Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 02/28/95
From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/[email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 09:24:25 +0500

AIDS Daily Summary
                      February 28, 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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"On Tour, Louganis Welcomes Support"
"Promising Tests Reported for New TB Vaccine"
"Technology & Telecommunications: Barr Laboratories Inc."
"New Picture of Who Will Get AIDS Is Crammed with Addicts"
"Swimming Pools Don't Pose Risk of AIDS"
"Across the USA: Florida/New York"
"Hemophiliacs See Betrayal"
"H.I.V.-Positive and Careless"
"Tepid Endorsement for HIV Vaccine Trial"
"GAO Report Cites Barriers to AIDS/HIV Care"
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"On Tour, Louganis Welcomes Support"
Washington Post (02/28/95) P. E5;  Weiszer, Marc
     On Monday, diver Greg Louganis used the term "unbelievable" to
describe public response to his disclosure that he has AIDS.
"I've been really overwhelmed by the last few days," said
Louganis, who is on a 13-city tour to promote his autobiography,
"Breaking the Surface."  When asked if he wished he had revealed
his HIV status to the doctors who treated him after he struck his
head on the board at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Louganis said
"hindsight is 20-20."  Since the announcement last week, however,
Park Seh Jik, the Seoul Olympic organizing committee chairman;
Gunnar Werner, the secretary of FINA, swimming and diving's world
governing body; and a member of the Canadian national diving team
have criticized Louganis for not disclosing his illness before he
competed.  Related Story: Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition
(02/28) P. B10

"Promising Tests Reported for New TB Vaccine"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (02/28/95) P. A1;  Maugh
II, Thomas H.
     Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles
(UCLA) have developed a prototype vaccine that prevents
tuberculosis (TB) in animals that they say has great potential
for use in humans.  Because the new vaccine contains no live
bacteria, it has many advantages over BCG, the existing vaccine.
BCG is not generally used in the United States because it poses a
major health risk to AIDS patients and others with compromised
immune systems, and because it interferes with public health
programs for tracking TB infections.  Dr. Marcus A. Horowitz and
his colleagues at the UCLA School of Medicine said the new
vaccine, which is based on purified proteins from BCG, is at
least as effective as the current vaccine in preventing TB in
guinea pigs, but should have none of BCG's risks.  Horowitz said
he hopes to begin human trials of the vaccine in as little as two
years.  Related Story: USA Today (02/28) P. 1D

"Technology & Telecommunications: Barr Laboratories Inc."
Wall Street Journal (02/28/95) P. B5
     Barr Laboratories Inc. has announced FDA marketing approval for
its generic version of AZT, assuming the company resolves patent
disputes.  Barr must wait until Burroughs Wellcome Co.'s patents
for AZT expire in 2005, or manage to overturn them in court.
Related Story: Investor's Business Daily (02/28) P. A9

"New Picture of Who Will Get AIDS Is Crammed with Addicts"
New York Times (02/28/95) P. C3;  Kolata, Gina
     A new study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has found that almost 75 percent of the 40,000
new HIV infections last year were among drug addicts.  Although
many of the addicts are intravenous drug users, an increasing
number are crack cocaine addicts who are contracting HIV through
unprotected sex, often with multiple partners.  "Maybe as much as
half of the new infections among heterosexuals are occurring in
relation to crack cocaine," said Dr. Scott Holmberg, a CDC
epidemiologist who conducted the study.  Experts warn that the
data do no mean that the virus is no longer a threat to Americans
who do not use drugs, and stress that men and women should
practice safe sex.  Dr. Don C. Des Jarlais, an AIDS expert who
directs the chemical dependency unit at Beth Israel Medical
Center in New York, said the fear of telling the truth about the
epidemic is "one reason we have our priorities so out of order."
Two years ago, Des Jarlais argued that attempts to fight the
epidemic should have a tighter focus.  Des Jarlais also said that
it is critical that "legal access to sterile needles should be
implemented on a nationwide basis."

"Swimming Pools Don't Pose Risk of AIDS"
Washington Post (Health) (02/28/95) P. 5;  Squires, Sally
     Public health officials say that the risk of contracting AIDS
from swimming pools is virtually nonexistent.  "We have over
440,000 persons reported with AIDS in the United States since the
epidemic began, and none of those have been associated with
exposure to pools or any other sports-related contact," said John
W. Ward, chief of HIV/AIDS Surveillance for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.  Ward said that, similarly to
household bleach, chlorine also inactivates HIV.  He added that
the divers and swimmers who were in the pool after diver Greg
Louganis' accident during the 1988 Summer Olympics were not at
risk.

"Across the USA: Florida/New York"
USA Today (02/28/95) P. 6A
     In Jacksonville, Fla., three patients treated at the University
Medical Center last weekend received prank phone calls, telling
them they had tested HIV-positive.  And in Albany, N.Y.,
thousands of people converged on the Capitol.  One group of
protesters sought additional money for AIDS treatment.

"Hemophiliacs See Betrayal"
Richmond Times-Dispatch (02/27/95) P. A1
     A class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago claims
that four drug companies knowingly distributed blood clotting
products that were tainted with HIV.  The lawsuit also states
that the National Hemophilia Foundation, a research and
information group partly financed by blood-product manufacturers,
misled the public about the severity of the AIDS threat.  The
defendants claim they acted properly, and that blood was screened
for HIV as soon as the test was available in 1985.  "We thought
we did a pretty good job but, in retrospect, it didn't stop an
enormous tragedy from occurring," said Susan Herschel, an
attorney for Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. and its Armour
Pharmaceutical Co. subsidiary.  Last August, a group representing
HIV-infected hemophiliacs and their survivors rejected a $160
million settlement offer from Rhone-Poulenc and Baxter
International Inc.

"H.I.V.-Positive and Careless"
New York Times (02/26/95) P. 15;  Signorile, Michelangelo
     These days, there are many reports about the breakdown in safe
sex among gay men, writes Michelangelo Signorile in an op-ed
column in the New York Times.  The reports are not surprising,
Signorile writes, because he himself has engaged in unsafe sex
and is now uncertain about his HIV status, but scared of being
tested.  He questions the message that most AIDS organizations
have been sending.  They have refused to focus on the specific
responsibilities of HIV-infected men, and they have not been
alert to the needs of HIV-negative men, who often feel guilty
because they are still healthy and are in denial about their
vulnerability.  "A lot of the politics of it have been about a
fear of stigmatizing positive people.  It's an attempt to
equalize all people in this fight, but it's a lie, because those
of us who are infected have very different responsibilities that
those who are not infected," said AIDS activist Greg Scott.
Signorile feels he owes it to himself and his partners to know
his HIV status.  If positive, he has a responsibility not to put
others at risk, and to understand that not all HIV-negative
people are able to cope with the responsibilities of safer sex.
The gay community has the power to change the course of the AIDS
epidemic as it faces the challenge and changes the things that are
in its control, concludes Signorile.

"Tepid Endorsement for HIV Vaccine Trial"
Science (02/17/95) Vol. 267, No. 5200, P. 966
     An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
recently decided that although the vaccine made by the Immune
Response Corporation (IRC) holds limited promise, it is safe
enough to use in a three-year study involving more than 3,000
participants.  The vaccine--the brainchild of Jonas Salk, the
developer of the polio vaccine--is a whole, killed version of HIV
minus its surface protein.  The IRC scientists and researchers
told the panel how the vaccine had boosted the immune system and
decreased HIV levels of patients in small-scale studies.  Many
panel members, however, were skeptical.  "My instincts tell me it
will not show efficacy," said virologist Stanley Lemon of the
University of North Carolina.  The committee finally approved the
trial because the vaccine does not appear to produce serious side
effects.

"GAO Report Cites Barriers to AIDS/HIV Care"
Nation's Health (02/95) Vol. 25, No. 2, P. 3
     Although women, minorities, and injection drug users appear to
have good access to federally funded AIDS and HIV support
services, some barriers exist when those populations seek care, a
General Accounting Office report found.  Substance abuse and
homelessness were the greatest barriers reported to researchers
who surveyed workers and patients in clinics across the country
that receive Ryan White Care Act funds.  The researchers reported
overall good access and use of Ryan White funded mental-health
services, housing services, case management, transportation,
primary care, and counseling, according to "Ryan White Care Act:
Access to Services by Minorities, Women, and Substance Abusers."
In some cases, women, minorities, and drug users took advantage
of medical and support services at higher rates than the general
HIV-infected population.

THE END.