Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:29:54 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/24/95 AIDS Daily Summary October 24, 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 ************************************************************ "The Not-So-Naked City" "Deaths: Michael Volante, Subject of AIDS Film" "Thais Blamed for HIV Spread in Indonesia's Irian" "In Immune System Model, Fittest Antibodies Survive" "Contracts: the Central Virginia HIV Care Consortium" "Life Partners Files Compliance Report; Clarifies Status of SEC Litigation" "Emmy Awards Show Is Short of Polish" "Red Cross Facing New Challenges in Blood Banking" "NIAID to Fund Seven Cooperative STD Research Centers" ************************************************************ "The Not-So-Naked City" Washington Post (10/24/95) P. B1; Span, Paula A proposed zoning change in New York City would permit adult video stores, bookstores, theaters, and clubs to be situated only in industrial or specific commercial zones, not in residential areas. In addition, these X-rated businesses also would not be able to locate within 500 feet of a school, a day-care center, a "house of worship," or another X-rated concern. If the legislation is to withstand challenges to its constitutionality, however, the city must demonstrate that such businesses have "adverse secondary effects" on neighborhoods and that citizens still have "reasonable access" to the restricted materials and establishments. Already, several primarily gay theaters are in court. Eight theaters have been closed since late last year due to violations of the state sanitary code, which prohibits sex in a commercial facility. "We think some HIV transmission occurs in these facilities because of lapses in safe-sex practices," explained action Health Commissioner Benjamin Mojica. The closings have sparked debate among gay rights and AIDS activists. A number of gay reporters have advocated Health Department action, while other community members take offense at the notion of vice cops closing gay social centers. "Deaths: Michael Volante, Subject of AIDS Film" Washington Post (10/24/95) P. C7 Michael Volante, the boy who attracted national attention when he and his mother were portrayed in a 1992 documentary about AIDS, died on Oct. 19 at the age of eight. His mother, Tammy Boccomino, became HIV-infected from her first husband, an injection drug user, but did not learn of her infection until after Michael was born. Their lives were featured in the documentary "Close to Home: The Tammy Boccomino Story," which won Emmy and Peabody awards, as well as the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award for excellence in journalism. "Thais Blamed for HIV Spread in Indonesia's Irian" Reuters (10/24/95) Thai fishermen working in the Fakfak region of Indonesia's Irian Jaya province have been charged with spreading HIV in that area, according to the Antara news agency. Antara also quoted Fakfak regent Suparlan Pasambuna as saying his part of Irian did not benefit from the operation of Thai fishing boats leased by an Indonesian firm. "Fakfak's marine resources are sent abroad and what [Thais] leave is the disease. I therefore urge the government to issue a new regulation banning Thai fishermen from leaving their boats when they are berthed there," he said. Antara reported that there were 95 people with HIV and AIDS in Irian Jaya, second only to the capital city of Jakarta, which has 180 cases. "In Immune System Model, Fittest Antibodies Survive" New York Times (10/24/95) P. C1; Blakeslee, Sandra Two mathematicians believe they have discovered how the lymph glands produce highly specific molecules, known as antibodies, that attach themselves to foreign agents with incredible accuracy. According to the University of Maryland's Dr. Garrett Kelsoe, the new model "tells us how the immune system can make antibodies that are 100 times more effective in just two weeks." Novel series of equations indicate that the best method of creating effective antibodies is to have periods of rapid mutation followed by periods of rest. Dr. Alan Perelson, a theoretical immunologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico who last year was part of a team that used mathematical models to show how HIV overwhelms people, explained that math can offer strong insight into immune system functioning. Perelson and Dr. Thomas B. Kepler, a biomathematician at North Carolina State University, recently published their findings in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Contracts: the Central Virginia HIV Care Consortium" Richmond Times-Dispatch (10/23/95) P. D10 The Central Virginia HIV Care Consortium has extended a grant given to Richmond attorney Terry W. Raney. Raney will continue to use the grant to offer wills and estate planning services to people with HIV or AIDS. "Life Partners Files Compliance Report; Clarifies Status of SEC Litigation" Business Wire (10/23/95) Brian D. Pardo, president of Life Partners Inc., has announced in a sworn report filed in federal court that the company "has developed revised methods of operation that it considers sufficient to eliminate any claim that the securities laws apply." Life Partners functions as the buyers' agent in viatical settlements, which allow people with terminal illnesses such as AIDS to sell their life insurance policies prior to death. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet commented on the steps outlined in Pardo's report, but its court filings acknowledge that viatical transactions are not inherently securities, that the participation of an agent does not necessarily invoke the securities laws, and that the preliminary injunction issued in late August allows Life Partners to comply "by restructuring the transactions in such a way that they do not constitute securities." The SEC must file a response to the report by Nov. 2., after which time the court will deliberate the case. "Emmy Awards Show Is Short of Polish" Chicago Tribune (10/23/95) P. 2-8; Nidetz, Steve At the 37th annual Chicago Emmy Awards on Saturday, journalist Rae Lewis-Thornton, who has AIDS, was recognized for having the best hard news feature series. "WBBM decided to talk about living with AIDS instead of dying with AIDS," Lewis-Thornton noted. "Red Cross Facing New Challenges in Blood Banking" American Medical News (10/16/95) Vol. 38, No. 39, P. 17 The American Red Cross has begun experiencing new problems as national laws adopted to make the blood supply safer have placed the federal government, and in some cases local governments, in charge of the blood supply. Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole said that the changes made during her tenure were necessary to respond to AIDS and that the advances that have kept the blood supply safe have also led to problems and demands. The restructuring is expected to cost $162 million, with 52 blood centers being cut down to 9 and 800 of the 15,000 biomedical jobs eliminated. The Red Cross has also adopted a wage freeze, which has led to several strikes, and is running its first budget deficit, $60 million for fiscal year 1995, since auditing first began 15 years ago. In addition, the blood supply is suffering from a yearly drop of one percent to three percent in donations since the late 1980's. Nonetheless, the Red Cross continues to handle about half of the nation's blood supply and is expected to remain an important part of handling blood. "NIAID to Fund Seven Cooperative STD Research Centers" Nation's Health (10/95) Vol. 25, No. 9, P. 5 The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has created seven Sexually Transmitted Diseases Cooperative Research Centers to further collaborative multidisciplinary studies on these issues. In the first year, researchers at sites including Seattle, Boston, and Baltimore will receive grants totaling about $6.2 million. The new studies are part of a larger NIAID plan to prevent and control sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including AIDS. It is estimated that 12 million new STD infections, including 40,000 cases of HIV, will be acquired this year.