Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 11:29:45 -0400 (EDT) From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 10/19/94. AIDS Daily Summary October 19, 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 ************************************************************ "City Disclosed Confidential Data on AIDS Panel Members" "Secrecy Proposed for Blood Study" "Health Chief Warns Cambodia Faces AIDS Epidemic" "Biocontrol Receives Patent for Procedure Used to Treat HIV" "CEL-SCI Corporation Announces Extension of Warrants" "International Disunity on HIV Vaccine Efficacy Trials" "Locallisation of HIV-1 to Human Papillomavirus Associated Cervical Lesions" "Letters: The Efficacy of Zidovudine is Time Limited" "Around the Nation" "Grantwatch: AIDS" ************************************************************ "City Disclosed Confidential Data on AIDS Panel Members" Philadelphia Inquirer (10/19/94) P. A1; Collins, Huntly The confidentiality of 36 members of a Philadelphia community AIDS advisory panel was violated by the city's Health Department, said City Health Commissioner Estelle Richman on Tuesday. The members' names, sexual orientation, and the HIV status of some were accidentally put on a federal grant application to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office. Copies of the application were also distributed in Philadelphia, but now all copies of the grant application have been sequestered and the confidential data is being removed. Richman said the demands for the resignation of Richard Scott, director of the Philadelphia's AIDS office, are "symptomatic of the infighting that's gone on" in Philadelphia's AIDS community. "If it weren't [Scott]," she defended, "it would be someone else." Scott has been removed from the committee and Richman will serve in his place. The confidential information was included because grant applications require that cities demonstrate that the groups affected are involved in the planning. The nomination form clearly states, however, that "all information provided would be held confidential." Some members plan on suing the city for breach of confidentiality of Act 148, the Pennsylvania law that limits the right to disclose the names of people with HIV without their written consent. "Secrecy Proposed for Blood Study" Toronto Globe and Mail (10/18/94) P. A3; Coutts, Jane Justice Horace Krever, head of the inquiry into why more than 1,000 Canadians were infected with HIV from tainted blood products, wants to keep a report on the current safety of Canada's blood a secret for three months. Krever wants the report, which will be issued at the end of November, to be distributed to participating lawyers--including representatives of the Red Cross, the government, and those who have contracted HIV. The lawyers would have 10 days to respond in writing to the report--on the condition that they not question the experts who prepared it and not discuss their responses publicly for three months. Most of the groups involved are not satisfied with this plan because--as the report is likely to be highly technical--they would not be able to respond adequately without talking to the specialists who wrote it. Others claim that, because the report was prepared for a public inquiry with public funds, it must not be withheld from the public. The issue was discussed privately between the lawyers and the commission counsel last week and will be dealt with publicly later this week. "Health Chief Warns Cambodia Faces AIDS Epidemic" Reuters (10/18/94) Michael Merson, executive director of the World Health Organization' s global AIDS program, said Tuesday that unless action is taken, Cambodia faces an AIDS crisis comparable to the one in neighboring Thailand. "The time for action is now--the price will be much greater (to pay) later if action isn't taken," he stated during a news conference. A total of 625 full-blown AIDS cases have been reported in Cambodia, and experts estimate that as many as 4,000 Cambodians are infected with HIV. Recent surveys in southern Cambodia show that 40 percent of the city of Sihanoukville's commercial sex workers are HIV-infected, and that the infection rate among blood donors in Phnom Penh is 3.5 percent. Merson said that because the cash-strapped Cambodian government does not have enough of its own resources, United Nation organizations, like WHO, will try to help Cambodia fight the disease. "Biocontrol Receives Patent for Procedure Used to Treat HIV" PR Newswire (10/18/94) The U.S. Patent Office has issued a patent to Biocontrol Technology, Inc. for its specialized method for whole-body extracorporeal hyperthermia used in the treatment of AIDS patients. An artificially induced fever of 107. 6 degrees Fahrenheit treats the HIV infection. Studies have shown HIV to be heat sensitive. The BioLogic-HT System automatically balances blood chemistry changes that occur during hyperthermia--thus avoiding the potential imbalances that can lead to neurologic brain damage or even death of the patient. IDT, Inc.--the sponsor of the study and Biocontrol's subsidiary--and HemoCleanse, Inc.--the manufacturer of BioLogic-HT--studied the system in six patients with HIV and found that it could be safely administered. "CEL-SCI Corporation Announces Extension of Warrants" PR Newswire (10/17/94) CEL-SCI Corporation--developer of Multikine, a potential treatment for cancers and other immunodeficiency diseases--announced Monday that the expiration date of its publicly held warrants trading under the Nasdaq symbol "CELIW" has been extended by 12 months to Feb. 6, 1996. Viral Technologies, Inc., the 50 percent owned subsidiary of CEL-SCI, is developing the HGP-30 AIDS vaccine. The vaccine is based upon a highly conserved piece of the p17 "core" protein of HIV. "International Disunity on HIV Vaccine Efficacy Trials" Journal of the American Medical Association (10/12/94) Vol. 272, No. 14, P. 1090; Cotton, Paul Phase III trials of two experimental HIV vaccines were indefinitely postponed this summer by the National Institutes of Health. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cited the lack of clear evidence showing that a person is actually immunized against HIV infection as a reason for the postponement. The possibility that study participants would not understand that the vaccine is experimental and "assume that they are now protected and so go out and have unsafe sex," was also factored into the decision not to proceed. Subjects in phase I and II trials of HIV vaccines have experienced higher-than-expected new infection rates. Researchers outside the United States may continue testing the vaccines, which both use the HIV gp120 protein, because there is an "urgent need and pressure from the most affected countries to move ahead and accelerate vaccine development," says Dr. Peter Piot of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS. Testing may be easier and less expensive in countries where the infection rate is much higher because the sample size could be much smaller, adds Dr. Jose Esparza, also of WHO's Global Programme on AIDS. Thailand, Brazil, and Uganda are preparing to conduct efficacy trials. Vaccine testing in the United States will most likely be delayed until the correlates of protection--or clear markers of protection after immunization--are understood. "Locallisation of HIV-1 to Human Papillomavirus Associated Cervical Lesions" Lancet (10/01/94) Vol. 344, No. 8927, P. 954; Vernon, S.D.; Zaki, S. R.; Reeves, W. C. Symptom-free and immunosuppressed HIV-1 positive women have a significantly higher risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasias and genital infection with human papillomavirus than HIV-negative women do. In a letter to the editor published in The Lancet medical journal, Vernon et al describe their study to determine whether HIV that is localized to HPV-associated lesions and whether detection of HIV, HPV, and CIN are influenced by immunocompetence. They found that HIV-1 and HPV co-localized in CIN lesions frequently and that co-localization was independent of both clinical status and CD4 cell count--which supports previous theories that the two viruses interact to influence pathogenesis. Co-localization of HIV to an HPV-associated lesion concentrates HIV in the lesion area. This raises questions as to the potential effects of surgical treatment of CIN on HIV transmission and enhanced sexual transmission of HIV after removal of the lesion. Vernon et al recommend that these issues be considered when guidelines for the care of HIV-infected women, their education, and their counseling are developed. "Letters: The Efficacy of Zidovudine is Time Limited" Journal of the American Medical Association (10/05/94) Vol. 272, No. 13, P. 1001; Lundgren, Jens D.; Pedersen, Court; Nielsen, Jens Ole et al In a letter to the editor published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lundgren et al respond to letters from Drs. Bergman and Wenglin and from Moore et al about their study concluding that the effect of zidovudine is time limited. Berman and Wenglin suggested that "aggressive prophylactic antibiotic therapy" would "enhance the beneficial effects of zidovudine," but Lundgren et al found no rationale for to support that theory, noting that it failed to change the relationship between time since starting zidovudine and death. Moore et al discovered increased mortality rates during the second year after starting zidovudine compared to untreated patients and decreased rates of mortality for patients that had been taking zidovudine for more than two years. Lundgren et al detected a statistically significant increased risk of dying only for patients taking zidovudine more than two years. They note that the lack of confirmation of an increased mortality rate after two years of taking the drug should not be interpreted as a contradiction of their own findings. "Around the Nation" Advocate (10/18/94) No. 666, P. 20 An 21-year-old HIV-infected woman from West Palm Beach, Fla. has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly biting a 90-year old man while panhandling. In other news from around the country, a Cincinnati, Ohio, task force determined that intravenous drug use is not enough of a problem in the city to warrant a needle-exchange program to slow the spread of HIV. "Grantwatch: AIDS" Health Affairs (Fall 1994) Vol. 13, No. 4, P. 178 Iris House in New York City was granted $50,000 over two years by the Ittleson Foundation. Iris House is the country's first community-based organization specifically designed to address the problems that low-income and minority women with HIV/AIDS and their families face in obtaining services. Funds from the grant will go toward an analysis of the program's planning process, an evaluation of its first year, and the development of a resource guide of how the model project can be duplicated by others.