Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 13:55:37 +0500 From: awilson@smtpinet.aspensys.com (Wilson, Anne) AIDS Daily Summary November 29, 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 ************************************************************ "After Setback, First Large AIDS Vaccine Trials Are Planned" "Genentech Inc. Halts AIDS Therapy Work to Focus on Vaccine" "250 New Housing Units for AIDS Patients Is Among Priorities of the State Legislature" "State Delay of Funds Hurting AIDS Services" "Manager Sues SEPTA After HIV Is Disclosed" "Finding Hope in the 'Losses'" "Area Restaurants Will Contribute to AIDS Effort" "Developer Claims Success for Urine AIDS Test" "Around the Nation: Connecticut/Texas" "CDC Ponders Changes in HIV/AIDS Office" *********************************************************** "After Setback, First Large AIDS Vaccine Trials Are Planned" New York Times (11/29/94) P. C3; Altman, Lawrence K. The World Health Organization (WHO)is planning the first large trials of the two most widely tested experimental AIDS vaccines, both of which are derived from the gp120 protein. Plans for testing the vaccines in the United States were rejected in June. The vaccines have already been through the first two stages of a three-stage testing system that evaluates their safety and immunologic responses. Potentially involving thousands of volunteers, the third phase will test the vaccines' ability to protect against HIV. Although a full-scale study could not begin until 1996 at the earliest because of the amount of preparation involved, Dr. Peter Piot--an infectious disease expert and WHO official--said that initial indications of test locations point to Thailand as the first site, with Brazil and Uganda as distant contenders. Before the trials begin, many issues will be debated. WHO is encouraging the debate, said Piot, "because, with the urgent need for an effective vaccine, we cannot afford a failure due to scientific or ethical problems." "Genentech Inc. Halts AIDS Therapy Work to Focus on Vaccine" Wall Street Journal (11/29/94) P. B6 Genentech Inc. has halted development of a potential treatment for HIV-infected people, but the company says it will continue testing the drug gp120 as a vaccine for preventing spread of the disease. The drug was designed to slow the onset of AIDS-related symptoms after infection with HIV. Phase II clinical trials, however, have shown no benefit. Genentech will continue Phase II trials of gp120 as a preventive vaccine in the United States. The company is also collaborating with the World Health Organization and Thai government officials to hold Phase III trials for the vaccine in individuals who are likely to be exposed to HIV. "250 New Housing Units for AIDS Patients Is Among Priorities of the State Legislature" New York Times (11/29/94) P. B7; Sullivan, Joseph F. The most recent bill in the New Jersey Legislature would provide 250 units of housing in five urban areas for people with AIDS or HIV and their families. Senate president Donald T. DiFrancesco sponsored the measure, which he called "a compassionate response to a pressing need." The National Commission on AIDS estimates that 30 to 50 percent of people with AIDS or HIV are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless. The bill would supply $2 million for the construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation of housing that would be rented by the patients. Residents would receive home-based support services such as medical care or household assistance. Also, a bill requiring schools to teach abstinence as the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease has returned for legislative review. The measure narrowly missed becoming law last year. "State Delay of Funds Hurting AIDS Services" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/29/94) P. B1; Collins, Huntly AIDS activists in Pennsylvania said Monday that a five-month delay in awarding $5.5 million in state and federal funds has jeopardized services to thousands of HIV-infected residents. The delay has already forced the closure of two rural AIDS programs. Federal funds under the Ryan White CARE Act are awarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, where they are matched by the state and then distributed to seven regional consortia. Although contracts for the current fiscal year were supposed to be completed July 1, state officials said the 23 steps of contract approval have not been completed and are not expected to be done before December or January. The activists said that the failure to provide the funds could affect AIDS education, housing, transportation, and food for those infected with HIV. "Manager Sues SEPTA After HIV Is Disclosed" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/29/94) P. B1; Slobodzian, Joseph A. An HIV-positive SEPTA manager who calls himself "John Doe" is suing SEPTA and former chief administrative officer Judith Pierce for invasion of privacy. Officials of the transit authority say they accidentally found out Doe was infected while reviewing an audit of prescription benefits that included the names of SEPTA employees. Doe claims that his superiors said that Pierce had created an "AIDS List" of SEPTA employees. Doe still works for SEPTA, but his attorney says Doe now "lives with a dark cloud over his head. He still has to go to SEPTA every day worrying about who knows and wondering about why some people have stopped talking to him." SEPTA's attorney maintains that Doe has not been harmed by the accidental disclosure. He also claims that the agency quickly destroyed the information and has made sure that the benefit firm does not supply employee names again. "Finding Hope in the 'Losses'" Washington Post (11/28/94) P. C7; Brace, Eric "Significant Losses: Artist Who Have Died From AIDS," an exhibit at the University of Maryland Art Galley, is dedicated to the memory of those in the University of Maryland community who have died of AIDS. The show, which features nearly 50 works by professional artists who have died from AIDS, is the result of a conversation in which a member of the art department at the College Park campus said he was tired of all his friends dying and that something should be done to honor them. "Significant Losses" features the work of artists such as Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andrew Brunelle, as well as the works of 14 pediatric AIDS patients at NIH. Students from Prince George's County, Maryland, have viewed the exhibit and written down their thoughts on a giant scroll in the gallery which will be unrolled during a ceremony on Thursday. Four quilt panels will also be presented to the Names Project during the ceremony. In other World AIDS Day news, "Memory Boxes" will be created at the Anacostia Museum. On Thursday, World AIDS Day, the public can bring in small items associated with someone close who has died of AIDS. The items will be turned into art works in that person's memory. "Area Restaurants Will Contribute to AIDS Effort" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/25/94) P. 2B As part of Dining Out for Life St. Louis, more than 50 area restaurants will donate 20 percent of Tuesday night's proceeds to benefit the St. Louis Effort for AIDS. Participating restaurants include Cafe de France, LoRusso's Cucina, Nantucket Cove, and Tucker's Place in Soulard. "Developer Claims Success for Urine AIDS Test" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/24/94) P. 3C; Signor, Roger Dr. Howard B. Urnovitz, chief scientific officer of Calypte Biomedical Corp., has developed a new urine test for AIDS which, he says, will detect infections in millions of people who may unknowingly have the disease and may be infecting others. The urine test is less expensive to process and easier to perform than the blood tests currently in use. Urnovitz also notes that the urine test eliminates the risk of accidental infection of health care workers because the urine samples carry HIV antibodies, but not the virus itself. The Japanese government is very close to approving the test, says Urnovitz, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. of Japan has agreed to distribute the test kits throughout Asia. In Japanese trials, the test was 100 percent accurate in finding HIV in 233 people and was confirmed by standard blood tests. The results of 13,000 urine tests conducted in the United States have been submitted to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for evaluation. Urnovitz says he expect the FDA to be more stringent than the similar Japanese agency in assessing his test. "Around the Nation: Connecticut/Texas" Advocate (11/15/94) No. 668, P. 18 Artist Donell Hill is suing the nuns who insisted that Hill's exhibit on sex and AIDS be moved from the San Antonio, Texas, gallery that they operate. Hill is asking that the nuns be forced to reopen his show entitled "Spiritual, Sensual, Sexual." In other AIDS-related events, construction began last month in New Haven, Conn., on Leeway Inc., the state's first inpatient AIDS facility. "CDC Ponders Changes in HIV/AIDS Office" AIDS Alert (11/94) Vol. 9, No. 11, P. 159 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may conduct a significant reorganization of its office of HIV/AIDS. An external advisory committee concluded that the 10 separate departments that deal with HIV/AIDS activities overlap and are inefficient. The changes could result either in an improved existing center or in a separate center for HIV/AIDS. Also, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is developing an Office of HIV/AIDS Housing to guarantee that people living with HIV or AIDS can have equal access to public housing.