Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 09:36:30 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary April 25, 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 ************************************************************ "Treatment to Prevent Blindness With AIDS" "China Anti-AIDS Work Should Target Hotels--Expert" "Nationline: Duke Considers Run" "Thai AIDS Activist Revels in "Condom King" Tag" "An Unusual AIDS Patient" "Cell Genesys Reports First Quarter Results" "Topotecan Now Available for HIV, PML Research" "Injection Drug Users Come in All Stripes" "Screening for Active Tuberculosis in HIV Testing Centre" ************************************************************ "Treatment to Prevent Blindness With AIDS" New York Times (04/25/95) P. C5; Leary, Warren E. Preliminary study results reported in the April issues of the journal Ophthalmology and the American Journal of Ophthalmology show that injection of the drug cidofovir in tiny doses directly into the eye can control AIDS-related cytomegalovirus (CMV). The tests, which were conducted at the University of California at San Diego Medical School, indicate that the treatment offers long-term control of the virus without the adverse effects associated with currently available therapies. Principal investigator Dr. William R. Freeman said, "We are hopeful that this new treatment will prevent blindness and help patients maintain their quality of life." Gilead Sciences Inc. holds the rights to cidofovir in the United States. "China Anti-AIDS Work Should Target Hotels--Expert" Reuters (04/25/95) According to Wang Aixia, an AIDS expert at Capital Hospital in Beijing, China's anti-AIDS activities should include a crackdown on its massive urban hotel industry. "One can see from the way AIDS is spreading in China that hotel workers represent a relatively large proportion of urban AIDS sufferers and carriers of the virus," Wang explained. "What's more, most have been infected through sexual contact." Although Wang's report did not speculate as to why hotel workers might be more vulnerable to the virus, China's hotels are a major venue for prostitution. Wang has suggested that hotel workers undergo mandatory AIDS awareness testing and AIDS screening. "Nationline: Duke Considers Run" USA Today (04/25/95) P. 8A; Leavitt, Paul David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who also served as a Louisiana state representative, recently told The Advocate that people infected with AIDS should be tattooed in the genital area, "maybe even with glow-in-the-dark ink." Duke, who is currently considering running for governor, explained that the AIDS tattoos would serve as a warning to sexual partners. Duke also said he believed HIV was first transmitted when a human had sex with a monkey in Africa. "Thai AIDS Activist Revels in "Condom King" Tag" Reuters (04/24/95); Pastor, Rene Mechai Viravaidya, known as the "Condom King," has emerged as an activist in the fight against AIDS and social taboos against birth control in Thailand. During the late 1980's, HIV spread most commonly among drug users and prostitutes, leading to projections that the number of infected persons would near 4 million by 2000. Alarmed by these projections, Mechai joined the Thai government anti-AIDS efforts in 1991, urging the use of condoms and promoting AIDS education in the media and schools. Mechai's efforts reduced the projections to 1 million by 2000 in Thailand; however, the rate of infection in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines--especially in the brothels--has reached 100 percent, with projections for 2000 reaching 10,000 deaths per day. "It's a tragedy. More Asians will have died from AIDS 10 years from now than from all the wars of the last century. Other countries don't quite realize how hard they're going to get hit," Mechai states. "An Unusual AIDS Patient" Baltimore Sun (04/23/95) P. C1; Hare, Mary Gail Lisa Yingling, a 36-year-old retired Carroll County nurse, contracted HIV five years ago with the prick of a hypodermic needle and now tells her story to promote compassion and awareness for AIDS patients. As a heterosexual, married woman who does not use drugs, Yingling challenges the stereotype of the AIDS patient and warns that "you must consider that everyone you see has AIDS and take precautions." Following her initial prick with a bloody needle in 1990, Yingling's test results came back negative; however, when she was tested again in 1995 for a second exposure to the virus, her results were positive, indicating that she had been infected for some time. Compelled by the circumstances of her unusual situation, Yingling speaks at hospice training sessions, warning care givers to take precautions when handling body fluids and to offer kindness and solace to infected persons. Over the past 13 years, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has collected statistics reporting that, nationally, 10,122 health care workers have been identified as having AIDS. "Cell Genesys Reports First Quarter Results" PR Newswire (04/24/95) For the first quarter ended March 31, Cell Genesys, Inc. reported revenues of $1.5 million, compared with earnings of $3.9 million in the year-earlier quarter. Last year's revenues were higher because the company received a one-time licensing fee. Earnings in the first quarter of 1995, said the company, were largely attributable to its human monoclonal antibody program. Cell Genesys' research and development expenses were also higher this year, due to the hiring of additional research staffers and the use of new facilities in the company's human clinical trial for anti-HIV T cell gene therapy research. Increased activity at the Xenotech Division, which is conducting preclinical studies on human monoclonal antibodies, also caused R&D costs to escalate. Cell Genesys said that 15 patients have been enrolled in its Phase I/II clinical trial for anti-HIV T cell therapy to date. "Topotecan Now Available for HIV, PML Research" AIDS Treatment News (04/07/95) No. 220, P. 4 SmithKline Beecham's cancer drug, topotecan, will be made available to various outside scientists who are interested in studying its possible use in treating HIV or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Potential researchers must have their pre-clinical or clinical plans approved by the drug company, and must agree not to file for a use patent on the drug. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that topotecan has a potent anti-HIV effect. SmithKline Beecham, however, believes that the drug would be too toxic as AIDS or PML therapy. The company is testing derivatives to determine whether the toxicity and anti-HIV effect can be separated. "Injection Drug Users Come in All Stripes" American Medical News (04/17/95) Vol. 38, No. 15, P. 11; Hearn, Wayne All injection drug users do not fit the stereotype of a down-and-out street person. AIDS activists say that it is not uncommon for white-collar individuals to stop at inner-city needle-exchange sites for clean syringes. For this reason, practice-based physicians should, like their colleagues at emergency rooms and health departments--screen more patients for injection drug use. Identified users should be advised of the importance of addiction treatment and the value of risk reduction. And because the danger of shared needles is not confined to heroin and cocaine use, "doctors need to think about the safety of the injection itself, rather than the specific drugs that are injected," says Rev. Margaret Reinfeld, director of social and behavior research for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. "Screening for Active Tuberculosis in HIV Testing Centre" Lancet (04/08/95) Vol. 345, No. 8954, P. 890; Espinal, Marcos A.; Reingold, Arthur L.; Koenig, Ellen et al. Espinal et al. offered skin testing and a brief clinical examination for tuberculosis (TB) to people requesting HIV testing at the National Laboratory of Public Health, the largest HIV testing center in the Dominican Republic. They compared 200 newly diagnosed HIV-infected individuals to 200 age and sex-matched HIV-negative individuals. Of the 400 individuals seeking HIV testing, 39 had active TB; a total of 29 were infected with HIV and 10 were not. The strongest independent predictors of TB included at least 10mm of induration on skin testing, a history of chronic cough, lymphadenopathy, and infection with HIV. A total of 85 percent of the subjects diagnosed with TB had one or more symptoms readily ascertainable. The researchers concluded that screening for TB at HIV-testing centers could be an inexpensive and effective method of detecting active TB in both HIV-positive and HIV-negative people.