Date: Wed, 02 Nov 1994 10:30:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary November 2, 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 ************************************************************ "'Doe' Case Is Warning, Experts Say" "Across the USA: Tennessee" "Killer T Cells Reported as a Potential Gene Therapy for Viral Diseases and Cancer" "Indonesia Says It Has 1,420 Confirmed HIV Cases" "Zimbabwe Rejects Blanket AIDS Tests for Insurance" "New England News Briefs: Needle-Wielding Man is Arrested" "Heimlich Maneuvers to Cure AIDS" "Red Cross Official Seen in Conflict" "Again, Army Shuns AIDS Peer Review" "Grassroots Organizing: Communication Groups" ************************************************************ "'Doe' Case Is Warning, Experts Say" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/02/94) P. B1; Slobodzian, Joseph A.; Collins, Huntly While many lawyers had hoped that the verdict in the "Scott Doe" AIDS-discrimination case would provide a more definitive decision on whether the federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) protects those with HIV or AIDS, legal experts say the case sends a clear warning to employers that if they discriminate, they will have to pay. The settlement has not been disclosed, but most observers expect that Doe will receive at least $1 million. The case was closely watched because it was the first suit involving AIDS to be filed under the ADA and come to trial. One guidepost for future AIDS-discrimination cases was Kohn Nast's attempts to have the case dismissed, contending that the ADA does not cover people such as Doe, who are HIV-infected but not seriously ill. In rejecting the arguments that Doe could work and was not disabled, Judge Robert S. Gawthrop 3d wrote that the law defined a disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a person in one or more "major life activities," such as caring for oneself or working. Scott Burris, an assistant professor at Temple University Law School and counsel to the ACLU's AIDS and Civil Liberties Project said the case has deterrent value because it "reminds employers of the pain and agony that they may be exposed to if they are accused of discrimination." "Across the USA: Tennessee" USA Today (11/02/94) P. 4A The Dean of Vanderbilt University, K.C. Potter, has refused to permit a campus group to distribute free condoms door-to-door in dorms. The AIDS awareness plan, he said, would "invade the private spaces of residents." The Vanderbilt health department supplies condoms free of charge. "Killer T Cells Reported as a Potential Gene Therapy for Viral Diseases and Cancer" PRNewswire (11/01/94) A team of researchers lead by Margo R. Roberts--director of cell biology and immunology for Cell Genesys, Inc.--has developed anti-HIV T cells that specifically and efficiently kill HIV-infected cells in laboratory experiments. The findings, which are reported in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Blood, describe the first successful laboratory experiments that resulted in permanent genetic modification of killer T cells specific for HIV. Killer T cells, or CD8+ lymphocytes--a significant component of the immune system that is normally responsible for eliminating virus-infected and tumor cells--were engineered to produce the anti-HIV T cells. The National Institutes of Health began the first human test of genetically altered HIV-specific killer T cells in September in a Phase I/II trial of anti-HIV T cell therapy for AIDS. Phase I safety results are expected in late 1995. Previous studies have shown that, in people with AIDS, the level of HIV-specific killer T cells--which kill HIV-infected cells--decreases as they progress to later phases of AIDS. "Indonesia Says It Has 1,420 Confirmed HIV Cases" Reuters (11/01/94) Although the World Health Organization estimates that Indonesia has 50,000 people who are HIV-infected, the country's official count of those who are infected as of Sept. 30 is 1,420. Cases of HIV have been reported in all provinces of Indonesia except the sparsely populated islands of East Nusa Tenggara. The ratio of HIV cases was six men to one woman, while the ratio of AIDS cases was 41 men to one woman. Women's Affairs Minister Mien Sugandhi reported in September that as of June there were 216 HIV-positive people, 56 of whom had developed AIDS. "Zimbabwe Rejects Blanket AIDS Tests for Insurance" Reuters (11/01/94) The Zimbabwean government has rejected insurance companies' recommendations that compulsory AIDS tests be given to people taking life insurance policies of at least Z$50,000 (US $6,250). "Compulsory testing would cause undue discrimination against people infected with HIV," said Health Minister Timothy Stamps. The insurance industry had wanted to expand an existing law that permits HIV testing for those buying life policies worth Z$100,000. "New England News Briefs: Needle-Wielding Man is Arrested" Boston Globe (10/31/94) P. 41 Providence, R.I., police arrested a man last Thursday who threatened to stab two women with a needle if they did not give him their purses. The man claimed to have AIDS and pointed the needle at the women after approaching them in a hotel parking lot. It is not known whether the man had the disease. "Heimlich Maneuvers to Cure AIDS" Los Angeles Times (10/30/94) P. A1; Warrick, Pamela Fueled by hundreds of thousands of dollars in celebrity donations, Dr. Henry Heimlich--the inventor of the anti-choking maneuver--is proposing to cure AIDS with "Induced Malaria Therapy" (IMT). A similar therapy was used in the treatment of neurosyphilis during the 1920s. IMT consists of inoculating patients with blood that contains malaria parasites and then, after 10 to 14 fevers spiking 106 degrees over three to four weeks, administering anti-malaria medications. Heimlich's researchers have begun IMT on a small group of HIV-infected men in China. The scientist generally uses humans in his trials because he is philosophically opposed to animal research. Many doubt the doctor's work and note how over the last decade he has proposed treatments for AIDS, cancer, Lyme disease, asthma, and war. Out of concern for human subjects, a group of 20 scientists and physicians from the United States and Mexico have petitioned the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Heimlich's fund-raising in Hollywood and his treatment of HIV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a four-page public health alert warning against the Heimlich Foundation's proposal to use malaria therapy on HIV. "Red Cross Official Seen in Conflict" Toronto Globe and Mail (10/29/94) P. A5; Coutts, Jane Commission counsel Marlys Edwardh suggested Friday that there was a potential conflict of interest when the medical director of the Toronto blood bank also served as an advisor to the Canadian Hemophilia Society. Documents submitted at the tainted-blood inquiry show that in 1983, Dr. Roslyn Herst, as chairwoman of the Hemophilia Society's medical and scientific advisory committee, was asked to write a letter to hemophiliacs about AIDS. At the time, the Red Cross and the society disagreed on the safety of cryoprecipitate and Factor VIII--two products used to help clot blood. Dr. Herst sided with the Red Cross and told the hemophiliacs that she preferred Factor VIII over cryoprecipitate, which during the 1980s was considered safer. Factor VIII is made by pooling thousands of blood donations--compared to only one or two for cryoprecipitate--and is more likely to contain HIV. It is now considered the safer product because it can be heat treated to kill HIV. In response to the allegations, Dr. Herst said that at the time a variety of products were available and that it had been her job to inform hemophiliacs about them. "Again, Army Shuns AIDS Peer Review" Science (10/14/94) Vol. 266, No. 5183, P. 207 Last year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) criticized the Department of Defense's (DOD) plan to spend $20 million to test a therapeutic AIDS vaccine manufactured by MicroGenesys Inc. instead of peer-review research. DOD bowed to the pressure and promised to spend the money on peer-review research. A total of $9.6 million will fund AIDS vaccine research conducted by five research teams whose proposals passed the Army's peer review. Recently, however, Army officials said that DOD would award $10.3 million to the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, a private contractor in Maryland. Biochemist John Moore of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and chair of the Army's peer-review committee said, "What the DOD does not seem to have understood is that the fuss over the original $20 million was largely about an abuse of the peer-review system." The deputy director of the military's AIDS research program said that his command works well with the Jackson Foundation and that the funds were awarded to prevent a potential shortfall in DOD's AIDS research budget for in the coming year. "Grassroots Organizing: Communication Groups" AIDS Treatment News (10/07/94) No. 208, P. 6; James, John S. AIDS Treatment News proposes developing "communication groups"--small, personal groups of friend who meet for social activities that revolve around writing and calling public officials to advance AIDS causes. The individual groups would also work with other AIDS organizations to generate public response on their issues. The social factor in the groups would ensure that the groups work for the people, as well as a cause. A five-page expanded proposal on "communication groups" is available from AIDS Treatment News.