Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:09:25 -0400 (EDT) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary July 11, 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 ************************************************************ "AIDS Coordinator Gebbie Plans to Resign in August" "AIDS Babies: O.K., Now Prove It" "Lawsuit Charges Police Hiring Based on HIV Test" "USCF Medical Center Ranks Among "Best of the Best"; San Francisco General Hospital Nation's Best AIDS Hospital" "People" "U.S.-French Patent Dispute Heads for a Showdown" "Adams Bank May Renege on AIDS Discrimination Case" "AIDSWatch: Teacher Sues Over Firing" ************************************************************ "AIDS Coordinator Gebbie Plans to Resign in August" Wall Street Journal (07/11/94) P. B5 Kristine Gebbie, who in a letter of resignation said that she faced "conflicting expectations of what an 'AIDS czar' could do," will relinquish that position on Aug. 2. Gebbie, 50, was named White House AIDS Policy Coordinator in June 1993, but has been bombarded with criticism by activists who feel she has accomplished little. She said that her successor "must have the tools necessary" to earn the confidence of AIDS patients. Related Story: Philadelphia Inquirer (07/11) P. A3 "AIDS Babies: O.K., Now Prove It" New York Times (07/11/94) P. A14 Measures to identify HIV-infected newborns in New York either through an existing anonymous testing program or through a separate test were scuttled by opposition from AIDS activists and women's groups, who protested that the approach would invade the privacy of the mother and subject her to discrimination, since a positive test result in the infant would indicate infection in the mother. The next best way to help HIV babies would be through a mandatory counseling program urging new mothers to have themselves and their newborns screened for the virus, but this measure also failed to pass. Advocates of this approach contend that it will identify at least 90 percent of infected babies, but the editors of the New York Times find this unlikely. Existing voluntary counseling programs at two dozen key hospitals have yielded unimpressive results, they note. When the State Legislature returns this summer, the newspaper recommends, it should pursue both mandatory counseling of mothers and mandatory testing of newborns. If not, the editors say, those who say counseling alone is enough will be obligated to prove their case. "Lawsuit Charges Police Hiring Based on HIV Test" Chicago Tribune (07/08/94) P. 1-3 The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Chicago on behalf of an unidentified job applicant claiming that the Police Department denies employment to anyone testing positive for HIV. A city spokeswoman denied that Chicago requires HIV testing as a prerequisite for employment. "USCF Medical Center Ranks Among "Best of the Best"; San Francisco General Hospital Nation's Best AIDS Hospital" Business Wire (07/09/94) The UC San Francisco Medical Center ranks seventh among the nation's top 10 hospitals, according to a survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report in conjunction with the National Opinion Research Center. UCSF was one of the top 10 hospitals in six different specialties, including AIDS. The survey also identified San Francisco General Hospital as the best AIDS hospital in the United States. "People" United Press International (07/09/94) Elizabeth Taylor abruptly canceled an AIDS benefit dinner that was to follow a special concert performance by Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras. The actress apparently assumed that the $1,000 price tag for each concert-dinner ticket would be donated to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. When she discovered it was not so, she backed out of the event. "It has always been my policy and the policy of the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation that all monies raised by ETAF will be used to provide AIDS and HIV-related services and patient care," Taylor said in a statement. "U.S.-French Patent Dispute Heads for a Showdown" Science (07/01/94) Vol. 265, No. 5168, P. 23; Cohen, Jon The decade-old feud between the United States and France over who deserves credit for discovering HIV, and who should receive royalties from the patent on the American HIV blood test, had appeared to die down. Controversy has recently been renewed, however, as the two nations prepare for a July 11 meeting during which France will demand a larger portion of the royalties it shares with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The dispute is deepened by the fact that Maxime Schwartz, director of France's Pasteur Institute, is on a mission to convince U.S. National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus that the dispute "will not die" until French scientists receive more money and recognition for their part in discovering the virus. Also adding to the controversy is a report that Robert Gallo and Mikulas Popovic of the U.S. National Cancer Institute misappropriated a virus sample given to them by the Pasteur Institute in 1983, and used it to manufacture the blood test. If the French virus was indeed used to develop the American HIV blood test, the Pasteur attorney feels this should mean more patent royalties. "Adams Bank May Renege on AIDS Discrimination Case" Washington Business Journal (07/01/94-07/07/94) Vol. 13, No. 7, P. 3; Workman, James Adams National Bank had settled its suit out of court with James Michael Layne Hall, a former employee with AIDS who sued the institution for disability discrimination. But when the gay newspaper The Washington Blade published the amount of the settlement--which was to have remained confidential--the bank decided to withhold the $267,000 payment. The Blade reporter said he took the information from an unsealed court document but, based on the breach of confidentiality, Adams will drag out the case even longer than the three years it took to reach this settlement. Meanwhile, Hall's condition is deteriorating. He was diagnosed with AIDS and a kidney disease secondary to AIDS before being fired from his position at the bank. Adams denied that they knew of Hall's condition and that his termination was the result of a general reduction in force during the 1991 recession. "AIDSWatch: Teacher Sues Over Firing" Men's Fitness (08/94) Vol. 10, No. 8, P. 108 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Campbell University, in North Carolina, on behalf of a physical education instructor who was fired after experiencing a five-week bout with AIDS-related pneumonia. Although experts believe that HIV--while present in saliva and sweat--is transmitted only through exchange of blood or sexual contact, Campbell officials expressed concern that the teacher would infect his students.