Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 09:10:24 -0400 (EDT) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary June 28, 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 ************************************************************ "FDA OKs New Drug in War Against AIDS" "Benetton Ads Depict an AIDS-Infected Reagan" "Meriden Mayor Rejects Grants for AIDS Testing and Support" "AIDS Is Leading Killer of Blacks 25 to 44" "AIDS Vaccine Being Tested at Hopkins" "AIDS Activists Using a Gentler Approach" "Japan Delays HIV-Infected Gay Visitor" "Selling Safe Sex as Hot Sex" "Correlates of Needle Sharing Among Injection Drug Users" ************************************************************ "FDA OKs New Drug in War Against AIDS" Journal of Commerce (06/28/94) P. 6B A fourth drug has been granted Food and Drug Administration approval to battle HIV. Stavudine, manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., was specifically approved for treatment of adults with advanced HIV infection who are no longer responsive to, or are intolerant of, other antiviral drugs. FDA Commissioner David Kessler called the move "another sign of our commitment to act quickly on treatments for life-threatening diseases." Related Stories: USA Today (06/28) P. 1D; Investor's Business Daily (06/28) P. A7; Washington Post (06/28) P. A12; Philadelphia Inquirer (06/28) P. A5. "Benetton Ads Depict an AIDS-Infected Reagan" Philadelphia Inquirer (06/28/94) P. F2; Speers, W. Advertising from Italian clothier Benetton is once again in the news--this time because of a new ad featuring an AIDS-ravaged Ronald Reagan. The depiction of the former president marred with lesions, featured in Benetton's magazine, Colors, has surfaced as Manhattan street ads. Photographer Oliviero Toscani blames Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for their AIDS policies. "They did everything wrong," he says. "They never realized the emergency." "Meriden Mayor Rejects Grants for AIDS Testing and Support" New York Times (06/28/94) P. B5 The mayor of Meriden, Conn., reasoning that expanded social services attract poor people and cost cities more money, has declined to accept $109,574 in federal grants to pay for AIDS testing, counseling, case management, and prevention through the city's health department. Health officials say that because it means losing a caseworker who helps AIDS patients access other federal and private programs and get off city welfare, Mayor Joseph J. Marinan's rejection of the funds will actually cost the city more money. If the city continues to refuse to offer AIDS testing, several other human service organizations have expressed interest in doing so, according to Idalia Sanchez, chief of health care and social services for the AIDS division of the State Department of Public Health and Addictive Services. "We are not going to stop serving Meriden residents because the mayor is refusing the funding," she said. "AIDS Is Leading Killer of Blacks 25 to 44" Washington Post (Health) (06/28/94) P. 7; Russell, Cristine AIDS, which kills more African-Americans than even homicide, has become the leading cause of death of blacks between the ages of 25 and 44, according to a report on the nation's health. "We know that HIV infection takes the lives primarily of people 25 to 44 and rates are very high among blacks," said Kate Prager, a demographer with the National Center for Health Statistics, the agency that prepared the annual report. "AIDS Vaccine Being Tested at Hopkins" Baltimore Sun (06/28/94) P. 6A; Selby, Holly At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, researchers hope that an oral solution from United Biomedical Inc. of Hauppauge, N.Y., will triumph as a vaccine against AIDS. Dr. John Lambert, clinical director of Hopkins' AIDS vaccine studies, notes that all other experimental AIDS vaccines have been administered intravenously and stimulate antibodies only in the blood. But because most cases of HIV are transmitted sexually through mucous membranes, scientists hope that an oral vaccine will produce an immune response in the mucous membranes. The small trial now underway consists of 30 volunteers who receive either a placebo or the vaccine, which will not infect volunteers because it is made of a synthetic protein instead of the actual virus. The study will measure the vaccine's side effects, and if all goes well, a larger study will follow to determine the vaccine's efficacy against HIV. "AIDS Activists Using a Gentler Approach" Baltimore Sun (06/28/94) P. 1A; Selby, Holly While AIDS activists were once known for their angry and urgent in-your-face type of approach, the epidemic is experiencing a transition in the method and attitude of activism. Early AIDS activists did their lobbying and protesting from outside the scientific establishment, but today, many activists sit as members on scientific panels and committees. Through such bodies as the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, some members of the AIDS community are now able to cast votes on decisions regarding research funding--decisions that were previously made only by scientists, doctors, and politicians. And, as they once demanded urgency, many AIDS advocates are now preaching caution about approving mediocre treatments and drugs too quickly. Much of the new role and attitudes of today's AIDS activists is due to the demographic shift in the epidemic, according to Dan Bross, executive director of the Washington-based AIDS Action Council. He notes that 13 years ago, AIDS was a health crisis primarily within the gay community, but today reaches all parts of American society, thus giving birth to a new generation of activists. "Japan Delays HIV-Infected Gay Visitor" Washington Blade (06/17/94) Vol. 25, No. 25, P. 12 Immigration officials at Narita Airport in Tokyo on May 27 detained Jairo Pedraza, a New York City activist who has AIDS, for three hours before permitting him to enter Japan. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) said Pedraza was refused food or water, access to a bathroom, and phone calls, and that he was interrogated before several people after he wrote "I am a Gay man with AIDS" on his immigration card. The organizers of the 10th International Conference in AIDS, scheduled for August in Yokohama, called the incident a "misunderstanding" that was caused not by Pedraza's HIV status, but by incomplete information on his landing card. "Selling Safe Sex as Hot Sex" Newsweek (06/20/94) Vol. 123, No. 25, P. 57; Hamilton, Kendall The Design Industries Foundation for AIDS (DIFFA) this week will grace cities coast-to-coast with a series of steamy new posters of all kinds of couples participating in all kinds of behavior. Each photograph in the series depicts the lovers in softly lit forest settings, with copy informing readers that SAFER SEX IS HOT SEX. "The message is softer and more romantic," says DIFFA's Anneliese Estrada. "Whatever it is, it's hard to ignore." "Correlates of Needle Sharing Among Injection Drug Users" American Journal of Public Health (06/94) Vol. 84, No. 6, P. 920; Mandell, Wallace; Vlavhov, David; Latkin, Carl et al. Sharing contaminated injection paraphernalia is the main method of HIV transmission among intravenous drug users. Between February 1988 and March 1989, Mandell et al. questioned 2921 active IV drug users, then looked at demographic factors, life events, and drug use practices that are potential risk factors for sharing injection equipment. A multivariate analysis indicated that needle-sharing occurred more often among addicts who had a history of arrest and lower socioeconomic status. Needle-sharing also occurred more frequently among gay or bisexual men than among heterosexual men. The data suggests that economic status is a primary motive for intravenous drug users to share needles, and that access to free and legal needles may reduce levels of needle-sharing.