Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 09:28:06 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 06/22/95 AIDS Daily Summary June 22, 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 ************************************************************ "Gay Leaders Join Giuliani for Breakfast" "New Cautions About Tap Water" "Agouron Pharmaceuticals Fills Its Pipeline" "Australia's Governor-General Sparks Gay Debate" "Japan's Hijack Drama Ends with No Clue to Motive" "Federal Funding for HIV/AIDS in Jeopardy?" "Rifampicin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis" "New Study Looks at Nutrition, Diet, and Exercise in AIDS" "Under Surveillance: Los Alamos" ************************************************************ "Gay Leaders Join Giuliani for Breakfast" New York Times (06/22/95) P. B3; Dunlap, David W. New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani met with 125 gay and lesbian New Yorkers for breakfast at Gracie Mansion on Wednesday. Giuliani said that he would take part in Sunday's Lesbian and Gay Pride March, as well as the St. Patrick's Day Parade--from which the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization is excluded. The mayor also said that it was "a top priority" to find a school chancellor who would follow previous policies in safe-sex education, condom distribution, and a multicultural education. Other talk focused on the City Division of AIDS Services, anti-gay violence, and the continually unsuccessful attempts to pass a statewide gay civil-rights bill. "New Cautions About Tap Water" New York Times (06/22/95) P. C2; Wald, Matthew L. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that tap water that is safe enough for healthy individuals could be dangerous for immunocompromised persons. This echoes what advocates for people with AIDS and others have said for some time, but it also raises questions about what, specifically, people with weakened immune systems should do. Options include boiling water for one minute, bottled water, and filters that can be installed at the tap. "You're safer with distilled bottled water," said Gary R. Rose, a treatment and research representative at the AIDS Action Council in Washington. Rose and others noted that while some bottled water can carry cryptosporidium and other contaminants, distillation--boiling water into steam and then condensing it back into water--kills the parasite. According to NSF International (formerly the National Sanitation Foundation), bottled water from reverse-osmosis plants also does not contain the parasite. Water filters that stop cryptosporidium are expensive, costing from $20 up to $500. The government has said that "among the most effective" are those employing reverse osmosis. Consumers should look for filters labeled "absolute one micron." "Agouron Pharmaceuticals Fills Its Pipeline" Investor's Business Daily (06/22/95) P. A1; Mencke, Claire At a meeting of the New York Society of Securities Analysts on Wednesday, Peter Johnson--chief executive of Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc.--said his company saw the need to improve productivity at the beginning of the drug research process. The San Diego-based company has several products in the works, including an anti-AIDS agent and a molecule that could reveal the cure for the common cold. Johnson also said that Agouron may work with the developer of another AIDS drug on creating a combination-drug therapy for further testing. The company, however, faces several problems, including the changing nature of the diseases that Agouron's drugs will treat, such as HIV; the competition with other similar companies; and the changing drug therapy market. To date, the 10-year-old drug maker does not have a product on the market. Some of the company's best results are against HIV. AG1343, for example, received high marks in early Phase I clinical trials at fairly low dosages and with almost no toxic side effects. "Australia's Governor-General Sparks Gay Debate" Reuters (06/22/95); Perry, Michael Governor-General Bill Hayden, the British queen's representative in Australia, drew praise and criticism from politicians, church leaders, and homosexual and medical groups with his recent speech supporting gay marriages and adoptions, and euthanasia. Hayden also called for the routine HIV testing of homosexuals before undergoing surgery--a move welcomed by physicians but rejected by homosexual groups. The AIDS Council of Australia said that universal safety precaution should be sufficient safeguards for health professionals. "Japan's Hijack Drama Ends with No Clue to Motive" Reuters (06/22/95); Kattoulas, Velisarios After a brief scuffle just before dawn, Fumio Kutsumi was captured nearly 16 hours after he hijacked an All Nippon Airways jumbo jet on a flight to northern Japan. Contrary to his claims, the middle-aged systems employee with the Toyo Trust & Banking Co. Ltd. in Tokyo has no ties to the doomsday cult that unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system three months ago. Initially, the hijacker claimed he was a member of Aum Shinri Kyo, or the Supreme Truth Sect, and demanded the release of Aum leader Shoko Asahara. Later, however, Kutsumi denied those claims and even told flight attendants that he had AIDS. Police thanked passengers who provided useful information by using their cellular phones throughout the crisis to report the incident on the plane to the outside world. "Federal Funding for HIV/AIDS in Jeopardy?" American Medical News (06/12/95) Vol. 38, No. 22, P. 3; Shelton, Deborah L. There is increasing fear in the public health sector that HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs will suffer as lawmakers try to cut $1.3 trillion over the next seven years to achieve a balanced budget. The concern centers on the impending release of figures that show an apparent 20 percent reduction in the estimated number of HIV cases in the United States. The new estimates result from a change in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) methodology. In the past, statisticians used back calculation, which permits estimation of the number of HIV-infected people in different stages of the illness. There were, however, inaccuracies that resulted from factors including the changed AIDS definition and unanswered questions. The new method combines back calculation with the results of small studies and seroprevalence studies. According to Dr. Neil Schram, a member of the CDC's advisory committee on HIV prevention, the downward trend means only that statisticians are making more accurate projections. In fact, notes Dr. Eric Goosby, director of the Public Health Services' Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, studies show a disturbing increase in infection rates in certain groups--such as gay men, adolescents, and minority women--"where there hadn't been significant representation before." "Rifampicin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis" Lancet (06/10/95) Vol. 345, No. 8963, P. 1513; Weltman, Andre C.; Righi, Susan P.; DiFerdinando Jr., George T. Weltman et al. report the case of tuberculosis (TB) involving rifampicin- and rifabutin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is thought to stem from a drug-susceptible strain after six months of rifabutin prophylaxis against Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Between 1990 and 1992, an HIV-infected prison inmate had three tuberculin skin tests measuring zero mm. In June 1993, his CD4 T-cell count was below 100. No symptoms of TB were found, however rifabutin was prescribed to prevent MAC. A sputum sample in December 1993 found M. tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin and rifabutin. The researchers suspect the inmate had been infected with a strain susceptible to the two drugs in early 1993 at a New York State prison where he was incarcerated. At that prison, nine cases of culture-positive TB with isolates susceptible to all first-line anti-TB drugs were identified and associated with an index patient. According to the researchers, this case indicates that M. tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin can develop in patients receiving only rifabutin as a prophylaxis against MAC, and raises concerns about the appropriate use of rifabutin prophylaxis against MAC in populations at high-risk for TB. "New Study Looks at Nutrition, Diet, and Exercise in AIDS" Pharmacy Times (Hospital Pharmacy Times) (06/95) Vol. 61, No. 6, P. 16HPT A new five-year study will investigate the effects of nutrition, exercise, and weight loss on the health and well-being of HIV-positive individuals. The three-part study, led by the Department of Community Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine, will be funded by a $4.33 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. During the next three years, researchers will follow more than 1,000 HIV-infected participants, including at least 200 women and 225 children. The study will focus on people who have not yet developed full-blown AIDS, but patients at all stages of the illness will be included in the research. The researchers hope to determine whether exercise and strength training improve HIV-infected people's physical condition and immune response, or if it is better for them not to exert themselves. One part of the study will analyze weight loss in the early stages of HIV infection, and another will explore the impact of diet on the health of HIV-infected children from birth. "Under Surveillance: Los Alamos" Advocate (06/27/95) No. 684, P. 14 Lab Administrators announced in May that the Los Alamos National Laboratory will conduct AIDS research under a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. The lab--which is the site of some of the nation's most sophisticated nuclear research--will use its computers to search for patterns in viral and immunological data among experimental AIDS vaccine recipients, long-term survivors of HIV infection, and people who continue to be HIV-negative despite repeated exposures to HIV.