Date: Mon, 10 Oct 1994 09:13:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary October 10, 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 *********************************************************** "Giving Experimental AIDS Drugs a Trial Run" "Dentists Urged to Treat AIDS Patients" "Confronting the Gap in HIV Testing" "Red Cross Opens Door in Bid for Trust" "High Share of Males, AIDS Victims Hit by Plague" "Additional AIDS Drugs Provided Through State Program" "Alpha 1 Biomedicals, Inc. Announces Consummation of License Agreement with SciClone Pharmaceuticals" "200 Atlanta Airline Employees Sign Up for October 16 AIDS Walk" "Pap Smears Gain Favor as Screening Tool" Legal Briefs: Family Guide, AIDS Law" ************************************************************ "Giving Experimental AIDS Drugs a Trial Run" Philadelphia Inquirer (10/10/94) P. B1; Collins, Huntly Experimental AIDS drugs are being tested in 1,400 Philadelphia-area residents in clinical trials conducted by Philadelphia FIGHT, a medical-research group that conducts community-based trials of AIDS drugs. For three years, the group has been helping people and extending their lives by testing drugs that prevent or treat opportunistic diseases, such as pneumonia. In September, FIGHT was granted $3.7 million from the National Institutes of Health to conduct additional trials of HIV-positive people in Philadelphia and its suburbs--a significant increase to FIGHT's current budget of $350,000. Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center in Camden, N.J., was also awarded $3.2 million to conduct similar trials. The awards bring the Philadelphia area into a network of 16 federally funded trial locations nationwide whose goals are to give poor people access to experimental AIDS treatments. Until now, Philadelphia FIGHT has received its primary funding from the American Foundation for AIDS Research. "Dentists Urged to Treat AIDS Patients" Washington Times (10/10/94) P. A12; Lehrman, Sally The American Dental Association and the Dental Alliance of AIDS Healthcare are urging dentists to treat people with HIV and AIDS. In studies of doctors' attitudes toward patients with HIV from 1986 to 1990, Barbara Gerbert, professor and head of the division of behavioral sciences at the University of California at San Francisco, found that approximately 30 percent of physicians and dentists were uneasy treating HIV-infected people. "We said it's a given that dental health care providers should be willing to treat HIV-infected individuals," said Gerbert, who also lead a six-person committee that developed the ADA's and the DAAH's standards. The Justice Department is currently investigating two doctors who refused to treat people with HIV. "Confronting the Gap in HIV Testing" Chicago Tribune (10/08/94) P. 1-1; James, Frank; Irwin, Julie Because it can take up to six weeks for a newly infected person to develop enough HIV antibodies for tests to detect them, there is a gap in HIV detection. New Jersey and California have laws that require doctors to warn patients of transfusion problems and alternatives. Increasingly, even where it is not law, physicians and hospitals are offering patients alternatives to using strangers' blood in transfusions, including providing patients with the option of autologous donations--storing their own blood prior to surgery. This comes at a time when experts claim that the blood supply is safer than ever. Food and Drug Administration researchers estimated recently that, in blood that has been screened, only one unit out of 420,000 was infected with HIV. Researchers are now trying to develop more sensitive and less expensive tests that detect infected blood sooner. "Red Cross Opens Door in Bid for Trust" Toronto Globe and Mail (10/07/94) P. A4 In an effort to restore public confidence in Canada's blood supply, the Canadian Red Cross on Thursday opened the doors of its largest blood center, located in Toronto. Reporters and camera crews were given a two-hour tour of laboratories usually closed to the public. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the Toronto center had 19 violations of U.S. standards. The final stage of a federal inquiry will begin in Toronto on Tuesday to try to determine why more than 1,000 Canadians received HIV-infected blood during the 1980s. "High Share of Males, AIDS Victims Hit by Plague" Reuters (10/09/94); Graves, Nelson A total of nine of the 192 people diagnosed with the pneumonic plague in Surat, in western India, are HIV-positive, said the director of the World Health Organization, Hiroshi Nakajima. Statistics show that approximately 2 percent of blood donors in India have HIV. Dr. Dinesh Shah, medical superintendent of Civil Hospital in Surat, explained the high number of plague patients with HIV by noting that between 10 and 20 percent of Surat's workers are migrant workers who, because they are isolated from their families, solicit prostitutes--many of whom are HIV-positive. "Additional AIDS Drugs Provided Through State Program" PR Newswire (10/07/94) Pennsylvania State Public Welfare Secretary Karen F. Snider announced Friday that her department will begin paying for Megace and Zerit, two treatments for people with HIV and AIDS. The medications will be provided through the Special Pharmaceutical Benefits program, which helps individuals who cannot afford the expense of HIV/AIDS treatment medications. Funds for the new medications come from the state and federal Ryan White Emergency Care Act. Friday's announcement brings the total of state-funded HIV and AIDS drugs to 25. "Alpha 1 Biomedicals, Inc. Announces Consummation of License Agreement with SciClone Pharmaceuticals" PR Newswire (10/07/94) Alpha 1 Biomedicals, Inc. announced Friday that it has completed a license agreement with SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in which Alpha 1 licensed to SciClone its proprietary rights to Thymosin alpha 1. As part of the agreement, Alpha 1 will receive royalties on SciClone's commercial sales if SciClone is successful in completing development of the product. Thymosin alpha 1 is currently being studied in clinical trials as a treatment for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and AIDS. Through Viral Technologies, a joint venture with Cel-Sci Corporation, Alpha 1 is involved in the development of HGP-30, a peptide that is potentially an AIDS vaccine or therapeutic. "200 Atlanta Airline Employees Sign Up for October 16 AIDS Walk" PR Newswire (10/06/94) About 200 employees of the 25 passenger airlines that serve Atlanta have signed up as participants in the Oct. 16 AIDS Walk. The workers will constitute the Airline Industry Alliance combined team, one of 956 teams that are registered for the event. Funds raised from the AIDS Walk support Atlanta's non-profit AIDS service organizations. The Alliance is planning to raise additional funds by hosting a Retro Disco Party Oct. 14. "Pap Smears Gain Favor as Screening Tool" Nation's Health (09/94) Vol. 24, No. 8, P. 3 Preliminary results of a small study presented at the 10th International Conference on AIDS show that pap smears are as effective as colposcopies in detecting potentially pre-cancerous cervical conditions in HIV-positive women. Pap smears detected cervical abnormalities in 59 percent of the 75 HIV-infected and 21 HIV-negative women, while the colposcopy found abnormalities in 63 percent of the women tested, which contradicts previous reports that pap smears were less reliable. HIV-infected women were advised to have colposcopies, which are more expensive and less available, performed every six months. Women who are HIV-positive are more likely than uninfected women to develop cervical intraepithelial neoplacia, a precursor to cervical cancer. "Legal Briefs: Family Guide, AIDS Law" Washington Blade (09/23/94) Vol. 25, No. 39, P. 18; Keen, Lisa The John Marshall Law School in Chicago has released it Law Review book of essays that discusses AIDS-related legal issues. Short commentary pieces include "Obligations of HIV-infected health professionals" and "The AIDS epidemic and health care reform." Notice to ADS Users: CDC offers the following information to address questions raised by the abstract of an article published by AIDS Alert and included in the ADS on September 26. A subtype of HIV from West Africa has been described in an analysis by French researchers. Called subtype "O," the virus is an unusual variant of HIV-1 that is antigenically distinct from other HIV-1 subtypes. This variant is now thought to account for less than 10 percent of HIV-1 infections in Cameroon. Other HIV subtypes range from "A" through "H," and each contains unique antigens. Alterations to HIV antibody tests can be made to accommodate subtype O. Health officials from the United States and the World Health Organization say that the modifications are necessary only in countries where subtype O has been identified. This variant has not been isolated from any non-human primates.