Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 09:08:59 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary February 16, 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 ************************************************************ "Reports Back Needle Exchange Programs" "HIV-Positive Dad Gets Daughters for Overnight Visits" "Wellcome Forecasts Sales Increase" "Michigan Senate OKs AIDS Assault Measure" "No Data Have Proved that HIV Causes AIDS" "Gensia and Armour Pharmaceutical Co. Sign Distribution Agreement for Pentamidine" "Project Open Hand Producing 11th Annual AIDS Bike-A-Thon" "Substance Abuse and Boundaries" "3d-Party AIDS Victim Can Sue Doctor" "Japan to Open First AIDS Clinic" ************************************************************ "Reports Back Needle Exchange Programs" Washington Post (02/16/95) P. A6; Schwartz, John Although government scientists have recommended that the Clinton administration lift the ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs, the administration has not acted upon the proposal. Two reports by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that needle exchange programs help reduce the spread of blood-borne infections, and that they do not lead to increased drug abuse. The Department of Health and Human Services, however, has not made the reports public and the administration has not tried to lift the ban on funding. Advocates of needle-exchange programs argue that they reduce the transmission of AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases that can be transmitted via shared needles. Since 1988, when Congress first banned federal funding for such programs, authorizing legislation for a number of drug abuse and anti-AIDS programs has included similar bans. The California study, released in October 1993, concluded that it was "likely" that needle exchange programs reduce the rate of new HIV-infection, and that there was "no evidence" that the programs increase the amount of drug use in the communities they serve. "HIV-Positive Dad Gets Daughters for Overnight Visits" Washington Times (02/16/95) P. C4; Seigle, Greg A Prince George's County, Md., Circuit Court judge ruled on Wednesday that David Kevin North can have his three daughters visit him and his lover every other weekend at the couple's home. Both North and his lover are HIV-positive. The girls live with their mother, who testified that she did not want her children exposed to her ex-husband's homosexual lifestyle or to HIV. During the six-day hearing, Mrs. North said that North could not be trusted because he had unprotected sex with her for at least two months after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1991. North said he hopes his former wife will let the children go to counseling because "they really need a third party...someone to talk to." "Wellcome Forecasts Sales Increase" Financial Times (02/16/95) P. 22; Green, Daniel; Lewis, William Wellcome released sales projections on Wednesday which Chairman and CEO John Robb said "confirm that Glaxo's bid undervalues the company." Wellcome predicted that the AIDS drug Retrovir would recover from its declining sales due to new applications in combination with other drugs. Some of the projections exceeded analysts' estimates, and a few of Wellcome's assumptions--particularly that Retrovir's price and dosage will remain the same--have been questioned. Wellcome has also assumed that Retrovir will not receive over-the-counter approval in the United States, although such approval is crucial to its joint venture with Warner-Lambert. "Michigan Senate OKs AIDS Assault Measure" Chicago Tribune (02/15/95) P. 1-3 Legislation approved in the Michigan Senate on Tuesday states that a person convicted of criminal sexual conduct could be imprisoned for an additional three years if they knew at the time that they were infected with HIV. The bill, which was passed 36-0, now goes to the House. Last session, the bill passed in the Senate but not the House. The proposed law, which would not take effect until Oct. 1 and would apply to offenses after that date, would apply in cases of sexual penetration and exposure to body fluids. "No Data Have Proved that HIV Causes AIDS" Wall Street Journal (02/16/95) P. A15; Ellner, Michael The Wall Street Journal failed to report the evidence that prompted Michael Murphy, publisher of the newsletter Overpriced Stock Service, to conclude that HIV does not cause AIDS and that AZT kills those who take it, writes the Rev. Dr. Michael Ellner in a letter to the editors of that paper. Ellner is the president of the Health Education AIDS Liaison (HEAL). Murphy's equation of scientific opinion with fact insults Dr. Peter Duesberg, Ellner contends. It also mocks the many dedicated health activists, physicians/scientists, journalists, and people of conscience throughout the world who are working to alert the public to fake science that supposedly shows that HIV causes AIDS, and the medicine it engenders. NIH's Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Ellner predicts, is going to crash as soon as independent researchers examine the lack of scientific evidence and the true "benefits" of AZT. "Gensia and Armour Pharmaceutical Co. Sign Distribution Agreement for Pentamidine" PR Newswire (02/15/95) Gensia Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Armour Pharmaceutical Co. to market generic pentamidine isethionate in the United States. The drug will be sold by Gensia Laboratories Ltd. under the brand name Pentacarinat. Pentamidine isethionate is a medication for pneumonia due to Pneumocystis carinii bacteria, a frequent complication in immunocompromised patients--such as those with cancer or AIDS. David F. Hale, Gensia's chairman, president, and chief executive, said, "We believe Pentacarinat represents a significant marketing opportunity for Gensia Laboratories." "Project Open Hand Producing 11th Annual AIDS Bike-A-Thon" PR Newswire (02/15/95) Project Open Hand announced on Wednesday that the 11th annual AIDS Bike-A-Thon will be held Saturday, May 13. Once again, bikers will have the choice of four routes: 12 miles, 25 miles, 63 miles, or 100 miles. The two shorter routes tour San Francisco, while the longer ones extend from San Francisco to Marin or Sonoma counties. Project Open Hand has been greatly involved with Bike-A-Thon since 1987. "We are excited to be carrying on the tradition of the AIDS Bike-A-Thon and look forward to a great turnout," said Tom Nolan, executive director of Project Open Hand. Each month, Project Open Hand provides more than 2,000 men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS in San Francisco and Alameda counties with free, comprehensive nutrition services. "Substance Abuse and Boundaries" Focus (01/95) Vol. 10, No. 2, P. 8; Shernoff, M.; Springer, E. By providing therapy to HIV-infected, chemically dependent individuals, counselors can enrich the quality of their lives and work, establish priorities, and develop profoundly intimate relationships in the midst of pain, suffering, and sadness. "Substance Abuse and AIDS: Report From the Front Lines," by Shernoff and Springer is a commentary on such relationships, with insights into balancing feelings, professional objectivity, and the need to remain emotionally accessible to clients. For example, effective, client-specific counseling requires overcoming countertransference, as well as breaking down some traditional barriers. While crying in the presence of clients may be considered "inappropriate" in traditional counseling settings, such emotional displays may benefit both HIV-infected chemically dependent clients and their counselors. "3d-Party AIDS Victim Can Sue Doctor" National Law Journal (02/13/95) Vol. 17, No. 24, P. A10 On Jan. 26, California's Second District Court of Appeal ruled that because 22-year-old Daniel Reisner was infected with HIV by a young woman who was not warned that she had received a contaminated blood transfusion, he can sue her physician and her hospital. The decision revives a suit dismissed on the ground that the defendants owed no duty to someone they did not know existed. Although the hospital learned the blood was tainted with HIV the day after her transfusion, neither Jennifer Lawson nor her parents were told for the next five years, during which time she became intimate with a boyfriend. She learned the truth and informed Reisner one month before she died of AIDS in 1990. Reisner tested HIV-positive and sued for negligence. The court labeled Reisner a "foreseeable if not readily identifiable victim." The court noted that he does not claim that the defendants should have warned him, only that Lawson should have been warned so that the foreseeable injury might have been avoided. "Japan to Open First AIDS Clinic" Nature Medicine (02/95) Vol. 1, No. 2, P. 104; Hannay, Timo Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Science will open Japan's first clinical department specializing in treatment of AIDS. The new department will be part of the institute's hospital, not its research division. Both clinical care and basic research, however, will be combined. The lack of institutes that combine clinical treatment with basic research is frequently seen as a fundamental weakness of the Japanese medical system. The institute's professors have chosen Chikao Morimoto--a Japanese associate professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School--as the new department head. During his 15 years at Harvard, Morimoto conducted research on the glycoproteins expressed on the surface of human T cells and their role in T-cell activation and clinical disease. Some members of the Japanese AIDS patient community were outraged at the appointment of a researcher rather than a clinician, although Morimoto is a medical doctor. Shigetaka Asano, director of the Tokyo Institute's hospital, explained that the knowledge gained from basic immunological research like Morimoto's will be essential in developing new clinical treatments for AIDS.