From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary May 25, 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 "Southern Virginia AIDS Service Agencies Prepare to Join Forces" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (05/25/94); Stratton, Jim Two Southern Virginia AIDS service agencies, the Peninsula AIDS Foundation and the Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, will consolidate over the next several months. The merger of the non-profit organizations will create a new agency to provide financial, medical, and other support services to the entire Hampton Roads area. According to Ivory Jefferson, board chairman of the Peninsula AIDS Foundation, the consolidation will improve efficiency by allowing the groups to channel more resources into client services. He also said it would tap the strengths of each organization. For example, the Peninsula AIDS Foundation has a strong network of physicians willing to donate their time--something the Tidewater group would like to imitate, according to Tidewater's executive director, Giles Norrington. The Tidewater organization, however, is a high-profile organization that adds to the merger name recognition and a track record of successful fund-raising. Officials also believe that uniting the two agencies into a larger one will make them more competitive in receiving state and federal grants. "There's a feeling that grants will be handed out in the future to regions rather than small agencies," says Jefferson. "And this could give us considerable clout." When the merger is complete, the new agency will have about 25 employees, an estimated $1 million budget, and a client base approaching 1,000. "Ivory Coast AIDS Center Takes Practical Turn" Reuters (05/24/94) U.S.-funded AIDS researchers in Ivory Coast--which has the highest reported rate of HIV infection in West Africa--are shifting their focus from studying the disease to determining what can be done, in the absence of a cure, to alleviate its effects. "We're moving from description to intervention, finding out what infectious diseases HIV patients catch and what can be done about them," says Alan Greenberg, director of AIDS laboratory Retro-CI. "It's a challenge: without a cure, what do you do?" Ivory Coast, one of the 10 countries on the African continent most affected by AIDS, has reported 16,670 cases since 1985. A regional transit center with a high number of immigrant workers, Ivory Coast fosters conditions ideal for the spread of the disease. Most African patients are unable to access the expensive treatments available in Europe or the United States but, according to Greenberg, research is continuing into administering drugs to prevent development of the most common conditions which kill AIDS patients. The consensus is that education is the key to fighting the disease in Africa, which accounts for nearly 10 million of the 15 million infected people worldwide, according to World Health Organization statistics. "Botanists Study Philippines Plants" United Press International (05/24/94); Kelsey, Dick Botanists from around the globe have convened in Texas for a three-day workshop to plan the final phase of an inventory of plants in the Philippines, where undiscovered potential cures for AIDS and other diseases are near extinction. Scientists calculate that roughly 2,500 square miles of undisturbed forest remain in the Philippines, and much of that is jeopardized by population growth, agriculture, and industry. "Some of these endangered species could hold the secret to curing AIDS or other diseases," says Dr. S.H. Sohmer, director of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, which is hosting the workshop. He says that the project has already screened hundreds of species for AIDS and 60 types of cancer. "WHO Says Worldwide Controls Needed to Counter TB" Reuters (05/24/94) Tuberculosis will kill more and more people in the coming years unless countries muster the political will to control the deadly disease, warned World Health Organization specialists. During the 1990s, TB will infect an estimated 90 million people, and 30 million more will die as a result of the infection, they said. The health agency predicted that the number of new TB infections will climb from 7.5 million in 1990 to 10.2 million in 2000, while deaths from the disease would jump from 2.5 million in 1990 to 3.5 million at the end of the century. HIV will factor into some 8 million new TB cases and 2.9 million TB deaths during the decade, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. An aging population and HIV infection will cause TB in the United States to rise, according to Dr. Mario Raviglione, a WHO epidemiologist. TB was once thought to be under control in most of the world. "We must realize that tuberculosis remains an important problem, and if we don't stop it, it will just get worse," said Raviglione. He noted that while some countries are committed to the effort to curb TB, the majority are not. China, Benin, Malawi, and Tanzania are a few of the nations that do have major TB control programs. "Annual Walk Urges AIDS Education" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (05/23/94) P. 1B; Nower, Lia St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. on Sunday joined other concerned citizens and local celebrities for the fifth annual "From All Walks of Life" fund-raiser for AIDS education. Participants trekked three miles around Forest Park, sharing prayers, collecting cash pledges, and enjoying the food and entertainment. "I know AIDS is still controversial. It shouldn't be discussed in front of children. It shouldn't be discussed in polite company," Bosley told the crowd. "Well, it's time to stop being polite--our fathers and our sisters and our children are dying of AIDS. We must respond with more than quiet whispers." The diverse group raised more than $45,000 by noon. "AIDS Wrongful Death Claim Not Barred" American Medical News (05/09/94) Vol. 37, No. 18, P. 18 A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of a patient who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and died was not barred by the statute of limitations, ruled a federal trial court for the District of Columbia. The 58-year-old received multiple units of blood and blood products obtained from a blood bank when he began to hemorrhage following an operation to correct a bleeding disorder. One of the units he received was later identified as being contaminated with HIV. The patient died in March 1991, and his estate filed suit one year later against both the blood bank and the hospital. The trial court, in response to motions by the facilities, said the wrongful death claim was not barred by the statute of limitations because it was filed within a year of the patient's death. In the period just before his death, the patient could not bring suit himself because three years had passed since October 1986, when he knew all he needed to know to start the limitations period running. The claims he could have filed then are barred, but wrongful death claims by his survivors were not barred, the court ruled. "Their Show of Shows" Advocate (05/17/94) No. 655, P. 15 "Last night fear entered the homes in the most remote corners of France, the fear of AIDS, " said French radio commentator Francois Henri de Virieu of a simultaneous AIDS broadcast aired by all seven of the country's major television networks. "But the money stayed under the mattress." Although the seven-hour broadcast of "All Against AIDS" was a ratings hit--the most watched television event in French history, in fact--it was a fund-raising failure. Viewers pledged only $8.7 million, much less than the program's goal of $17 million. "Persistent Colonisation of Potable Water as a Source of Mycobacterium Avium Infection in AIDS" Lancet (05/07/94) Vol. 343, No. 8906, P. 1137; Von Reyn, C.F.; Maslow, J.N.; Barber, T.W. et al. The source of myobacterium avium infection in AIDS has not been identified; nor is it known whether most AIDS patients acquire the organism from recent infection or through reactivation of previous infection. As part of an epidemiological study, von Reyn et al. isolated colonies of M. avium from AIDS patients and from potable water to which they had been exposed. Of the isolates, which were analyzed with pulsed field gel electrophoresis, 29 of 39 patients were infected with one or more unique clinical strains of M. avium and seven patients were infected with three groups of common strains. Group 1 included three patients living in separate rural areas with no common exposures except for treatment at hospital A. The same strain was isolated repeatedly over a 41-month period from a recirculating hot water system at hospital A. Group 2 included two patients with no common exposure except for treatment at hospital B. The same strain was repeatedly isolated over two years from a recirculating hot water system at hospital B. Patients in both groups had numerous possible exposures to hospital hot water. Von Reyn et al. conclude that institutions may have hot water systems that are persistently colonized with a particular strain of M. avium. HIV patients who are exposed to such water sources can develop disseminated M. avium infection, they say.