Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 10:08:01 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 08/29/96 AIDS Daily Summary August 29, 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 ****************************************************** "Swedish Conference Takes Aim at Child Sex Trade" "Abbott Labs Keeps on Top With New Products and Uses" "Japan's Top AIDS Expert Arrested in Blood Scandal" "Chemical May Stimulate AIDS Virus, Researchers Say" "Inmate Charged With Spreading AIDS" "HIV-Positive Patients With TB: Dramatic Increase Reported" "Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe--AIDS" "Fast HIV-Positive Infection in Svetlogorsk Region" "Resistance to HIV-1 Infection in Caucasian Individuals Bearing Mutant Alleles of the CCR-5 Chemokine Receptor Gene" "AIDS Claims Remain Flat: Study" ****************************************************** "Swedish Conference Takes Aim at Child Sex Trade" USA Today (08/29/96) P. 12A To avoid the risk of HIV infection, some men are turning to children for sex instead of women, a United Nations official told a conference on child sex abuse in Sweden. More than 1 million children worldwide are forced into prostitution and child pornography, the agency reported. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, told delegates that having sex with younger partners does not offer the protection from HIV men are seeking. He noted that many child prostitutes carry the virus and are in fact more susceptible to infection than adults. The delegates promised to foster new cooperation to stop both child pornography and prostitution. "Abbott Labs Keeps on Top With New Products and Uses" Investor's Business Daily (08/29/96) P. B14; Hui, Esther To remain competitive, Abbott Laboratories knows it needs to not only develop new products, but discover new applications for current ones. Abbott's newest drugs include Norvir (ritonavir), a treatment for AIDS that was cleared by the FDA in March and is expected to earn the company some $60 million this year, and Serlect (sertindole), a treatment for schizophrenia that was recommended for approval on July 15. Drugs that have benefited recently from expanded labeling include the antibiotic Biaxin (clarithromycin), which is now approved for the treatment of ulcers, and Depakote, an anticonvulsant that is now also prescribed for treating the manic phase of manic depression. Abbott's patent on Hytrin, a treatment for enlarged prostate glands, expires at the beginning of next year, making the approval of new products and new applications even more significant. "Japan's Top AIDS Expert Arrested in Blood Scandal" Reuters (08/29/96); Chang, Yvonne Japan's leading expert on hemophilia and AIDS was arrested Wednesday on charges based on accusations that he knowingly prescribed blood products in 1984 that could have been tainted with HIV. Takeshi Abe has also been the target of legal claims filed by the family of a hemophiliac who died of AIDS years after receiving unheated blood products from Abe's hospital team. Abe's home, the offices of the Health Ministry and Teikyo University in Tokyo, where he worked, were raided Thursday. Abe has testified that he used the untreated blood products because cryoprecipitate was not easily available and was often dangerous. Other experts, however, contradicted his arguments, saying that they had not seen the clogged blood vessels that Abe had mentioned. "Chemical May Stimulate AIDS Virus, Researchers Say" Reuters (08/28/96); Fox, Maggie A certain immune system protein thought to be a potential treatment for HIV infection may actually worsen the infection, researchers say. Michael Bukrinsky, of the Picower Institute for Medical Research, and colleagues report in the journal Nature that the proteins, called beta-chemokines, seem to help HIV infect one type of immune system cell. Scientists have found that HIV uses some of the same receptors that chemokines do to enter target cells. They had hoped that the proteins could be used to block infection of T cells. Bukrinsky found that beta-chemokines helped HIV infect macrophages, another target of the virus, and the researchers warn against using chemokines as a therapeutic agent. "Inmate Charged With Spreading AIDS" United Press International (08/27/96) An HIV-positive inmate in a federal prison in Milan, Mich. was indicted Tuesday for attempted murder linked to allegations that he raped two fellow inmates. Prosecutors say that Jerry L. Morrison, currently serving a 144-month sentence for felony possession of firearms, knew he was HIV-positive when he forced the inmates into unprotected sex last March. One of the inmates has tested positive for HIV. Morrison now faces up to a life sentence. "HIV-Positive Patients With TB: Dramatic Increase Reported" Reuters (08/28/96) The number of HIV-positive patients with tuberculosis (TB) who were hospitalized in New York between 1987 and 1992 increased by 270 percent, researchers report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Human Retrovirology. Bruce D. Agins of the New York State Department of Health and colleagues based their findings on a review of hospital discharge records. They also note that the proportion of women, substance abusers, and minority patients in the coinfected population increased during the time period. The increase in TB was found only in those patients also infected with HIV. "Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe--AIDS" PANA Wire Service (08/28/96) Since its first AIDS cases were reported, Zimbabwe has been a leader in releasing statistics on the disease's spread. Estimates now show that 10 percent of the country's 10.5 million people are HIV-positive, and at least 200,000 people have developed AIDS. The high rate of infection has contributed to a high level of AIDS awareness in the country but has also been a factor in criticism from other nations. "Fast HIV-Positive Infection in Svetlogorsk Region" Itar Wire Service (08/27/96) The rapid spread of HIV in the Svetlogorsk and Gomel regions of Byelorussia is causing panic among residents, according to health officials. The first three HIV cases in the area were reported in June. Now some 360 people, most of them drug addicts, are known to be infected with HIV. Another 2,000 cases may be identified with the next few months, one health official estimated. Many drug users are voluntarily coming to HIV prevention centers for HIV tests. "Resistance to HIV-1 Infection in Caucasian Individuals Bearing Mutant Alleles of the CCR-5 Chemokine Receptor Gene" Nature (08/22/96) Vol. 382, No. 6593, P. 722; Samson, Michel; Libert, Frederick; Doranz, Benjamin J.; et al. The chemokine receptor CCR-5 was recently found to be a co-receptor essential for HIV-1 to infect target cells. CCR-5 has been identified as the major co-receptor for the primary macrophage-tropic HIV-1 strains, which predominate during the asymptomatic phase of the infection and are thought to cause HIV-1 transmission. Researchers from France, Belgium, the United States, and Japan report that a mutant allele of CCR-5 is frequently present in Caucasians but is absent in Black populations from Western and Central Africa as well as from Japanese populations. The mutated gene creates a non-functional receptor that does not allow membrane fusion or infection by macrophage- and dual-tropic HIV-1 strains. In a study of HIV-1 infected Caucasian subjects, no individuals were homozygous for the mutation and the frequency of heterozygotes was 35 percent lower than in the general population. The authors suggest that the lower frequency of heterozygotes may indicate partial resistance. They point out that no one knows whether the resistance afforded by the mutation is absolute or relative, and whether resistance will vary depends on the mode of transmission. They also suggest that drug therapies could be developed to block HIV-1's ability to use CCR-5 as a cofactor, and subsequently prevent HIV-1 infection. "AIDS Claims Remain Flat: Study" Business Insurance (08/19/96) Vol. 30, No. 34, P. 35 A new survey by the Health Insurance Association of American and the American Council of Life Insurance has determined that group health and life insurers paid slightly more than $1 billion in AIDS-related claims--about the same amount as the previous year. Group life insurers paid 1995 AIDS-related claims of $571.4 million, up slightly from $562.9 million in 1994. Group health insurers paid 1995 AIDS-related claims of $446 million, approximately the same amount as 1994. The survey provides evidence that AIDS-related claims are unlikely to ever pose a large enough threat to the solvency of commercial insurance companies.