Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:32:06 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary April 04, 1995 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 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Yeltsin Signs New Law on AIDS in Russia" "Isis Receives Notices of Allowance for Patents on Two Antisense Compounds in Clinical Development" "Washington Investing: Genetic Therapy Inc." "Tuberculosis Resurgent" "AIDS In Prison: Locked Up and Locked Out" "HIV Cellblock: 'It's a Condemnation to Hell'" "HIV Counseling and Testing--United States, 1993" "Lack of Exposure to HIV Bars Negligent-Infliction Suit" "Public Health Threats" "Prophylaxis Against Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia Among Children with Perinatally Acquired Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in the United States" ************************************************************ "Yeltsin Signs New Law on AIDS in Russia" Reuters (04/03/95) Russian President Boris Yeltsin has signed an AIDS law that requires foreigners planning long-term stays in the country to prove that they are HIV-negative. AIDS activists say the law is medically senseless and discriminatory. "Isis Receives Notices of Allowance for Patents on Two Antisense Compounds in Clinical Development" PR Newswire (04/03/95) Isis Pharmaceuticals has received notices of allowance for patents on ISIS 2922 and ISIS 2105, the company announced. ISIS 2922 is a selective antisense inhibitor of cytomegalovirus, a virus that causes retinal infections in 25-40 percent of AIDS patients. The compound, co-developed by Isis and Eisai Co., Ltd., is currently undergoing Phase III trials both alone and in combination with ganciclovir. ISIS 2105 is an antisense inhibitor of the human papillomavirus that causes genital warts, and is currently in Phase II clinical trials as an adjunct to cryotherapy. "Washington Investing: Genetic Therapy Inc." Washington Post (Business) (04/03/95) P. 31; Hinden, Stan Genetic Therapy Inc., the Gaithersburg, Md.-based biotech company, has experienced a 42.9 percent increase in the value of its shares since it won the exclusive right to commercialize a gene therapy technique it developed with the National Institutes of Health. The gene therapy technique has potential application in the treatment of cancer, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS. "Tuberculosis Resurgent" New York Times (04/03/95) P. A18 Tuberculosis (TB) will likely result in approximately 3 million deaths this year. While most of these deaths will occur in poor nations, a growing number of TB-related deaths are occurring in wealthy nations. The global resurgence of tuberculosis is being attributed in part to the underfinanced campaign designed to halt the disease, as well as an increased incidence of AIDS. The disease weakens the immune system, making patients more susceptible to TB infection. TB-control programs have been cited for their failure to administer the proper mix of drugs over the prolonged, six-month course of treatment. "AIDS In Prison: Locked Up and Locked Out" USA Today (03/31/95) P. 6A; Cauchon, Dennis According to an investigation by USA Today, prison inmates with AIDS are frequently discriminated against on the basis of their medical condition. They are often kept in prison longer than other inmates and are denied jobs, education, phone and visitation privileges, furloughs, and conjugal visits. The World Health Organization, the National Commission on AIDS, and other groups have all issued guidelines on the management of HIV in prisons, but these usually are not followed. Prison officials say their policies are intended to maintain order and to protect the health of HIV-positive prisoners. However, the National Commission on AIDS says, "Prisoners with HIV disease should be permitted to participate in all prison programs and jobs for which they are otherwise qualified." "HIV Cellblock: 'It's a Condemnation to Hell'" USA Today (03/31/95) P. 6A; Cauchon, Dennis AIDS activists typically identify the Alabama State Prison as the worst correctional facility for HIV-positive inmates because these prisoners are denied equal access to every program. Alabama is the only state, other than Mississippi, that segregates HIV prisoners from other prisoners. Alabama Associate Corrections Commissioner Tom Allen says this policy is intended to prevent the spread of AIDS. The state recently stopped providing prisoners with $1 per month, leaving many HIV inmates without the means to purchase items from the commissary--such as lotion to rub on the rashes common among AIDS patients. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state of Alabama for its treatment of inmates with HIV, but lost on the issue of segregation. The court has yet to decide on the issue of unequal treatment. "HIV Counseling and Testing--United States, 1993" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (03/10/95) Vol. 44, No. 9, P. 169 Counseling and testing are important parts of HIV-prevention programs in the United States. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia participated in CDC's 1993 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system, a state-specific population-based survey conducted annually for U.S. adults who are at least 18. About 25 percent of the respondents said that they had been tested for HIV separately from donating blood. In most of the reporting areas, at least half of the respondents were tested by their physicians, a private outpatient clinic, or a health maintenance organization. While approximately 60.7 percent of those tested at publicly funded sites received counseling with their tests, only 28.7 percent of the people tested in private settings received counseling with their test results. In 90 percent of the reporting areas, 1.5 times more people tested at publicly funded sites received counseling with their HIV test results than those tested at private sites. "Lack of Exposure to HIV Bars Negligent-Infliction Suit" National Law Journal (03/27/95) Vol. 17, No. 30, P. B15 On Feb. 10, the Supreme Court of Minnesota ruled that a plaintiff who fails to allege actual exposure to HIV is not in personal physical danger of contracting the virus. The plaintiff had sued her physician for emotional damages after learning that he had performed a gynecological exam on her while he was HIV-infected and had open sores on his hands and arms. A court of appeals reversed a district court ruling in favor of the defendant, holding that there was an actual question of whether the defendant had placed his patients in a "zone of danger." On appeal to the state supreme court, the plaintiff said that although she could not prove actual HIV exposure, it was possible that she was exposed to a body-fluid transfer and that her proximity to the doctor's HIV-infected body fluids placed her within the zone of danger. The court rejected her claim, holding that she was beyond the zone of danger for purposes of a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. A plaintiff must allege actual HIV exposure to establish a claim for emotional damages resulting from a fear of contracting AIDS, the court ruled. "Public Health Threats" Science (03/10/95) Vol. 267, No. 5203, P. 1427 In 1993, three new diseases--cryptosporidiosis, hantavirus disease, and hemolytic uremic syndrome--surged to prominence. These health threats, along with four more, have recently been added to the list of the more than 50 communicable diseases that are reported by states to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "What we're seeing is the constant evolution" of the list, matching the changes in diseases and the conditions that nourish them, says epidemiologist Ed Thompson, Mississippi's state health officer. State and local health officials, who are struggling with an increasing caseload of infections--particularly AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis--may not welcome the additions. Several diseases, however, including rheumatic fever, are expected to be removed from the list. "Prophylaxis Against Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia Among Children with Perinatally Acquired Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in the United States" New England Journal of Medicine (03/23/95) Vol. 332, No. 12, P. 786; Simonds, R.J.; Lindegren, Mary Lou; Thomas, Polly et al. Simonds et al. used national surveillance data to estimate the annual rate of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among children in the United States who are less than one year old. The researchers found that the incidence of PCP in such infants who were born to HIV-infected mothers changed little between 1989 and 1992. Of the 7,080 children born to HIV-positive mothers in 1992, 2.4 percent developed PCP. A total of 199 of the 300 children diagnosed with PCP between 1991 and 1993 had never received prophylaxis. During the three months prior to PCP diagnosis, the CD4 count in 129 children less than a year old dropped by an average 967 cells per cubic millimeter. Eighteen percent of the infants whose CD4 levels were determined within one month of diagnosis had at least 1500 cells--a level greater than the recommended threshold for prophylaxis. The researchers concluded that the incidence of PCP among HIV-positive infants in the United States has remained essentially the same. To prevent infection, HIV-exposed infants must be identified earlier and prophylaxis should be given to more children than the guidelines currently recommend.