Chicago Tribune (07/05/94) P. 1-7; Ferris, Jan Healthcare providers and patients in DuPage County, Ill., credit the Franciscan Sisters as the only local group which, despite the surrounding controversy, is trying to provide housing for AIDS patients. The sisters are calling for a 12-unit, 77,500-square-foot building called Canticle Place to be constructed on the Franciscans' 60-acre property. The apartments are needed for men and women whose financial resources have been drained by AIDS, say advocates. According to DuPage County Health Department program manager Bonnie Jane Adelman, one-third of the 90 AIDS patients who deal with the county are in financial straits. With so few options in DuPage County, agrees Cris Dujmovic of the AIDS Care Alliance, many AIDS patients are forced to uproot and search for affordable housing in Chicago--a move that only exacerbates their physical and mental health. "News in Brief: HIV-1 Subtype O" Lancet (07/02/94) Vol. 344, No. 8914, P. 53 Nearly two dozen international experts meeting at the World Health Organization headquarters June 9-10 addressed concerns about whether some HIV antibody tests are dependable in detecting subtype O. After concluding that failure of detect HIV is more likely to result from the absence of antibody in the seroconversion window than from infection with this highly divergent subtype, they found no reason to modify WHO's global strategies for HIV antibody testing. In regions where subtype O has been identified, however, there is an urgent need for reevaluation of diagnostic tests and strategies, the experts said. "Compulsory Measures to Combat Spread of HIV in Sweden" Lancet (07/02/94) Vol. 344, No. 8914, P. 63; Christenson, Brith; Sylvan, Staffan; Lundbergh, Per Sweden has adopted a number of compulsory measures to control the spread of HIV, including voluntary routine testing, compulsory contact, and partner tracing and testing. If a case of HIV is diagnosed, the doctor is required to file a report including a coded case number, gender, year and country of birth, risk category and, if possible, time and place of transmission. The physician is also obliged to see the patient on a regular basis, and to inform him or her of binding regulations to prevent further spread of infection. These regulations include informing sexual partners about the infection before intercourse; practicing safe-sex; refraining from shared use of needles or syringes; and not engaging in prostitution. Patients must also inform medical authorities before undergoing any treatment involving blood contact. If these regulations are not followed, the physician is required to report the patient to the medical officer in charge of the control of communicable diseases. Counseling, promotion of drug treatment programs, and referral of patients for psychiatric treatment are all given great effort before compulsory measures are undertaken. HIV-infected individuals can, however, be detained in a hospital if they present a threat of infecting others--a decision to be made by the administrative courts. "International Shorts: Hospice for PWAs Terrorized in Bogota" Gay Community News (06/94) Vol. 20, No. 1 & 2, P. 19 Patients and healthcare providers at the Eudes Foundation AIDS hospice in Bogota, Colombia, have of late been the targets of death threats, firebombings, vandalism, and physical assaults. Foundation director and Catholic priest Bernardo Vergara suspects that the attackers may be members of the local community of Patria, which last year filed a lawsuit seeking the forced relocation of the hospice. When the Colombian courts, finding that the hospice posed no threat to the people in the neighborhood, rejected the petition, local authorities suggested that they would take a vigilante approach. "Human Rights Watch Takes on HIV" Gay Community News (06/94) Vol. 20, Nos. 1 & 2, P. 31 "A Modern Form of Slavery," a recently issued report by the Human Rights Watch, documents the link between forced prostitution of Burmese women and Thai girls and exposure to HIV. Their exposure to the virus, according to the report, is the direct result of their status as bonded labor and, therefore, of their inability to choose customers or dictate the conditions for sex. Their human rights have also been violated by mandatory testing and public distribution of the results, as well as forced repatriation. The report is considered a major advance in the effort to convince mainstream human rights organizations to take HIV seriously.