Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 09:51:56 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary March 29, 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 ************************************************************ "Mandatory Federal AIDS Classes Cited as Promoting Gay Agenda" "Spending Recisions Get Another Look" "Infected Blood Donors Being Traced" "AIDS Death Jars Rap World" "How to Fight AIDS" "Kids Who Shun Veggies Risk Ill Health Later" "Response to Treatment, Mortality, and CD4 Lymphocyte Counts in HIV-Infected Persons with Tuberculosis in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire" "Pursuing HIV Alone as a Therapeutic Target Has Been a Faulty AIDS Research Strategy" "HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS" "Quick Uptakes: Lessons From Cat Virus" ************************************************************ "Mandatory Federal AIDS Classes Cited as Promoting Gay Agenda" Washington Times (03/29/95) P. A1; Scarborough, Rowan A federal employee who recently underwent mandatory AIDS training said she was offended when the instructor began talking about her grandmother's possible sex practices. She said she was stunned and angered "when the instructor personalized anal sex for each person in the room by saying our grandmothers probably practiced birth control by participating in anal sex." Administration rules for AIDS instruction tell trainers to avoid certain terms, such as "husband and wife" in favor of "sex partners"; deflect "homophobic comments," and be aware of troublemakers among the pupils. Jim Woodall, a vice president of the conservative group Concerned Women of America, said that President Clinton should stop the training because the goals could be reached by giving workers a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brochure on AIDS prevention. "We have been suspecting for a long time that AIDS education is being used as a facade to promote the homosexual lifestyle," Woodall said. White House spokesman on AIDS policy Richard Sorian disagreed, saying, "The effort has been a very successful effort to supply people with information that allows them to protect themselves" and their families. "Spending Recisions Get Another Look" Washington Post (03/29/95) P. A21; Morgan, Dan The Senate today will take up its version of a House-approved recisions measure. The bill cancels government agencies' spending authority granted in previous Congresses. Although the Senate's cuts are less severe than those in the House, it still removes more than $13 billion worth of spending commitments--about $4 billion less than the House cut. One function of the bill reported out of the Senate Appropriations Committee is to restore $186 million cut by the House for housing programs for people with AIDS. "Infected Blood Donors Being Traced" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/28/95) P. A9 The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) has begun searching its records for blood donors who may have infected other Canadians with hepatitis C. The agency wants to pinpoint infected donors who may have given blood before they tested positive. Because of a six-month "window period," when the virus is present but cannot be identified, it is possible that people infected with hepatitis C donated blood, yet tested negative for the virus, according to Carlos Izaguirre, assistant national director of quality and standards. Thousands of citizens have received blood tainted with hepatitis C, and hundreds more may not be aware that they are infected. Izaguirre says the CRC decided to look for infected donors after the public outrage it faced over its response to HIV. The CRC has been charged with not responding fast enough to protect the blood supply from HIV. A federal investigation is examining why more than 1,000 Canadians were infected with HIV from tainted blood. "AIDS Death Jars Rap World" Boston Globe (03/28/95) P. 53; Graham, Renee Just 10 days after announcing that he had full-blown AIDS, Eric (Eazy-E) Wright became the first major rap star to die from the disease. Wright's disclosure and subsequent death last Sunday have shocked the rap community, which has been practically silent about AIDS. Opinions, however, are mixed on what long-term effects Wright's death will have on the rap world and on those activities that may put its members and fans at risk. Wright "sent out a message that hopefully will make people aware, and he told people they need to be more responsible," said Adario Strange, a senior editor of The Source, a hip-hop music and culture magazine. Despite the rapid increase of AIDS cases in the inner city--the heart of the rap audience--many male rappers will not discuss the disease because of its early stigmatization as a gay disease. The majority of big-name rappers who have spoken about the disease have been women, such as Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, and MC Lyte. "How to Fight AIDS" Boston Globe (03/28/95) P. 14 Contribution for AIDS research and prevention decreased 15 percent last year, perhaps because the persistence of the disease has reduced perceptions of its urgency, write the editors of the Boston Globe. AIDS continues to be a significant threat, they contend, and the Massachusetts AIDS Fund deserves support from the state's taxpayers. The fund has raised more than $1.3 million dollars, which is directed toward experimental treatments that are not being followed by private drug companies or governmental agencies. In past years, much of the money raised by the fund has gone to educating teenagers. A new effort this year will focus on intravenous drug users and others who exhibit high-risk behavior. Other diseases have been eliminated by vaccines or improved health measures. AIDS can be eradicated as well, conclude the editors--who say the Massachusetts AIDS fund can bring that day one step closer. "Kids Who Shun Veggies Risk Ill Health Later" USA Today (03/29/95) P. 1D; Friend, Tom A quarter of American children did not eat fruits or vegetables yesterday, found a study released on Tuesday. This finding indicates that these children will face future problems, as 35 percent of all cancer is attributable to diet, explained Dr. Ernst Wynder of the American Health Foundation. The new survey of more than 3,000 children grades 2-6 is the first to combine data on children's knowledge of healthy attitudes and behavior. The findings presented at the American Cancer Society 37th Science Writers Seminar include the fact that 12 percent of the children believe that AIDS can not be passed from person to person. Wynder said the survey could be given to the students each year as part of a health education program and used to monitor progress about teaching them about healthy lifestyles. "Response to Treatment, Mortality, and CD4 Lymphocyte Counts in HIV-Infected Persons with Tuberculosis in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire" Lancet (03/11/95) Vol. 345, No. 8949, P. 607; Ackah, Alain N.; Coulibaly, Doulhourou; Digbeu, Hippolyte et al. Ackah et al. examined the severity of immune deficiency in patients with HIV-related tuberculosis (TB) in Cote d'Ivoire, and evaluated its effect on mortality and response to treatment. The researchers performed tests for HIV-1 and HIV-2 on patients who were being treated for either smear-positive pulmonary or clinically diagnosed extrapulmonary TB. The subjects received standard short-term chemotherapy. The 247 HIV-infected patients were significantly more likely than the 312 HIV-negative patients to have CD4 cell counts lower than 200 and lower than 500. Among the 460 patients with pulmonary TB, the overall mortality rate was significantly higher in those who were infected with HIV. The death rate increased with the severity of immune deficiency. The mortality rate of HIV-positive patients with CD4 lymphocyte counts less than 200 and between 200 and 499 were significantly higher than that of HIV-negative patients. The cure rates among both the HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients who completed treatment were similar, and were not associated with CD4 counts. The researchers concluded that severity of immune deficiency was the major factor of mortality in HIV-related TB. Among the patients completing the treatment, microbiological response was satisfactory irrespective of serological or immune status. "Pursuing HIV Alone as a Therapeutic Target Has Been a Faulty AIDS Research Strategy" Scientist (03/20/95) Vol. 9, No. 6, P. 13; Gottlieb, A. Arthur In addition to HIV, there are many other influences affecting the immune systems of patients, writes A. Arthur Gottlieb in The Scientist. Gottlieb, of the Tulane University School of Medicine, bases his views on the fact that although HIV infection occurred in the United States as early as 1968, the infection did not result in epidemic pathogenicity until the early 1980s. According to Gottlieb, pursuing HIV alone as a therapeutic target is a faulty strategy because it assumes that HIV itself is responsible for all the manifestations of HIV infection and ignores the contributions of other cofactors--such as sexually transmitted diseases and illegal drugs--on the immune system. HIV will not be controlled until the underlying state of immune dysfunction becomes a primary focus of treatment, Gottlieb maintains. What is needed, he concludes, is the aggressive development of therapeutic agents capable of affecting cell-mediated immune function, and subsequent testing of these agents for their ability to change the course of HIV disease. "HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS" Nature Medicine (03/95) Vol. 1, No. 3, P. 273; Steele, Fintan R. In his book, "HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS," Jay A. Levy--who with his colleagues was among the first to isolate HIV, calling it AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV)--attempts to synthesize everything known and theorized about HIV and AIDS. Above all, Levy's book makes it clear that funding is no longer the real problem in understanding AIDS pathogenesis. Levy records in great detail the complexity of HIV and its multiple interactions with its host at all levels of pathogenesis. His thoroughness, however, also illustrates just how far researchers still have to go. The book inevitably has gaps, which emphasize the difficulty of writing about a field that is continually changing. For example, recent studies revealing the rapid daily turnover of virus and CD4-positive cells in infected people are not included. Still, "HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS" is valuable as a reference work, and is ultimately a picture of the moving target of AIDS research. "Quick Uptakes: Lessons From Cat Virus" Journal of the American Medical Association (03/22/95-03/29/95) Vol. 273, No. 12, P. 910 Max Essex, a leading AIDS researcher and chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute, says that scientists trying to develop an HIV vaccine should look more closely at vaccines that are effective against feline leukemia virus (FeLV). In a commentary in The Journal of NIH Research, Essex says that some scientists believe that it may be impossible to develop an effective vaccine against a virus that targets the immune system, becomes integrated into it, and destroys it. Such vaccines, however, have been available for years, writes Essex. "Made from either killed whole retroviruses or recombinant-expressed envelope subunits, [FeLV] vaccines have offered millions of cats highly effective and apparently safe protection from FeLV." Essex also says that new studies on feline immunodeficiency virus may address HIV envelope antigen variation, a limitation of the FeLV model.