Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 11:48:20 +0500 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 04/05/96 AIDS Daily Summary April 5, 1996 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 National AIDS Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Abbott Laboratories" "Hiding Place of HIV Spurs New Hope" "Inmate AIDS Rate is 6 Times Higher than U.S., CDC Says" "Infamous Thalidomide Is Tried Against Tumors" "Thousands to Be Retested After Faulty AIDS Test" "HIV Cases Climb in Indonesia" "Sri Lanka Counts Cost of AIDS Among Mideast Maids" "CD4 Count: Only Independent Predictor of Survival in HIV-Positive Patients with TB" "Inhibition of HIV-1 Replication in Lymphocytes by Mutants of the Rev Cofactor eIF-5A" "U.S. Tops International League in Action on Blood Products" ************************************************************ "Abbott Laboratories" Wall Street Journal (04/05/96) P. A10 The German unit of Abbott Laboratories said it has halted distribution of its HIV test products after the virus went undetected in four instances. The company said it took the test off the market following reports of false negatives in Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. Two million units of the product, IMx HIV-I/HIV 3rd Generation Plus, were sold in the nine months it was available. Related Story: Baltimore Sun (04/05) P. 2C "Hiding Place of HIV Spurs New Hope" Washington Times (04/05/96) P. A1; Price, Joyce Researchers may have found the location in the body where HIV thrives in the years between infection and the onset of AIDS. While examining enlarged adenoids removed from the throats of 13 people, researchers found large quantities of HIV being made in the glands' dendritic cells. Eleven of the people did not even know they were infected. Ralph Steinman of Rockefeller University, who led the study, said it was the first time viral replication has been seen decisively. Dendritic cells are immune cells found in the mucus membranes lining the body's cavities. Steinman said the findings suggest a role for mucosal surfaces in HIV transmission. Sarah Frankel, a pathologist at the AIDS division at the Institute of Pathology in Washington who was also involved in the study, said the finding should improve efforts to develop an HIV vaccine. "Inmate AIDS Rate is 6 Times Higher than U.S., CDC Says" Baltimore Sun (04/05/96) P. 2A Inmates in the largest U.S. prisons are almost six times more likely than other Americans to have AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC said Thursday that there were 5,279 prisoners with AIDS in 1994, or 5.2 cases per 1,00 inmates compared to the 0.9-per-1,000 rate in the general population. CDC psychologist Juarlyn Gaiter noted that the majority of the infected inmates already had AIDS or HIV before they entered prison. "Infamous Thalidomide Is Tried Against Tumors" Wall Street Journal (04/04/96) P. B6 Bristol-Myers Squibb and the National Cancer Institute have announced that clinical testing of thalidomide in patients with breast and prostate cancer and in patients with Kaposi's sarcoma is in progress. Plans have been made to test the drug in patients with brain cancer at a later date. Thalidomide and its molecular variations are among drugs being examined by Maryland-based EntreMed Inc. for their potential in preventing incipient tumors from forming new blood vessels. Rights to these "antiangiogenic" compounds have been licensed by EntreMed to Bristol-Myers. "Thousands to Be Retested After Faulty AIDS Test" Reuters (04/05/96) As many as 20,000 British people who tested negative for HIV will have to be re-tested because of unreliable tests. The Department of Health said a "small proportion" of people who carry the virus tested negative when screened with Abbott Laboratories Inc.'s test. The company stopped selling the test on March 25 when it learned of false negative results. Britain's National Health Service has been using the test for the last six months. "HIV Cases Climb in Indonesia" United Press International (04/05/96) The health ministry in Indonesia has added 10 cases of HIV to its roll, bringing the total number of infected individuals to 390. Hadi M. Abednego, head of contagious diseases in the country, said the new cases were identified in a one-month period. Government officials warned that the disease could spread to 2.5 million individuals by the year 2000 if precautions are not taken. Health officials added that HIV is spreading more rapidly in Asia because of changes in cultural and moral values and sexual norms brought on by tourism. "Sri Lanka Counts Cost of AIDS Among Mideast Maids" Reuters (04/04/96) Almost 40 percent of female AIDS cases in Sri Lanka are housemaids recently returned from the Middle East, the government reported Thursday. There are only 44 confirmed cases of women with AIDS in the country, but 17 or 18 of them were returning maids, thus indicating a serious problem, an official said. About 400,000 Sri Lankan women go to the Middle East for domestic work. The government is trying to mandate AIDS education for maids going to the Middle East as well as HIV testing on their return. "CD4 Count: Only Independent Predictor of Survival in HIV-Positive Patients with TB" Reuters (04/04/96) CD4 cell count in HIV patients with tuberculosis (TB) appears to be the only factor that independently predicts patient survival, Robert W. Shafer of Stanford University and colleagues reported in a new study. The study, which is published in the journal AIDS, identified characteristics that predicted survival in 54 HIV-positive patients seen in a New York City public hospital. The risk of dying was found to be inversely related to the patients' CD4 counts at the time of TB diagnosis. The study also found that HIV-infected TB patients receiving proper treatment have a low risk of relapse during the first two years after treatment. "Inhibition of HIV-1 Replication in Lymphocytes by Mutants of the Rev Cofactor eIF-5A" Science (03/29/96) Vol. 271, No. 5257, P. 1858; Bevec, Dorian; Jaksche, Herbert; Oft, Martin; et al. Eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A), a cellular cofactor of the HIV-1 Rev regulatory protein, is required for HIV-1 replication. To determine the function of eIF-5A, Joachim Hauber of the Sandoz Research Institute in Austria, and colleagues tested mutants of the protein and found that they could not support the growth of yeast cells with an inactivated genomic copy of eIF-5A. Two of the nonfunctional mutants were able to bind to HIV-1 and were expressed in human T cells. When these T cells were infected with HIV-1 viruses that were otherwise able to replicate, replication was inhibited. The authors concluded that Rev-eIF-5A interaction seems to be an important site for the virus to connect itself to the host. The mutant proteins, they say, may be useful in gene-based intervention therapy. "U.S. Tops International League in Action on Blood Products" Nature (03/28/96) Vol. 380, No. 6572, P. 276; Spurgeon, David The United States was rated highest in a comparison of seven industrialized countries' responses to the HIV-contaminated blood crisis in the mid-1980s. The survey, conducted by the University of Toronto law faculty, excluded Japan and rated Switzerland worst for promptness in implementing heat treatment of blood products and ELISA testing. Canada was equally rated with Switzerland in its implementation of the ELISA test. The performance of all seven countries was "far from exemplary," the study found, partly due to the view that AIDS was a disease affecting only homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and sexually promiscuous minorities. Outside the United States, AIDS was considered an "American disease." According to the report, institutions only began to respond when all users of the blood system were "widely perceived to be at serious risk." Moreover, the researchers say that all seven countries denied the risk of HIV infection well beyond the time the risk had been established.