AIDS Daily Summary June 17, 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 ************************************************************ "Japan AIDS Conference Hit by Condom Ban" "Prenatal Testing for H.I.V. Hasn't Worked in New York State" "Report MDs With HIV, Doctors Told" "French Prosecutor Seeks Re-Trial in Blood Case" "Hemophiliacs' Families Torn Apart by AIDS" "Zimbabwe Seen With 500,000 AIDS Orphans" "HIV Carriers in Indonesia May Reach 1.5 Million" "In the Works: AIDS Costs to Business" "Healthcare Fuels Magazine Growth" ************************************************************ "Japan AIDS Conference Hit by Condom Ban" Reuters (06/17/94) Just two months before Japan hosts the 10th International AIDS Conference, the country's Health Ministry is sparring with foreign participants over permission to bring in condoms for promotional purposes. Japanese law prohibits anyone but licensed importers to bring in more than two dozen condoms, with violators facing stiff fines or imprisonment. Several foreign groups attending the conference, including the World Health Organization, have asked to bring in their own condoms in order to demonstrate proper condom use and AIDS prevention. The Health Ministry's organizing committee says it would like to oblige the requests, but its Pharmaceuticals Affairs Bureau refuses to budge on the issue. The committee is exploring ways to circumvent the law. "Prenatal Testing for H.I.V. Hasn't Worked in New York State" New York Times (06/17/94) P. A30; Abrams, Elaine J. Responding to an article about a New York state bill that proposes HIV testing of newborns, Dr. Elaine J. Abrams, director of the pediatric AIDS program at Harlem Hospital, says prenatal testing for HIV has failed in New York. From 1989 to 1992, Abrams notes that intensive efforts to counsel and test pregnant women for the virus only identified about 30 percent of HIV-positive women delivering at Harlem Hospital. Under a pilot testing program, however, pediatric counselors asked to test newborns for HIV antibody. Of 93 babies identified by the state's anonymous testing program, 86 were found through the new program. Abrams says only two women refused care upon learning their own HIV status, and all of the other children are receiving care in HIV programs. She argues, then, that identification of HIV-positive newborns has been a success at Harlem Hospital. "Report MDs With HIV, Doctors Told" Toronto Globe and Mail (06/16/94) P. A6 In accordance with a precedent-setting policy adopted by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, physicians caring for an HIV-infected colleague must now identify that doctor and file reports to the college on the infected doctor's medical status and whether his or her medical practice needs to be modified for patient protection. According to the college's policy director, Janet Ecker, the protocol was established to balance the rights of doctors with those of patients. The Toronto HIV Primary Care Physicians Group, which treats half of the province's HIV patients, has called on Ontario doctors to ignore the policy, saying it will cause physicians who discover their infection to forgo treatment. "French Prosecutor Seeks Re-Trial in Blood Case" Reuters (06/16/94) French state prosecutor Jean Perfetti asked that the supreme court throw out the fraud convictions of two former senior health officials imprisoned in the country's AIDS blood scandal, and retry the officials on charges of poisoning--which calls for stiffer penalties. Perfetti said he could not accuse Michael Garretta, former head of the national blood bank, and Jean-Pierre Allain, former director of blood transfusion research, of intentionally trying to kill the more than 1,250 hemophiliacs who became infected, 400 of whom have died. He said Garretta and Allain did, however, know that they were inoculating a potentially lethal virus. "Hemophiliacs' Families Torn Apart by AIDS" Toronto Globe and Mail (06/16/94) P. A6; Picard, Andre The Krever Commission, a national inquiry into Canada's contaminated-blood tragedy, this week heard testimony on how AIDS created isolation and emotional pain, and destroyed relationships within families of infected hemophiliacs. Manitoba patients and their families told the commission that the 1,000 people who were infected represent just the tip of the tragedy. One woman, for instance, said that the virus wrecked her family's home and will probably destroy her children and grandchildren. She is the mother of four daughters who are hemophiliacs, which means that their male children will likely inherit the blood disorder. The Krever inquiry is scheduled to submit its final report by the end of 1995--by which time most of the infected hemophiliacs and blood transfusion patients will already have died. "Zimbabwe Seen With 500,000 AIDS Orphans" Reuters (06/16/94) By the year 2000, half a million Zimbabwean children will have lost a parent to AIDS, according to National AIDS Programme Coordinator Everisto Marowa. An estimated 800,000 of Zimbabwe's 10 million people have contracted the fatal disease, as infection rates continue to skyrocket, he said. "HIV Carriers in Indonesia May Reach 1.5 Million" United Press International (06/16/94) The number of HIV-infected Indonesians could reach 1.5 million by 1997 unless serious steps are taken to prevent the continued spread of disease, warned Azwar Anas, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare. As of March, 213 people in Indonesia were identified as HIV carriers--about 50 of whom have died from AIDS-related diseases, he said. Anas predicted that, without the necessary prevention measures, the cost of treating AIDS could reach $14 billion, and foreign investors could be prompted to flee Indonesia--in a situation similar to what occurred in Africa and Thailand. "In the Works: AIDS Costs to Business" Advocate (06/14/94) No. 657, P. 41 The economic impact of HIV on business amounts to a maximum of $32,000 over five years per infected employee, or an average of $17,000 total, reveal the surprising results of the first major study on the matter. The numbers signal better health, as well as changing treatment costs for HIV-positive employees. They also indicate that the majority of the widely accepted $85,000-$100,000 lifetime costs of AIDS care is shouldered by society rather than by business. The findings refute any reasoning for discriminating against infected employees. "Healthcare Fuels Magazine Growth" Advertising Age (05/30/94) Vol. 65, No. 23, P. S-4; Kelly, Keith J. Following the emergence of several gay and lesbian lifestyle publications last year, the homosexual magazine sector would appear to be concentrating in 1994 on health-related titles, including POZ and AIDS Digest. Sam Watters, the new owner of the Advocate--the oldest gay publication in the country--wonders if people want to read about something so "grim." But POZ founder and publisher Sean Strub notes that his magazine wants to focus not on death, but on life and the things HIV-positive people are doing. AIDS Digest, on the other hand, is still in the planning stages, yet it has already attracted some major talent. Although both POZ and AIDS Digest anticipate largely homosexual readership, they insist that their goal is to reach the entire HIV population.