Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 09:04:45 -0400 (EDT) From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary September 28, 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 ************************************************************ "Bill Seeks AIDS Test for Sex Offenders" "Labelling Haitians Blood-Donor Risks Called Devastating" "City Fears AIDS to Follow Syphilis" "Romania Dominates European Infant AIDS Cases" "Ex-Minister Charged in French Blood Case" "Judge to Rule if Hemophiliac Can Be Prevented From Suing" "Montreal Clinic Had High HIV Rates" "The Recrudescence of Thalidomide" "Human Rights as Critical as Condoms Against HIV" "Anonymous No More" ************************************************************ "Bill Seeks AIDS Test for Sex Offenders" Philadelphia Inquirer (09/28/94) P. B2 A bill passed Tuesday by the Pennsylvania state legislature would allow certain sex offenders to be tested for HIV. If approved by the governor, the measure would apply to people who are convicted of crimes involving sexual intercourse. A sex crime victim would be able to request that the test be performed and also to find out the result. "Labelling Haitians Blood-Donor Risks Called Devastating" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/27/94) P. A8; Picard, Andre Ten years after Haitians were singled out by the Red Cross as a high-risk group for HIV-transmission, the community is still facing the stigma. In 1983, when 37 percent of AIDS cases were among recent Haitian immigrants, the Canadian Red Cross requested that all high-risk groups--Haitian included--not donate blood. Dr. Antony Alcidor, a pathologist and president of the Haitian Physicians' Association, said that while other groups that were identified could blend into the general population, Haitians were easily identifiable and discriminated against because of their accent and skin color. As late as 1988, the Haitian community is still singled out as a menace. In Canada today, recent immigrants from some Caribbean and sub-Saharan African countries are discouraged from donating blood. "City Fears AIDS to Follow Syphilis" United Press International (09/27/94) Due to a rising number of syphilis cases, Cincinnati Health Commission officials say they are worried about a looming AIDS epidemic. The number of syphilis cases in Cincinnati has doubled each year since 1991 and is expected to grow by another 30 percent by the end of 1994. Because both HIV and syphilis are predominantly spread by sexual contact, it will probably be years before people develop symptoms and go for treatment, officials say. "Romania Dominates European Infant AIDS Cases" Reuters (09/27/94); Popescu, Karin Approximately 93 percent of AIDS patients in Romania are under the age of 12--accounting for 53 percent of the total child AIDS cases in Europe, said authorities Tuesday. "The high rate of AIDS among children is an epidemiological accident due to the lack of disposable syringes and to the fact that before 1990 Romania did not screen the blood for transfusions," says health ministry inspector Valentina Simion. Simion says that as long as Romania has an extreme shortage of disposable syringes and as long as medical attitudes remain firmly in the past, the risk of HIV infection in Romania will continue. "Ex-Minister Charged in French Blood Case" United Press International (09/27/94) The former French minister of social affairs, Georgina Dufoix, was charged with conspiracy to poison in the 1985 case in which more than 1,200 hemophiliacs were infected with HIV during blood transfusions. Dufoix is one of three ministers accused of ignoring available techniques to disinfect blood. More than one-quarter of the hemophiliacs have already died. The three ministers, previously protected by a statute of limitations for prosecution for negligence, are charged as part of the 1993 French constitutional reform that allows citizens to petition judges to investigate grievances against the government. "Judge to Rule if Hemophiliac Can Be Prevented From Suing" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/26/94) P. A7; Claridge, Thomas A judge will rule next month on whether to approve a settlement that would prevent 10-year-old hemophiliac from being able to sue for damages after he was infected with HIV from blood products he received as a baby. The judge was told that the boy would probably receive more compensation from the settlement than any award for pain and suffering. The boy's mother favors the compensation package because it would avoid the time and expense of litigation, which may not be successful. The family is the first of 98 in the province who decided to take advantage of the compensation package before the March 15 deadline. "Montreal Clinic Had High HIV Rates" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/26/94) P. A2; Picard, Andre According to documents filed at the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, a Red Cross blood-donor clinic in Montreal accepted 50 times more HIV-infected blood than the average Canadian clinic in late 1986. The clinic was shut down in 1987, four years after the Red Cross had asked that high-risk groups voluntarily abstain from donating blood. Other documents filed at the Inquiry show that the Quebec government took a long time to set up and publicize alternative test sites, so that many high-risk donors turned to the clinics for HIV testing. At one of many sessions at the clinic at Berri de Montigny subway station, six in every 1,000 of blood donations tested HIV-positive. "The Recrudescence of Thalidomide" Chemical & Engineering News (09/19/94) Vol. 72, No. 38, P. 71 Thalidomide, which was developed in the 1950s to prevent nausea during pregnancy but was found to produce fetal limb abnormalities, has been found to inhibit replication of the AIDS virus and to heal canker sores in patients with AIDS and other conditions. It also eases erythema reactions in patients with leprosy; doctors treating leprosy patients in the United States can obtain thalidomide from the National Hansen's Disease Center. Also in the United States, Celgene Corp. has started Phase II testing of its Synovir brand of racemic thalidomide to treat weight loss in AIDS patients. "Human Rights as Critical as Condoms Against HIV" Journal of the American Medical Association (09/14/94) Vol. 272, No. 10, P. 758; Cotton, Paul While HIV prevention programs are useful, they neglect to consider "the societal dimension of vulnerability to HIV," says Dr. Jonathan Mann, director of the International AIDS Center at Harvard School of Public Health. He says that, not until there is a change for the greatest victims of discrimination--women, for example--will condoms and other measures be effective. Others agree, noting that populations which are not in control of their health, for status or financial reasons, are extremely vulnerable to infection. "Attacking poverty and discrimination may be the best way to prevent Asia from surpassing Africa in the extent of its HIV epidemic," says Dr. Michael Merson, executive director of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS. Merson says it is urgent to head off an infection explosion like that in Africa, where half of all current HIV infections occurred during the first five years of the epidemic. "Anonymous No More" Advocate (09/20/94) No. 664, P. 15 North Carolina health officials announced Aug. 5 that all people tested for HIV will be required to supply their names and addresses on a confidential basis. This decision, the outcome of a three-year battle, contradicts the recommendation of the state AIDS advisory council, which was worried that the change would deter people from being tested.