Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 09:50:12 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 11/27/95 AIDS Daily Summary November 27, 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 ************************************************************ "Pharmacia & Upjohn to Launch 17 Drugs" "New Issue Update: PathoGenesis Corp." "Asia AIDS Epidemic May Top African Outbreak, U.N. Says" "AIDS Cases in U.S. Since '81: 501,310" "AIDS Risk Cited for Young Men" "Researchers Offer Clue to How AIDS Virus Survives Prolonged Attack by Immune System" "Across the USA: New York" "Clinic to Give $130,000 to Area AIDS Agencies" "Netherlands Revises HIV Coordination Efforts" "AIDS Phobia, Public Health Warnings, and Lawsuits: Deterring Harm or Rewarding Ignorance?" ************************************************************ "Pharmacia & Upjohn to Launch 17 Drugs" Wall Street Journal (11/27/95) P. A9B; Forsberg, Birgitta The newly-formed Pharmacia & Upjohn plans to launch about 17 new drugs within the next two years, including treatments for AIDS, cancer, Parkinson's disease, glaucoma, and urinary incontinence. An application for Rescriptor, an AIDS-treatment drug designed to work as part of a drug "cocktail", will be filed early next year. "New Issue Update: PathoGenesis Corp." Investor's Business Daily (11/27/95) P. A4 PathoGenesis Corp. has announced an initial public offering of 3 million common shares of stock at a price of $10 per share. The Seattle-based firm has also given underwriters a 30-day overallotment option to buy as many as 450,000 more shares. PathoGenesis is presently developing such drug candidates as PA-1648 for Mycobacterium avium complex infections in AIDS patients and TOBI for chronic lung infections in individuals with cystic fibrosis. "Asia AIDS Epidemic May Top African Outbreak, U.N. Says" Baltimore Sun (11/25/95) P. 7A Dr. Peter Piot, head of the United Nations AIDS program, said Friday that the AIDS epidemic in Asia could exceed the disease's spread in Africa. Piot added that the number of new infections in some northern European nations appears to have peaked. Compared to the current 14 million to 15 million adults worldwide who have HIV or AIDS, Piot estimated that "this number would reach 40 million by the year 2000." "AIDS Cases in U.S. Since '81: 501,310" Chicago Tribune (11/25/95) P. 1-22 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday that the number of AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States during the past 14 years now totals 501,310. Sixty-two percent of that number have died. Dr. Patricia Fleming of the CDC's AIDS surveillance division noted, "Over half a million people with AIDS really should signify to the American public the ongoing seriousness and magnitude of this epidemic." The number of AIDS cases has doubled in the past three years, in part, because of the expanded definition of AIDS. The CDC reported that the disease "continues to affect blacks and Hispanics disproportionately." A total of 101 of every 100,000 blacks has AIDS and 51 of every 100,000 Hispanics has the disease, compared to 17 per 100,000 among whites. "AIDS Risk Cited for Young Men" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/24/95) P. A3; Neergaard, Lauran New statistics show that one in every 92 young American men may be infected with HIV. The data show that minorities are especially vulnerable, with one of every 33 young black men and one in every 60 Hispanics estimated to be HIV-positive in 1993, according to a new report in the journal Science that contains the most precise look at HIV to date. At this same time, one of every 139 young white men was estimated to be HIV-infected. Study author Philip Rosenberg said that if this trend continues, "the threat of AIDS may become a rite of passage" for young people. Women, meanwhile, were more than four times less likely to be infected with HIV, with one of every 1,667 white women, one in 98 black women, and one in 222 Hispanic women between the ages of 27 and 39 infected, Rosenberg estimated. He added that his findings counter recent optimism that the epidemic was leveling off, noting that the plateau does not show the increased risk to younger people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's AIDS expert John Ward said that the data probably have changed little in the past two years, in part, because it takes HIV so long to kill someone. Related Stories: New York Times (11/24) P. B19; Washington Post (11/24) P. A12; Washington Times (11/24) P. A3; Miami Herald (11/24) P. 1A; USA Today (11/24) P. 1A "Researchers Offer Clue to How AIDS Virus Survives Prolonged Attack by Immune System" New York Times (11/24/95) P. A20; Kolata, Gina Scientists at Oxford University in England have discovered how HIV continues to survive in the body despite aggressive attacks by the immune system. The researchers say that through subtle mutation, or a change in its genetic structure, HIV actually defuses the attack force that is meant to eliminate infected cells. One of the researchers, Dr. Andrew McMichael, said he does not believe this is the only method by which HIV evades the immune system. McMichael added, however, that this could be an important mechanism because the mutations allow both altered and unaltered strains of HIV to proliferate, though he noted that he still did not know how frequently the virus practiced this deception in an infection. "Across the USA: New York" USA Today (11/24/95) P. 6A The director of the New York state AIDS Institute says she will resign in protest of planned budget cuts. Dr. Nilsa Gutierrez contends that Gov. Pataki ordered her to reduce the institute's $180 million budget by as much as 20 percent for 1996. Related Story: New York Times (11/23) P. B6 "Clinic to Give $130,000 to Area AIDS Agencies" Washington Post (District Weekly) (11/23/95) P. D.C.1; Thomas-Lester, Avis Washington, D.C.'s Whitman-Walker Clinic has announced plans to distribute $130,000 among more than 20 area AIDS organizations. The funds are part of the $1.7 million raised during the organization's annual AIDSWALK event in September. Brother Help Thyself, a District-based group that gives grants to smaller community-based organizations, received $65,000, while 21 other service providers received smaller awards. AIDSWALK, Whitman-Walker's foundation established to disburse event proceeds in the Washington, D.C. area, was developed as a method of funding programs at the clinic, a volunteer-based community health group that runs an HIV medical and dental clinic, 11 housing facilities, and two food banks. Jim Graham, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, explained that the District's current financial crisis was the reason why AIDSWALK chose to award several smaller gifts rather than just one large one. "Netherlands Revises HIV Coordination Efforts" Lancet (11/18/95) Vol. 346, No. 8986, P. 1358; Spanjer, Marjanke The Dutch National Committee against AIDS (NCAB) has been adjourned. Some of the functions of the group--which was established eight years ago and then had its term extended another four years--will be divided among other agencies, but the majority will be absorbed into the AIDS Fund. The NCAB noted in its last report that the number of registered AIDS cases in the Netherlands has been significantly lower than projected. By the end of June, there were 3,609 people registered, 1,340 of whom were still living. Whereas 750 to 1,000 new cases were expected each year during the 1980s, now just 500 new HIV infections are expected per annum. The NCAB therefore recommended that the number of specialist AIDS hospitals and nursing homes be reduced. The organization also advised that a fund be established for uninsured HIV-infected individuals to reimburse them for requisite drugs, that the new-drugs approval system be expedited for anti-HIV treatments, and that the government ensure the quality of the HIV and AIDS tracking that was initiated last year. "AIDS Phobia, Public Health Warnings, and Lawsuits: Deterring Harm or Rewarding Ignorance?" American Journal of Public Health (11/95) Vol. 85, No. 11, P. 1562; Mariner, Wendy K. Several recent court decisions have dealt with so-called AIDS phobia cases--those in which a person has claimed monetary damages for his or her fear of acquiring AIDS. In an article in the American Journal of Public Health, Contributing Editor Wendy K. Mariner argues that negligence law should not allow HIV-negative persons to recover damages for a senseless fear of AIDS. Few courts have specifically rejected the theory that, in some unspecified instances, the law may allow reward to someone for their fear of getting AIDS. However, the law regarding this issue remains complex because entitlement to compensation for emotional distress varies somewhat from state to state and because AIDS is so alarming to some people that it seems to obstruct their judgment. In addition, inconsistent and misunderstood statements from medical and public health groups about protection from HIV may have supported the idea that exposure to HIV-tainted blood or fluid is uniquely frightening and that standard protective measures are not sufficient to prevent HIV-infection. Although they are meant to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, Mariner contends that these statements have been used by patients to justify their fear of HIV-infected health care professionals. Mariner believes that to avoid foolish lawsuits and misconceptions about HIV transmission, such statements should be rewritten to clearly state that it is the way in which procedures are performed, not who performs them, that governs HIV infection.