Date: Fri, 25 Aug 1995 09:37:49 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 08/25/95 AIDS Daily Summary August 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 ************************************************************ "Treating STDs and Reducing AIDS Risk" "Ex-Convict Fights Time to Clear Name" "Procept Begins Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in HIV-Positive Patients; Company-Sponsored Trial Will Evaluate Activity of Lead HIV Therapeutic" "French Holidaymakers Take to Carrying Condoms" "Interferon Sciences Completes Public Offering" "Should the FDA Approve the Home HIV Test?" "Guidelines for Management of HIV Infection with Computer-Based Patient's Record" "Depression in Low HIV Prevalence Areas" ************************************************************ "Treating STDs and Reducing AIDS Risk" Washington Post (08/25/95) P. A8 Researchers working in Tanzania report that treating individuals for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhea significantly reduces their risk of becoming infected with HIV. Villagers who were treated for STDs were approximately 40 percent less likely to contract HIV than villagers whose STDs were not treated, the physicians report in the current issue of The Lancet. Professor David Mabey of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine noted that because they were not using the most effective drugs, "there might have been an even bigger effect if we had." Mabey warned, however, that the $7.50 to $15 cost per treatment could exclude many countries if aid agencies did not help out. "Ex-Convict Fights Time to Clear Name" Miami Herald (08/24/95) P. 2B; Greene, Ronnie Twelve years ago, after three trials, a jury found Christopher Clugston guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Last year, however, Fla. Gov. Lawton Chiles commuted Clugston's sentence, noting the inconsistent statements of an eyewitness, the recantations by Clugston's co-defendant and that person's wife, and no physical evidence linking him to the murder, among other factors. However, Clugston remains a convicted felon, unable to enter the state of Florida without the express permission of the clemency board. Clugston, who is HIV-positive, is now trying to clear his name. Coughing frequently, he recently told reporters that he contracted the virus when other inmates gang-raped him at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. Clugston explained that he just wants to have his good name back, to own a cabin in the woods, and to take walks with his dog. "Procept Begins Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in HIV-Positive Patients; Company-Sponsored Trial Will Evaluate Activity of Lead HIV Therapeutic" Business Wire (08/24/95) Procept, Inc. has launched a Phase I/II clinical trial for its drug PRO 2000, a potential treatment for HIV-1 infection which specifically targets the CD4 protein on the surface of the human cell. The dose-escalating trial will assess the safety, tolerability, and antiviral activity of PRO 2000. In vitro preclinical studies indicate that the drug blocked the binding of the glycoprotein gp120, which is found of HIV-1's surface, to the CD4 protein. Procept theorizes that PRO 2000 may act as a molecular barrier to keep HIV from infecting vital immune system cells, such as T cells and macrophages. "French Holidaymakers Take to Carrying Condoms" Reuters (08/24/95) A new survey reveals that one in four French holidaymakers always carries a condom for fear of contracting HIV from casual sex. "Fear has not killed off love on holidays," the weekly Paris Match said regarding the poll that it published. This year's total is more than two times the number found in a similar poll four years ago. The most likely vacationers to have condoms were between the ages of 18 and 24, with more than 40 percent always having one, compared to 23 percent in 1991. A total of 83 percent of the women polled said they required one-time sexual partners to use a condom, up from 62 percent four years ago. Despite an aggressive information campaign about the risks of AIDS and HIV, France has the greatest number of AIDS cases in Europe. Paris authorities have hung posters across the city telling tourists in a number of languages how to ask for a box of condoms in French. "Interferon Sciences Completes Public Offering" Business Wire (08/24/95) Interferon Sciences Inc. has sold 10,706,480 shares of common stock for more than $12.8 million, excluding expenses and fees. The sales were made pursuant to a best efforts public offering of between 6,500,000 and 12,000,000 shares of common stock at $1.20 per share. The remaining shares may be purchased until the offering ends on Sept. 13. The biopharmaceutical company is involved in the manufacture and sale of ALFERON N Injection, which is approved for the treatment of certain kinds of genital warts and is being developed for the possible treatment of HIV and hepatitis C. "Should the FDA Approve the Home HIV Test?" Health (09/95) Vol. 9, No. 5, P. 20; Bayer, Ronald; Portelli, Christopher The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is deliberating approval of a home HIV test, in which people would draw a sample of blood from a finger, send it to a laboratory for analysis, and then call in about a week later for the results. Columbia University professor Ronald Bayer feels that the FDA should approve the test. He argues that because nearly "60 percent of those at high risk for HIV have not been tested,...the home kit is our best alternative." Bayer acknowledges that the opportunity for in-person counseling is lost with the home test, but he reasons that not everyone receives extensive counseling anyway. Christopher Portelli of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association counters that home HIV test kits should not receive FDA approval because it is not a good idea for anyone to receive their HIV status over the phone. Even if the person tests negative, he "could hang up before hearing how to avoid HIV." Although Bayer claims that low-income, high-risk individuals would use the test, Portelli says the $30-$40 price tag is geared toward middle- and upper-class, low-risk persons. He concludes that selling the test to persons of all ages, such as teenagers, is "irresponsible," although Bayer contends that "if you're old enough to have sex, you're old enough to know your HIV status." "Guidelines for Management of HIV Infection with Computer-Based Patient's Record" Lancet (08/05/95) Vol. 346, No. 8971, P. 341; Safran, Charles; Rind, David M.; Davis, Roger B. et al. Safran et al. studied more than 100 physicians and nurse practitioners to determine the efficacy of electronic medical records when used for HIV patients. The scientists examined the clinicians' response times to the situations that caused alerts and reminders, the number of ambulatory visits, and hospitalization. They found that the average response time to the 388 alerts in the control group was 52 days, while the intervention group's median response time to 303 alerts was 11 days. The average response times to 432 reminders in the intervention group and 360 reminders in the control group were 114 days and more than 500 days, respectively. Although the system had no effect or difference on visits to the primary care practice; admission rates; admissions for pneumocystosis; visits to the emergency room; or survival, there was a dramatic increase in the number of visits outside of the primary care practice--which is due to an increased rate of opthalmology visits. Overall, the researchers concluded that computer medical records helped clinicians treating HIV patients adopt new practice guidelines more rapidly and more thoroughly. "Depression in Low HIV Prevalence Areas" Focus (08/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 8 A new study by Perkins et al. reveals that serious depression is common among both seronegative and asymptomatic homosexual men in a region of low HIV prevalence. The researchers in the Coping in Health and Illness Project in North Carolina found that 8 percent of the HIV-infected subjects experienced major depression at the time of the study, while 3 percent of the uninfected subjects were depressed. The overall lifetime prevalence of such depression was 29 percent for the infected group and 45 percent for the uninfected group. In addition, there was a 2 percent prevalence of major depression in the general population, with a lifetime total of 3 percent.