Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 09:46:18 +0500
From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com
Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 12/14/95


                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      December 14, 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


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"Baboon Bone Marrow Transplant to AIDS Patient Planned"
"Advocates for Young Sue New York City"
"Md. Firm Shares in Drug Tests on Cancer"
"U.S. Soldier Charged with Assault for Unprotected Sex"
"Suspect Arrested in Killing of Lesbian Activists"
"AIDS Vaccine 'Needs Focused Effort' as Drug Firms Back off
Research"
"Infectious Bite Treated as Bloodborne Transmission"
"Agenda: Respect Yourself"
************************************************************

"Baboon Bone Marrow Transplant to AIDS Patient Planned"
Reuters (12/14/95)
     Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco
(UCSF) and the University of Pittsburgh are scheduled to conduct
an experimental and controversial transplant of baboon bone
marrow into an AIDS patient today.  San Francisco General
Hospital spokeswoman Alice Trinkl said the infusion of bone
marrow cells will likely occur during the afternoon, as long as
patient Jeff Getty's preparation for the process goes as planned.
The researchers noted that this will be the first time a
xenotransplant has been attempted using the specific scientific
approach that has been approved for this trial.  The procedure is
being undertaken because baboons have been identified as
resistant to HIV-1, yet the transplant is also controversial
because of the risk that such operations could transmit
infections from animals to humans.  UCSF Assistant Professor
Steven Deeks stressed that even if the procedure is successful,
Getty will not be cured of HIV or AIDS.

"Advocates for Young Sue New York City"
New York Times (12/14/95) P. B1;  Bernstein, Nina
     Two advocacy groups for abused and neglected children--Children's
Rights Inc. and Lawyers for Children--filed a class action suit
on Wednesday, seeking a takeover of New York City's child welfare
agency by a court-appointed receiver.  The advocates claimed that
the death of six-year-old Elisa Izquierdo--who was beaten to
death in November despite reports to the child protection agency
that she was at risk--marked only the most recent failure of a
system filled with illegal practices, mismanagement, and
indifference to children.  The groups are requesting, on behalf
of more than 100,000 children, that a receiver be given complete
authority to restructure the Child Welfare Administration.  The
lawsuit's 11 representative plaintiffs include a five-year-old
girl in a similar situation to Izquierdo's, though she survived;
an orphaned 17-year-old boy dying of AIDS without adequate care;
and a two-year-old girl who has been the subject of
uninvestigated reports of neglect and abuse and who still lives
with her drug-abusing mother.

"Md. Firm Shares in Drug Tests on Cancer"
Baltimore Sun (12/13/95) P. 1C;  Guidera, Mark
     Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will finance biotechnology firm EntreMed
in a five-year joint research effort to study the use of
thalidomide as a cancer therapy.  Since its banning in 1962,
thalidomide has become popular again as a potential treatment for
several serious diseases, including AIDS, leprosy, and cancer.
This most recent look at the compound and several related
compounds will focus on developing drugs to treat breast,
prostate, and colon tumors by preventing the abnormal formation
of blood vessels that feed a tumor.  The collaboration faces
competition because most major pharmaceutical companies are
conducting similar research in angiogenesis, the role of blood
and blood vessels in health and disease.

"U.S. Soldier Charged with Assault for Unprotected Sex"
Reuters (12/13/95)
     The U.S. Army has filed assault charges against Specialist Kevin
Barrow of the 41st Engineer Battalion at Ft. Drum, N.Y. for
having unprotected sexual intercourse with a female soldier and
not disclosing his HIV-positive status to her.  According to army
spokesman Maj. Rudy Cohen, Barrows violated a Defense Department
safe sex policy which requires all military personnel who know
they are HIV-infected to abstain from sexual intercourse unless
they use a condom and inform their partners of their condition.
Cohen added that it was not clear whether Barrows' partner became
infected during the incident, and said that an investigation is
being conducted to determine whether anyone else has been
exposed.  There are currently some 434 HIV-positive soldiers in
the U.S. Army.  Recruits must be screened for HIV, and if
positive, cannot enlist.  Active duty soldiers are tested every
six months.  Individuals who test positive may continue on active
duty as long as they are healthy, though they are not deployed
for combat.

"Suspect Arrested in Killing of Lesbian Activists"
Reuters (12/13/95)
     Oregon police have arrested and charged a man with two counts of
aggravated murder in last week's killing of two lesbian
activists.  Robert James Acremant has been charged in the murders
of domestic partners Roxanna Ellis and Michelle Abdill, a
Medford, Ore., police officer said.  Civil rights activists were
outraged at the execution-style slaying of the women who
volunteered to help AIDS patients and were outspoken opponents to
several anti-gay rights initiatives in the state.

"AIDS Vaccine 'Needs Focused Effort' as Drug Firms Back off
Research"
Nature (11/23/95) Vol. 378, No. 6555, P. 323;  Butler, Declan
     There is a growing consensus that the scientific world
desperately needs to increase its AIDS vaccine development
efforts, a sentiment that is being propelled by the increasing
recognition that only a vaccine can stem the epidemic in
developing nations.  This need for a new vaccine strategy is
anticipated to be the primary thrust of a report on AIDS vaccine
research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which will
soon be released by its Office of AIDS Research (OAR).  Similar
conclusions are expected from discussions of a 'task force' on
vaccine research and development, which was established by the
European commissioner for research, Edith Cresson.  Many believe
that the OAR report will advise NIH to move beyond its role of
funding basic research and become a "discovery engine for the
concepts for the design of the vaccine," says the review's Dani
Bolognesi of Duke University.  It is said that the OAR review
panel has accepted criticisms of such projects as subunit
vaccines as those based on gp120 and gp160 antigens, and may
therefore recommend ending the method of "simply pushing ahead
and testing as you go along," according to OAR director William
Paul.  Paul asserts that a more coordinated approach to AIDS
vaccines is needed, though he notes that basic AIDS research
should not be forsaken for this.  Although some scientists do not
feel that developing an AIDS vaccine requires abandoning the
traditional vaccine development methods, most appear to agree
that it is now necessary to investigate a greater number of
research options.

"Infectious Bite Treated as Bloodborne Transmission"
AIDS Alert (12/95) Vol. 10, No. 12, P. 155
     The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will
not alter its guidelines for preventing transmission of the virus
that causes AIDS, despite having confirmed the first case of HIV
transmission through biting.  CDC spokeswoman Michelle Bonds
explains, "We are talking about blood-to-blood transmission.  If
you fixate on the route of transmission rather than what actually
occurred, it is rather misleading."  The CDC and Florida health
officials used DNA testing to confirm that an HIV-infected
Florida prostitute with bleeding gums infected an elderly man
after she bit him in three places.  Florida health authorities
have cautioned day care and health care workers to be aware of
the potential dangers of biting, but note that that route of
transmission is extremely unusual.  Meanwhile, HIV is also
present in very low levels in saliva, and the CDC notes that no
instances of such transmission have yet been documented.

"Agenda: Respect Yourself"
Advocate (12/26/95) No. 697, P. 12
     The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has
launched a new public-service-announcement campaign titled
"Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself."  The effort includes 12
television and seven radio commercials geared toward the
18-25-age group.  One ad featuring gay men shows a young
African-American man walking around New York City's West Village
with a young white man from the Midwest who says he never thought
he would be infected with HIV.  The announcements are the product
of a partnership between the CDC and community-based AIDS groups.
ACT UP Golden Gate member Edward Zold, who participated in the
collaboration, noted that the ads are very different from the
last group of public-service announcements, which did not mention
homosexual men.