Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 09:08:45 -0400 (EDT) From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary October 12, 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 ************************************************************ "Two French Ex-Officials Probed in AIDS Scandal" "BioChem Pharma Corrects and Replaces Previous Announcement" "Biologic-DT Receives 510 (k) Approval" "Oxford GlycoSystems Introduces New Product to Sequence Carbohydrates Quickly, Easily; Two Companion Products Also Developed" "The Myth of Invulnerability: Lesbians and HIV Disease" "Fear of HIV Infection from Biting Not Supported by Research" "Kaposi's Sarcoma, Vascular Permeability, and Scientific Integrity: In Reply" "Serial Killer With a Spit Sink" "Profile: Southern Comforts" Educated Traveler: Good Deeds" ************************************************************ "Two French Ex-Officials Probed in AIDS Scandal" Reuters (10/11/94) Gaston Rimareix and Charles-Henri Filippi, two former advisers to former French Socialist ministers, were officially placed under investigation Tuesday as the continuing inquiry into why 1,250 hemophiliacs received HIV-infected blood during the mid-1980s broadens. Both Rimareix and Filippi will be investigated as accomplices to poisoning. A total of seven former government officials are now being investigated in the AIDS scandal, which is so far responsible for the deaths of more than 400 of the patients who were infected. The former officials are accused of helping delay HIV tests on blood products until France had developed its own version of an existing U.S. screening test. Filippi has refused to comment, but Rimareix told reporters that "this accusation is serious and particularly ignominious...I reject it." "BioChem Pharma Corrects and Replaces Previous Announcement" Business Wire (10/11/94) Michael G. Grey has been appointed president of BioChem Therapeutic Inc., a wholly owned therapeutic subsidiary of BioChem Pharma, Inc. Grey will oversee all of BioChem Therapeutic's operations--including research, development, and administration. In collaboration with Glaxo Holdings plc, BioChem Therapeutic has two products, 3TC and Lamivudine, that are in late stage clinical development. Phase II/III clinical trial results of 3TC, which is being developed to treat AIDS, will be presented at an HIV conference in Glasgow in November. Late Phase II findings of Lamivudine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection will be presented in early November at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. "Biologic-DT Receives 510 (k) Approval" PR Newswire (10/11/94) Formal 510 (k) Premarket Notification Approval has been granted to HemoCleanse, Inc. by the Food and Drug Administration to market HemoCleanse's Biologic-DT System for drug overdose treatment. The Biologic System treats and removes toxins from the blood outside of the body while balancing critical blood chemistries. HemoCleanse, with Biocontrol Technology, Inc., and its subsidiary IDT, Inc., is holding clinical trials of the Biologic-HT System, which converts the DT into a hyperthermia therapy in patients with HIV and AIDS. "Oxford GlycoSystems Introduces New Product to Sequence Carbohydrates Quickly, Easily; Two Companion Products Also Developed" PR Newswire (10/11/94) Oxford GlycoSystems on Tuesday introduced the RAAM 2000 GlycoSequencer, the first carbohydrate sequencer that automatically determines the structure of flourescently labeled carbohydrates. The device is expected to facilitate the study of carbohydrates, which are factors in diseases including cancer and AIDS. The RAAM 2000 provides reliable results in about five hours--about half the time of previous instruments. Two companion products were also introduced--the Signal carbohydrate labeling kit and the GlycoSep carbohydrate profiling kit. "The Myth of Invulnerability: Lesbians and HIV Disease" Focus (09/94) Vol. 8, No. 9, P. 1; Vasquez, Carmen Lesbians outside the mainstream community, such as lesbians of color or young lesbians, are the segment of this population most vulnerable to HIV. Because they are less visible, the lesbian community--along with many researchers and scientists--have not worried about the problem of lesbians and HIV. Much is still unknown about female-to-female transmission of HIV, but it is clear that it is more difficult to transmit HIV between women having unprotected sex than it is while injecting drugs or having unprotected sex with a man. It is still possible that HIV transmitted through vaginal secretions can be infectious over time if it is in high enough concentrations, especially when there are existing factors such as herpes or yeast infections. Successful prevention for lesbians will come as the result of honest, non-moralistic HIV information that do not condemn them for their activities. "Fear of HIV Infection from Biting Not Supported by Research" AIDS Alert (10/94) Vol. 9, No. 10, P. 142 Two recent court cases concerning inmates biting correctional officers indicate that the public is still worried that HIV can be transmitted by saliva, despite researchers' claims that HIV is rarely--if ever--found in saliva and that its transmission has never been confirmed. Still, HIV-infected prisoners who bite correctional officers tend to receive extended sentences, and inmates whose HIV status is unknown are often charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in Philadelphia conclude that the presence of infectious HIV in the oral cavity is uncommon. Further studies should be made because of polymerase chain reaction data that show that HIV sequences may be present at a reasonably high frequency, and that saliva seems to contain strong anti-HIV activity that may be responsible for the low oral virus concentration. "It is clear that the oral cavity will remain the focus for HIV research...," write the researchers. Another study suggests that, in most cases, salivary inhibitors render the virus noninfectious. "Kaposi's Sarcoma, Vascular Permeability, and Scientific Integrity: In Reply" Journal of the American Medical Association (09/28/94) Vol. 272, No. 12, P. 922; Witte, Marlys H.; Borgs, Peter; Way, Dennis L. et al In a rebuttal to letters to the editor published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in response to their article, Witte et al write that their piece sought clarification of three issues related to the enhanced vascular permeability that was reported in 12-hour Kaposi's Sarcoma "lesions" in the Science magazine article by Nakamura et al. The letters fail to refute Witte et al's criticisms of the validity of the report's conclusions because of a poorly controlled experiment, inconsistencies in data, and the citation of "unpublished" and "in preparation" references and methods. Witte et al write that subjects of their principle criticisms could have been avoided or resolved by the use of proper controls, subcutaneous implantation of cultured KS cells in a site remote from the EB tail vein injection, serial blood levels of EB-albumin complex to correlate with EB extravasation into the lesion as corroboration of the extraordinary EB "leak rate" from plasma, and documentation of exact materials and techniques. "Serial Killer With a Spit Sink" Advocate (10/04/94) No. 665, P. 20 Harvard University behavior scientist Dr. Leonard Horowitz has labeled Dr. David Acer, the late Florida dentist who was suspected of deliberately infecting his patients with HIV, a serial killer with a vendetta against the federal health establishment. In his report on a three-year study, Horowitz writes that Acer displayed many traits that are common with 36 known serial killers. He claims that Acer believed that the U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had intentionally infected gay men with HIV during a late 1970s experimental hepatitis B vaccination study. The CDC says that there is no evidence that Acer deliberately infected his patients with HIV. "Profile: Southern Comforts" Far Eastern Economic Review (09/29/94) Vol. 157, No. 39, P. 78; Pais, Arthur As the only infectious diseases specialist living in Johnson City, Tenn., in 1985, Ethiopian-born Abraham Verghese had to learn how to treat AIDS in "a town of clean-living, good country people." He had to encounter his own fear of AIDS, as well as the fears of nurses who believed AIDS patients deserved what they got and doctors who were uncomfortable treating people with AIDS and referred them to Verghese. The courageous stories of his patients prompted Verghese to write the book, My Own Country, which documented their problems as AIDS became part of a conservative rural city. Verghese wrote that "AIDS pulls you across the threshold of your own upbringing and constraints...[AIDS patients] act as mirrors and make you reflect upon questions of your own morality." In the future, he plans to write short stories about AIDS to "encourage young people to become doctors and take up specialties that aren't popular." "Educated Traveler: Good Deeds" Successful Meetings (10/94) Vol. 43, No. 11, P. 38 The Swissotel lodging chain will contribute $1 to AIDS research for each reservation made between October and December 31 through the SABRE computer reservation group. THE END.