Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 09:09:12 -0400 (EDT) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 09/21/94. AIDS Daily Summary September 21, 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 ************************************************************ "U.S. Bioscience Inc." "Red Cross Told in 1983 to Screen Donors" "Red Cross Slow in Screening, Panel Told" "$370,000 More Awarded in Blood Case" "Three Ex-French Ministers to Face Court on AIDS" "Med Students to Teach AIDS Class" "International Murex Launches Enhanced HIV Test into Global Markets" "National Color Can Make a Difference Day: Salon Clients Can Help Make a Difference in the Fight Against AIDS" "Major Lymph-Node Study Examines AZT, ddI Effects" "Are Researchers Racing Toward Success, or Crawling?" ************************************************************ "U.S. Bioscience Inc." Wall Street Journal (09/21/94) P. A5 U.S. Bioscience announced Tuesday that it received approval from the European Economic Community to sell Ethyol and NeuTrexin in Europe. Ethyol, still under review by the Food and Drug Administration, is an infection-fighting drug. NeuTrexin is a treatment for pnuemocystis carinii pneumonia in AIDS patients and was FDA approved in December 1993. Both drugs must still be approved by the individual countries in which they are to be sold. Related Story: New York Times (9/21) P. D4. "Red Cross Told in 1983 to Screen Donors" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A2; Picard, Andre According to documents filed at a public inquiry, the Canadian Red Cross was told by its own lawyer on March 29, 1983 that it had a "moral and legal obligation ..." to eliminate high-risk blood donors, even if it did not have proof that they were transmitting HIV. Red Cross scientists continued to rely on "self-exclusion" by high-risk donors and did not amend the questionnaire they used to screen donors. While there were already published reports that AIDS was predominantly transmitted among sexually active gay men, at this time there was some evidence of infection through transfusions and blood products used by hemophiliacs. Haitians were noted as a group where AIDS was spreading quickly. In early March 1983, the CRC issued a press release asking that members of high-risk groups not donate blood. This was met with criticism from some groups, who threatened to make complaints to human rights associations. The inquiry is an attempt to determine how more than 1,000 hemophiliacs became infected with HIV between 1980 and 1985. "Red Cross Slow in Screening, Panel Told" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A3; Picard, Andre The Canadian Red Cross did not ask specific questions to screen out high-risk blood donors until 1985, even though a Montreal baby was infected, in early 1983, with HIV after receiving a transfusion. During those two years, the CRC relied on its nurses' "flair for intuition" to identify high-risk donors, said Dr. Raymond Guevin, the former medical director of the Montreal blood center, at the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada on Monday. He also said that the CRC encouraged self-exclusion because it was afraid of violating human-rights by singling out donors from certain groups. In March of 1993, transfusion-related HIV had already been identified in 32 babies in the United States, and 70 percent of Canadian hemophiliacs were suffering from a reduced immune system response, indicative of HIV. "$370,000 More Awarded in Blood Case" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A6 The Canadian Red Cross, Dr. Stanley Bain, and the Toronto Hospital have been ordered to pay Rochelle Pitman approximately $370,000, about 60 percent of the court costs she incurred in a civil action against them. In March, Mrs. Pitman and her family were awarded $630,000 in a ruling that found the CRC et al. negligent in their failure to notify Mrs. Pitman that her husband had received HIV-tainted blood during surgery in December 1983. In March 1990, when he died from HIV-related pneumonia, Mr. Pitman did not know that he had been infected. "Three Ex-French Ministers to Face Court on AIDS" Reuters (09/20/94) Three former French government ministers will face a special parliamentary court this month in an investigation into whether they were linked to blood transfusions that infected thousands of hemophiliacs with HIV. The court will place the three men under formal investigation, which is often a formal move toward a trial in France. More than 1,250 hemophiliacs became infected with HIV when French officials used up blood stocks in an effort to save money rather than import virus-free blood products. "Med Students to Teach AIDS Class" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/19/94) P. 3S; Billingsly, Linda Approximately one-third of the biology students at Rockwood's Marquette High School in Missouri will be able to volunteer for a two-day class called Students Teaching About AIDS to Students. The purpose of the class is to prevent transmission of HIV in adolescents, since they are the age group that is most at risk. Medical students will teach the students about HIV's characteristics, how it is transmitted, and its effects on the immune system. AIDS patients will talk about the effect of the disease on their lives and the deadly nature of HIV. Abstinence will be stressed as the only sure way to avoid infection. The program was started in 1987 and is also taught to seventh graders and the students' parents. "International Murex Launches Enhanced HIV Test into Global Markets" PRNewswire (09/19/94) International Murex Technologies Corporation announced the introduction of an enhanced HIV blood screening test, based on Murex's existing Wellcozyme HIV 1+2 test. It will be marketed to clinical laboratories and blood banks in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East pending registration with each country. Murex responded to the discovery of HIV-1 Subtype O by adding an extra antigen that allows detection of Subtype O. The new product also includes Murex's Sample Addition Monitor color coding technology, which changes color at each step, thus facilitating the test for the users by ensuring that the samples have been added correctly. International Murex Technologies Corporation is a medical diagnostic products company dedicated to the research, manufacture, and marketing of products for the detection, monitoring, and screening of infectious diseases and other medical conditions. "National Color Can Make a Difference Day: Salon Clients Can Help Make a Difference in the Fight Against AIDS" PRNewswire (09/19/94) By making a hair cut appointment on September 24, 1994, clients at certain salons can help raise money and awareness for AIDS by participating in Clairol Professional's Second Annual National Color Can Make a Difference Day. Since its beginning three years ago, the program has raised over $300,000 for the American Foundation for AIDS Research--the nation's leading non-profit organization dedicated to AIDS research, education, and public policy. This year, Clairol will initiate the program on four other continents. A new feature is that a percentage of funds raised in major cities will be designated for local AIDS organizations within the community. This year, Clairol hopes to double last year's 500 salons that participated and to increase the salon donation to AmFAR from 25 percent to 35 percent. "Major Lymph-Node Study Examines AZT, ddI Effects" AIDS Treatment News (09/02/94) No. 206, P. 2 DATRI-003, conducted by the Division of AIDS Treatment Research Initiative--a division of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases--is the largest study so far of lymph-node biopsies. The research is important because HIV infection is extremely active in the lymph nodes. The 32 patients, who were divided into four groups of AZT administration, showed basically no change in the percentage of infected lymph node cells. Viral replication decreased in six patients who added ddI to their treatments, but in the group that started AZT during the study, no change in viral replication was seen, although T-helper count did increase. The researchers suggest that the antiviral effect of AZT and ddI may be lower in early stages of the disease. "Are Researchers Racing Toward Success, or Crawling?" Science (09/02/94) Vol. 265, No. 5177, P. 1373; Cohen, Jon A growing number of AIDS researchers conclude that there never has been a race to develop an AIDS vaccine--that the "race" was mostly noise and posturing at scientific meetings. Pharmaceutical companies are not putting money and time into AIDS vaccines because the market in developed countries is likely to be much smaller than previously thought, resulting in very few companies who are devoted to the search for a vaccine. In July, the Rockefeller Foundation released a report, "Accelerating the Development of Preventive HIV Vaccines for the World," that highlights a four-day meeting last year in Bellagio, Italy. The report shows a much smaller AIDS vaccine market in the United States and Europe than 1990 estimates by Shearson Lehman Hutton. Because of financial and statistical uncertainties, as well as fear of government regulation and lawsuits from people claiming to be injured from the vaccines, many companies are wary to continue the search for a vaccine. The Bellagio report also notes that the search for an AIDS vaccine has been "catering to the needs of the developed world," whose population represents less than 10 percent of the world's new HIV infections. Researchers are focusing on the B subtype of HIV, which predominates in the United States and Europe but may not help Third World countries, where HIV is spreading rapidly. The Bellagio report proposes a global HIV vaccine initiative and, while offering no specific details, suggests ideas including a task force, a consortium, or a nonprofit institute.