Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 09:38:50 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/14/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 14, 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 ************************************************************ "Irish Priest's Tale Stirs Furor about AIDS and Unprotected Sex" "Health Board to Quiz Priest over AIDS Avenger" "AIDS Treatment Gets City Backing" "And a Child Leads Them" "'Confirmatory' Trials: Symptom Reduction As Efficacy Measure" "Management of the Hematological Manifestations of HIV and AIDS" "UK Multidrug Resistant TB" "Rap to the Rescue" ************************************************************ "Irish Priest's Tale Stirs Furor about AIDS and Unprotected Sex" New York Times (09/14/95) P. A12; Clarity, James F. A Roman Catholic priest has sparked a wave of concern about AIDS in Ireland. Rev. Michael Kennedy, a priest in the town of Dungarvan, claims that an HIV-infected woman tried to avenge her illness by having unprotected intercourse with numerous Irishman, infecting at least 14 of them with HIV. "I haven't seen anything like it," said Sharon Oye, director of the Dublin Aids Alliance. "The mania is media driven, but it is expressing concerns of the people." In spite of medical authorities' assertions that they doubt such transmission occurred, the story has been prominent in Irish media. Hundreds of residents have called radio shows expressing their fear, anger, sympathy, and condemnation of the woman, as well as criticism of how Kennedy revealed the situation. According to Oye, 1,570 people in Ireland are infected with HIV and 484 have AIDS, though she believes the actual rate is two to three times greater because many people conceal their illness. "Health Board to Quiz Priest over AIDS Avenger" Reuters (09/13/95) Officials from Ireland's health board questioned Irish priest Rev. Michael Kennedy on Wednesday about his claims that a spiteful woman infected dozens of men with HIV. This was the second meeting between the priest and the health board since Kennedy warned his congregation last Sunday that the woman said she had infected as many as 80 local men out of revenge. According to Kennedy, one local youth came to him because he was afraid he had contracted HIV. The youth's infection was then confirmed in London. Four of his friends also said they were infected--denying that they were injection drug users, but admitting that they had all slept with the same woman. Board officials, however, say there are no indications of an increase in HIV cases in the region. "AIDS Treatment Gets City Backing" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/13/95) P. 1B; Lindecke, Fred W.; Young, Virginia St. Louis officials have asked AIDS service providers to continue treating patients even though Missouri has reported a shortage of funds. "No one has to worry at this point," said Deborah Butler-McGruder, grant administrator of AIDS money for the city. Coleen Kivlahan, Missouri's health director, announced on Monday that the state's portion of the AIDS treatment program had more than $1 million in debts and no money to pay them because of inadequate controls on how the $2.2 million federal grant was spent. Kivlahan stopped payments and ordered an internal audit on Sept. 7 when a supervisor informed her that three employees who oversee the program had not noticed for a year that the program was paying out more than it could afford. Meanwhile, some AIDS service agencies say their clients are being rejected from dental examinations and cannot fill prescriptions. Butler-McGruder, however, claims St. Louis still has funds from its portion of the Ryan White AIDS grants to pay its bills. "And a Child Leads Them" Los Angeles Times (09/13/95) P. B2; James, Ian During the past few years, 11-year-old Leo Beckerman has helped raise thousands of dollars in the annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles. Last year, for example, he and about 70 children in "Kids Who Care"--a group he and six of his friends established--brought in $15,000. With the encouragement of his mother, who has a friend on the AIDS Project Los Angeles board, Beckerman began his fund-raising crusade at age seven, never having met anyone who was actually infected with HIV. He raised $2,000 that first year. Beckerman said that starting such a campaign has changed him, raising his awareness of the rejection that many people with HIV experience because of their illness and sexual orientation. This year, "Kids Who Care" wants to have as many as 100 youth walkers in the 6.2 mile annual event in Hollywood. "'Confirmatory' Trials: Symptom Reduction As Efficacy Measure" AIDS Treatment News (08/18/95) No. 229, P. 1; James, John S. The critical problem with current efficacy trials is the definition of clinical proof or confirmation as requiring an endpoint of death or progression to an AIDS-defining infection, writes John S. James for AIDS Treatment News. Instead, James proposes a trial design which uses symptom reduction as a primary indicator for assessing drug efficacy. This type of trial would be a clinical one which recruits volunteers who have one or more of the designated indicator symptoms. The symptoms would be HIV-related, easily measurable, and unlikely to improve on their own or with standard treatment. The subjects would be randomized into an antiviral treatment group or into a placebo or comparison group, but both groups would continue their existing treatment throughout the trial. Within weeks, such trials could offer statistical proof of any clinical benefit of the antiviral regimen. At the end of the trial, all subjects would be offered the most effective treatment and followed indefinitely. Symptom-reduction trials would be useful because they can gauge the efficacy of antiviral, immune-based, or other kinds of therapy, James concludes. "Management of the Hematological Manifestations of HIV and AIDS" Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (07/95-08/95) Vol. 6, No. 4, P. 9; Ownby, Kristen Kane Hematological disorders or cytopenia-related problems, frequently encountered by people with HIV or AIDS, are caused by reduced production of precursor cells in the bone marrow, increased peripheral destruction of the differentiated cells, and ineffective hematopoiesis. People with AIDS are at risk for developing several opportunistic infections (OIs), including Mycobacterium avium complex and cryptococcus, as their immune systems begin to fail. Such infections can induce or worsen existing cytopenias. However, several of the drugs used to treat and prevent OIs can cause drug-induced cytopenia. Sulfanamides, for example, have a direct cytotoxic effect on precursor cells in the bone marrow. Other factors, such as poor nutritional intake and reduced or abnormal absorption of the gastrointestinal tract, can also exacerbate or cause cytopenias. The first step in the medical management of myelosuppression is identifying the underlying cause of the cytopenia. If, for example, the cytopenia is drug-induced, a physician can lower the dose of the offending treatment. Nutritional deficiencies can be corrected with injections of vitamin B12. Using the correct medical treatments, interventions, and patient education may prevent the potentially fatal effects of hematological abnormalities. "UK Multidrug Resistant TB" Lancet (09/02/95) Vol. 346, No. 8975, P. 632 England has experienced its first outbreak of hospital-acquired multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The outbreak, which involved one index and four secondary cases, took place in an HIV unit in London. "Rap to the Rescue" Vibe (10/95) Vol. 3, No. 8, P. 38; Hample, Henry UrbanAID 4 LIFEbeat, a day-long AIDS benefit concert scheduled for Oct. 5 at New York's Madison Square Garden, is the hip hop community's response to AIDS. Most of the money raised from the event, which was created after rapper Eazy-E announced in March that he was dying of AIDS, is expected to come from $100,000 in corporate sponsorships, although additional revenue should come from an album of concert highlights. The resulting funds will be distributed by LIFEbeat to urban AIDS organizations. In addition, Sheik has donated 1 million condoms to further promote the event's message.