Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 10:45:02 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/12/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 12, 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 ************************************************************ "Magic Speaking Out" "Whitman-Walker Finds Funds" "White House AIDS Activist Falls into Political Exile" "Top Ukraine Doctor Links Chernobyl to AIDS Increase" "Leading Researcher on AIDS Quits Post" "Ugandan Claims AIDS Cure with Prayer and Water" "Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in AIDS" "Long-Term Protection against SIV-Induced Disease in Macaques Vaccinated with a Live Attenuated HIV-2 Vaccine" "Alternative/Complementary Therapies Used by Persons with HIV Disease" ************************************************************ "Magic Speaking Out" Washington Post (09/12/95) P. E2 Basketball great Magic Johnson, who retired from the National Basketball Association after becoming infected with HIV, will help the Philippine government in its fight against AIDS. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health said that Johnson will visit Manila and Cebu City during late October for a speaking tour featuring the message that "anybody could get HIV." Related Story: New York Times (09/12) P. B14 "Whitman-Walker Finds Funds" Washington Post (09/12/95) P. A18 The financial arrangement between Washington, D.C.'s Whitman-Walker Clinic and Life Entitlements Corp., a New York-based viatical settlement firm, is a good deal, write the editors of the Washington Post, because the clinic is in dire need of resources to continue its work. Although some questions have been raised about the ethics of this situation, it is important to note that Whitman-Walker has not endorsed a viatical settlement company. In addition, the clinic will continue to advise its patients about all monetary sources and their benefits and drawbacks. Furthermore, Life Entitlements has a New York license and is continually regulated by the state. Therefore, the editors conclude, new sources of funding that do not harm and likely benefit are particularly welcomed by the community served. "White House AIDS Activist Falls into Political Exile" Los Angeles Times (09/11/95) P. A1; Fiore, Faye Robert Hattoy, who came to Washington with the Clinton administration in 1993 as an openly gay man with AIDS, is in political exile. He has been displaced from the White House, where he believed he had been brought to help make AIDS a presidential priority. Hattoy began as the associate director of White House personnel, and as the administration struggled with the issue of gays in the military, he became a reluctant but vocal critic of the White House. Some say he is representative of the administration's AIDS policy itself, while others argue that his own wit and sharp tongue caused his problems and eventual transfer to the Department of Interior, where he serves as White House liaison on environmental issues. Still, despite President Clinton's "loud, clear, and consistent war on AIDS," Hattoy explains that "AIDS is a bottom-line life or death thing for me and hundreds of thousands of Americans. And no else at the White House is speaking out on this." "Top Ukraine Doctor Links Chernobyl to AIDS Increase" Reuters (09/11/95) Increased radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster may be in part to blame for the significant increase in AIDS cases detected in the Ukraine, said Valery Ivasyuk, head of the former Soviet Republic's anti-AIDS committee, on Monday. According to Ivasyuk, the number of cases of AIDS and HIV infection doubled in the past year, bringing the total to about 7,000, or 10 times greater than official figures. There is a connection between Chernobyl's radiation and the spread of HIV, Ivasyuk said, because "increased background radiation hinders the body's immune systems and the body becomes more susceptible to the HIV virus." Ivasyuk quoted statistics which showed that Chernobyl had in some way or another affected the immune systems of 60 percent of the population. There have been 20 AIDS deaths in the Ukraine since 1987, when the first case was detected. "Leading Researcher on AIDS Quits Post" New York Times (09/09/95) P. 46 Dr. James Curran, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's associate director for HIV-AIDS, announced on Friday that he was leaving to become dean of Emory University's school of public health. Curran, whose resignation is effective Nov. 1, was part of the original team of federal researchers who investigated in 1981 what later was called AIDS. A replacement is expected to be announced soon. "Ugandan Claims AIDS Cure with Prayer and Water" Reuters (09/11/95) Thousands of AIDS patients are traveling to eastern Uganda to find a woman who says she can cure AIDS by repeating Roman Catholic prayers and bathing patients with rainwater. The state-owned New Vision newspaper reported on Monday that more than 200 people arrive each day at Katajula Village, which is 128 miles east of Kampala. Scovia Adikin, 23, treats the patients with rainwater and prayers and then orders them to stay away from unprotected sex and to have only one partner, the paper said. Although there is no proof that the treatment is effective, the government said it did not intend to stop Adikin. "If people can get psychological relief from such quacks, it is better you leave them to do so," the district health officer was quoted as saying. A total of 1.5 million, or 9 percent, of Uganda's population is known to be infected with HIV. "Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in AIDS" Lancet (09/02/95) Vol. 346, No. 8975, P. 588; Sepkowitz, Kent A. ; Armstrong, Donald In the 14 years since the AIDS epidemic was first identified, a number of treatments have been established for opportunistic infections, note Sepkowitz and Armstrong in the medical journal The Lancet. For example, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) used to be the AIDS-defining infection for 60 percent of HIV-infected persons. Aggressive prophylactic therapy, however, has reduced this rate to 42 percent. During the 1980s, dapsone and aerosol pentamidine were added to the list of prophylactic treatments for PCP. However, the best drugs to treat acute PCP are the same as in 1981--co-trimoxazole and intravenous pentamidine. Meanwhile, there were no drugs to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV) end-organ infection at the beginning of the epidemic. Now, there are two approved agents--ganciclovir and foscarnet--which are effective in stabilizing affected patients. Overall, survival from opportunistic infections has increased. Still, after 14 years of effort there are relatively few real advances in the treatment of these infections--a circumstance which emphasizes the need for caution when new drugs are introduced, the authors conclude. "Long-Term Protection against SIV-Induced Disease in Macaques Vaccinated with a Live Attenuated HIV-2 Vaccine" Nature Medicine (09/95) Vol. 1, No. 9, P. 914; Putkonen, Per; Walther, Lilian; Zhang, Yi-Jun et al. As part of a continuing study, Putkonen et al. attempted to determine the ability of a live, attenuated HIV-2 vaccine to protect cynomolgus monkeys from superinfection with a pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV. New data indicate that three of the four monkeys injected with live HIV-2 were safeguarded against immunosuppression and SIV-induced illness during more than five years of follow up. Although the quality of immunity allowed infection, the surviving monkeys demonstrated limited viral replication in peripheral blood and lymph nodes. According to the researchers, the findings suggest that it is possible to induce protection against a pathogenic heterologous primate lentivirus and to prevent disease in vaccinated monkeys even though there was no protection against infection. These results may have significant relevance for human immunization against HIV-1 and offer hope for the discovery of a useful AIDS vaccine, the authors conclude. "Alternative/Complementary Therapies Used by Persons with HIV Disease" Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (07/95-08/95) Vol. 6, No. 4, P. 19; Nokes, Kathleen M.; Kendrew, Joan; Longo, Marion Although alternative or complementary therapies are not generally prescribed by a health provider, they are readily available in health food stores and mail order catalogs. Nokes et al. assessed the kinds of alternative therapies used by HIV-infected persons. A total of 145 HIV-positive individuals were asked to answer the Alternative Therapies Check List, which lists 55 alternative or complementary therapies. The respondents were asked if they knew of the treatment and how often they used it. Overall, the most popular alternative therapy was the use of vitamins, followed by relaxation, laughter and humor, prayer, and meditation. The least popular alternative treatments include uropathy and trigger. According to the researchers, the results support the clinical belief that HIV-infected persons use alternative therapies. Future healthcare plans, therefore, should recognize the many strategies being used by them.