Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 09:53:14 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 08/02/96 AIDS Daily Summary August 2, 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 ****************************************************** "Md.'s Top Court Says HIV Not Enough to Convict Rapist of Attempted Murder" "D.C. Shows a Jump in TB Cases" "House Backs Bill Granting Workers Portable Benefit" "Senate Votes Bill to Revamp Welfare Policy" "Deadly Variant of AIDS Virus Spreads to Britain" "New Hope, Care for People in Need: Center for Women With HIV to Open" "Court Orders HIV Test for Juvenile Sex Offender" "Kenya Backs Life in Jail for HIV-Infected Rapists" "Will New AIDS Drugs Put More People at Risk?" ****************************************************** "Md.'s Top Court Says HIV Not Enough to Convict Rapist of Attempted Murder" Washington Post (08/02/96) P. A1; Argetsinger, Amy The Maryland Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that an HIV-positive man who raped three women cannot be tried for attempted murder even though he may have infected his victims with the virus. Although the decision overturns the 1994 attempted murder convictions of Dwight Ralph Smallwood, the man remains sentenced for life for the raping the three women. Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin, an expert on AIDS litigation, said the ruling is the first of its kind. "The clear trend in AIDS cases in the 1990s is to be quite punitive against persons with AIDS," he said. Several appeals courts in other states have upheld attempted murder charges for HIV-positive people who exposed others to the virus, usually through biting or spitting. "D.C. Shows a Jump in TB Cases" Washington Post (08/02/96) P. B1; Goldstein, Amy The D.C. Medical Society and the American Lung Association have released a study showing a 50 percent jump in the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the nation's capital so far this year. The surge in TB cases has been attributed to "shocking deficiencies" in the District's efforts, including a lack of TB drugs, inadequate laboratory tests, and the inability to find and treat people with the disease. In addition, an increasing number of people infected with TB have drug-resistant strains or are infected with HIV. Michael S.A. Richardson, one of the study's authors, noted, "TB is a controllable infection that clearly is spreading and we did not see the city doing anything to address the problem." "House Backs Bill Granting Workers Portable Benefit" New York Times (08/02/96) P. A1; Clymer, Adam The U.S. House of Representatives passed a health insurance bill on Thursday that would curtail exclusions based on pre-existing conditions and permit workers to take their insurance coverage with them when they move from one job to another. A provision that would have required insurers to cover mental health on an equal basis with their coverage of physical health was rejected, however. Other provisions that caused controversy but eventually passed were tax-sheltered medical savings accounts that permit people to set aside money to cover routine medical expenses as long as they also purchase inexpensive, high-deductible policies to cover serious illnesses, and a measure by Sen. Trent Lott (D--Miss.) to extend a patent for an anti-arthritis drug manufactured by American Home Products. An aide to Senator Lott noted that the provision was needed to "level the playing field" against another drug maker, Monsanto, which won a patent extension on its drug last year. "Senate Votes Bill to Revamp Welfare Policy" Wall Street Journal (08/02/96) P. A2; Milbank, Dana The U.S. Senate approved a welfare reform bill by a 78 to 21 margin on Thursday, clearing the way for President Bill Clinton to sign it. The legislation permits states to control their own welfare programs, imposes a five-year lifetime limit on benefits, and requires that those who receive welfare find work within two years. The measure also reduces spending by nearly $56 billion over six years and has provisions to discourage out-of-wedlock births. Some Democrats criticized the bill--Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D--N.Y.) characterized the legislation as "welfare repeal" instead of reform, stating that "it is the first step in dismantling the social contract that has been in place in the U.S. since at least the 1930s." "Deadly Variant of AIDS Virus Spreads to Britain" Reuters (08/01/96) New Scientist magazine, a British science journal, reported Thursday that a new, potentially more virulent strain of HIV that is found most often in Thailand has been diagnosed in Britain. Since May, 73 cases of HIV-subtype E infection have been detected in the country--12 in women. "Once there's a critical mass of a more infectious type of HIV, the disease could take off more in the heterosexual population than it has already," said Barry Evans, an epidemiologist at Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service. The agency has requested additional funding for increased surveillance of the new variants because it does not have enough resources itself. "New Hope, Care for People in Need: Center for Women With HIV to Open" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (07/31/96) P. 1B; Schieszer, John The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has opened a health care center for HIV-infected women, the group with the fastest-growing rate of HIV infection, according to Washington University professor Dr. Vicky Fraser. The new Helena Hatch Special Care Center combines the benefits of a large teaching hospital with links to other public health facilities, including the city and state health departments, to better provide care for women infected with HIV. The center is just one of five in the United States that specializes in women's care, offering medical, psychological, and social assistance for all women whether they are able to pay or not. HIV-infected children will also be treated at the new facility. "Court Orders HIV Test for Juvenile Sex Offender" Reuters (08/01/96) Testing juvenile sex offenders for HIV without their consent does not violate their Fourth Amendment rights, an Arizona court has ruled. The decision, which was reported by the BNA Health Care Daily on July 31, overturns a previous juvenile court decision that said involuntary HIV testing was unconstitutional. In the State of Arizona v. Maricopa County Superior Court, the court held that when "juvenile's acts could have exposed the victim to HIV, involuntary HIV testing is not an unreasonable search and seizure," though it acknowledged that involuntary HIV testing is a breach of the offender's privacy. The case was spearheaded by the minor's mother who asked for the test following an alleged incident of anal intercourse. "Kenya Backs Life in Jail for HIV-Infected Rapists" Reuters (08/01/96) HIV-infected rapists and anyone found guilty of intentionally infecting others with HIV should receive life in prison, said parliamentarians in Kenya. In their unanimous show of support for the mandatory sentence, the lawmakers voiced their concerns about the rapid spread of HIV and blamed courts for delivering lax sentences to infected rapists and sex offenders. A draft amendment to the penal code will be prepared when parliament returns from its August break. "Will New AIDS Drugs Put More People at Risk?" Village Voice (07/23/96) Vol. 41, No. 30, P. 26; Schoofs, Mark Although promising new drugs have been found to reduce the amount of HIV in the blood, researchers do not know if this lessens the risk that a patient will transmit the virus to others. Common sense suggests that someone with less virus in their blood would be less likely to transmit the virus, but studies have shown that the level of HIV in semen or vaginal secretions can vary even if the level in the blood is consistent. Moreover, while some drugs are known to be able to suppress the virus in the genital tract, tests have only just started on the impact of protease inhibitors. Studies suggest that HIV can be transmitted both via an infected cell and as a free-floating virus. At the XIth International Conference on AIDS, researcher David Ho of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center said that, even if anti-HIV drugs worked perfectly, it could take up to three years for all of a patient's infected cells to die out. Even by reducing infectivity, though, researchers said that the new drugs could help curb the spread of HIV. Deborah Anderson, a Harvard University researcher working on understanding the sexual transmission of HIV, said that more research has not been conducted in the area because funding has not been available.