Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 09:39:09 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary April 4, 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 Strict Legislation Barring Foreigners with HIV" "Earliest AIDS Case Is Called into Doubt" "U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Firing of HIV-Infected Doctor" "Microbe Called Threat to Drinking Water" "Brudnoy Takes AIDS Story to Conservative Journal" "Celebrities Have Abandoned the AIDS Ribbon" "Survey Finds Students at Risk for STDs" "Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Patients in Zaire" "Transfusion-Associated Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 from Screened Antibody-Negative Blood Donors" "AIDS Case Leads to NYU Ban" ************************************************************ "Yeltsin Signs Strict Legislation Barring Foreigners with HIV" USA Today (04/04/95) P. 10A On Monday, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed into law a measure requiring foreigners to test HIV-negative if they wish to visit the country for more than three months. Foreign residents who test HIV-positive will be deported. Beginning Aug. 1, the law also requires mandatory HIV testing for prisoners and people in certain lines of work. The new law increases the number of foreigners who would be covered by Soviet-era legislation that required mandatory testing of some foreign residents, particularly African students. Related Stories: Investor's Business Daily (04/04) P. A1; New York Times (04/04) P. A14; Wall Street Journal (04/04) P. A1; Baltimore Sun (04/04) P. 3A "Earliest AIDS Case Is Called into Doubt" New York Times (04/04/95) P. C1; Altman, Lawrence K. New evidence shows that what was believed to be the earliest known case of AIDS may not have been the disease after all. Examination of stored tissue samples taken from David Carr, a man who died in 1959 from mysterious symptoms, prompted two University of Manchester doctors in 1990 to attribute the symptoms to AIDS. When Dr. David Ho, head of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City, recently tested the samples, he could only isolate HIV from one sample that had been sent to him. Additional tests showed the tissues sent to Ho were from at least two people. In Ho's opinion, there is no longer proof that Carr died of AIDS. Although University of Manchester officials reject Ho's findings, the university is planning further investigations. "U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Firing of HIV-Infected Doctor" Baltimore Sun (04/04/95) P. 2B On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that a Maryland hospital acted correctly when it fired an HIV-infected doctor who refused to end his surgical practice. A panel of the court unanimously agreed with U.S. District Judge John R. Hargrove's decision to throw out the doctor's lawsuit against the University of Maryland Medical System Corp. The appeals court said that "Dr. Doe" posed a significant risk because of the possibility that he could be cut during surgery and bleed into a patient's wound. The doctor was halfway through a six-year neurosurgery residency program in January 1992 when he was stuck with a needle while treating a patient who may have been HIV-positive. After the doctor tested positive for the virus, the hospital suspended him from surgical practice and offered him alternative residencies. The doctor was dismissed after he refused the positions and demanded to be reinstated with surgical privileges. "Microbe Called Threat to Drinking Water" Washington Post (Health) (04/04/95) P. 15; Garrett, Laurie Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Carol Browner last week called for a new public and private effort to protect American drinking water from the cryptosporidium parasite and other threats. Browner's announcement was prompted by a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that shows the microscopic parasite to be extremely infectious, even in small doses. There is no drug or treatment for the gastrointestinal disease it causes, called cryptosporidiosis. Although infections in healthy adults usually last 10 days, the disease can cause up to two months of diarrhea. In people with weakened immune systems, such as AIDS patients, the parasite can cause fatal gastrointestinal disease. Browner called for further research on the organism and methods of detecting it. A special EPA task group has been established to determine what should be done about cryptosporidium. Currently, people with AIDS, cancer patients, and other immunodeficient individuals are advised to drink bottled or home-filtered water because the parasite is unaffected by chlorine, the major disinfectant used in drinking water in the United States. "Brudnoy Takes AIDS Story to Conservative Journal" Boston Globe (04/03/95) P. 15; Bai, Matt In an article titled "Positively HIV" in the current issue of William F. Buckley Jr.'s conservative journal National Review, commentator David Brudnoy chronicles his fight against AIDS. Brudnoy also discusses his decision to talk openly about his sexuality. Although Brudnoy has publicly discussed his story, his article is likely to provoke a debate between the National Review and many of its readers. He has written for the journal since 1968, even though, as he says in his article, "this journal has been less than cordial on the subject of HIV and to those infected with it." David Klinghoffer, the National Review's literary editor, says he was interested in the firsthand account because Brudnoy had an experience that was unique among the magazine's writers. "Celebrities Have Abandoned the AIDS Ribbon" Baltimore Sun (04/04/95) P. 3D; Robinson, Gaile Many celebrities have stopped wearing the red ribbon that symbolizes AIDS awareness. For example, Jeremy Irons, the first celebrity to wear the ribbon at the 1992 Tony Awards in New York, no longer wears it. The AIDS ribbon was only a passing fashion trend for some people, says Michael Anketell, chairman of California Fashion Friends of AIDS Project Los Angeles. He has recently heard excuses including, "It doesn't match my gown" from past wearers. Others say the red ribbon has gotten lost among the other ribbons--pink for breast cancer and lavender for abused women. For those closest to the cause, however, the ribbon has become a painful reminder of a disease with no cure and no signs of abatement. "The ribbon just doesn't have the meaning it once had," adds Anketell. "Survey Finds Students at Risk for STDs" Washington Post (Health) (04/04/95) P. 7; Boodman, Sandra G. A recent survey of 1,000 female college students conducted by the American Social Health Association found that nearly one quarter of them has never had a pelvic exam. While 85 percent said they were sexually active, almost 50 percent said they did not use a form of contraception, such as a condom, which would protect them from sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. The survey also found that 25 percent of the women had been forced to have sex at least once. "Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Patients in Zaire" New England Journal of Medicine (03/23/95) Vol. 332, No. 12, P. 779; Perriens, Joseph H.; St. Louis, Michael E.; Mukadi, Yiadiul B. et al. Perriens et al. compared the efficacy of a short-course regimen of chemotherapy among HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in Kinshasa, Zaire. All pulmonary TB patients, both HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative, were treated with rifampin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol for two months. HIV-infected patients who showed no signs of TB were given either rifampin and isoniazid or a placebo for another six months. After six months, 3.8 percent of the HIV-seropositive group and 2.7 of the HIV-seronegative group experienced treatment failure. After 24 months, 1.9 of the HIV-seropositive patients receiving extended treatment relapsed--compared to 9 percent among the HIV-seropositive patients who received placebos for the second six months. Just over 5 percent of the HIV-seronegative patients relapsed. The researchers concluded that extending treatment from six to 12 months in HIV-seropositive patients with pulmonary TB reduces the rate of relapse but does not increase survival. When resources are limited, a short-term antituberculosis treatment programs may be an acceptable alternative. "Transfusion-Associated Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 from Screened Antibody-Negative Blood Donors" Journal of the American Medical Association (03/22/95-03/29/95) Vol. 273, No. 12, P. 902s Recently, the U.S. Army blood donor/recipient "lookback" program identified two cases of HIV-1 infection that resulted from a screened negative donation. Sequential donation samples were tested by five Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved HIV-1 screening enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays. The HIV-1 p24 antigen and genomic RNA material were found in a donation that had been screened as negative by four of the five FDA-licensed tests. Two recipients of products from this donation became infected with HIV. A sample from a previous donation from this donor tested HIV-1-negative by all the assays. Current screening methods, however, may not detect blood donors who are in the early stages of HIV-1 infection. Although this is unusual, it emphasizes the need for technologic developments in screening methods to reduce the time between infection and detection. It also highlights the need for more effective education and counseling to enhance the utility of self-deferral. "AIDS Case Leads to NYU Ban" National Law Journal (03/27/95) Vol. 17, No. 30, P. A4 The New York office of Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm, was barred from on-campus interviews at New York University (NYU) for one year after the law school placement committee learned of a settlement the firm reached with the estate of a now-deceased former associate. Geoffrey F. Bowers was fired in 1986 after he began showing signs of AIDS. Last April, the placement committee decided to ban the law firm if it lost an appeal of a discrimination finding by the New York state Division of Human Rights. The firm withdrew the appeal and negotiated a confidential settlement. Because the appeal was withdrawn, NYU based its decision of violation of the school's non-discrimination policy on the earlier ruling.