Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 09:57:04 -0500 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 12/03/96 AIDS Daily Summary December 3, 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 ****************************************************** "Seeking Reasons for Disease Genes" "Still Needed: An AIDS Vaccine" "Looking Past Fear of AIDS to See a Child" "Across the USA: Colorado, Alaska" "Courage, Luck, and Message of Hope" "Book World: Science vs. Reality" "Senate Tackles State Propositions Allowing Use of Illegal Drugs" "Jessye Norman Enlists Churches in AIDS Fight" "Characteristics of Women 50 Years of Age or Older With Heterosexually Acquired AIDS" "Generation of CD4 and CD8 T-Cell Clones From PBLs of HIV-1 Infected Subjects Using Herpesvirus Saimiri" ****************************************************** "Seeking Reasons for Disease Genes" New York Times (12/03/96) P. C1; Kolata, Gina With new information about how genes impact diseases like AIDS and cancer, researchers are seeking to understand why such genetic advantages exist. Some are searching for advantages brought by mutated genes while more skeptical scientists are asking if there is evidence for a selection effect. Dr. Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute who is studying a genetic mutation that can confer immunity to HIV, believes that such mutations benefited populations in the past and were preserved. O'Brien has suggested that the gene might have been selected to protect against the Black Plague or tuberculosis. "Still Needed: An AIDS Vaccine" Wall Street Journal (12/03/96) P. A22; Shepherd, H.R. In a commentary in the Wall Street Journal, H.R. Shepherd, chairman of the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Foundation, urges the development of vaccines to prevent, and eventually wipe out, HIV. Shepherd describes the medical costs associated with AIDS treatment, and says that vaccines are the most cost-effective medical tool ever devised. As examples, he cites the eradication of polio and smallpox, and the savings attributed to vaccines for these diseases. Shepherd concludes that more funding must be allocated for research on an HIV vaccine. "Looking Past Fear of AIDS to See a Child" New York Times (12/03/96) P. B1; Gonzalez, David When Wayne and Dianne traveled to New York City from rural Virginia to collect their newly adopted son, an infant born with HIV, they did not know whether he would remain HIV-positive. Three-fourths of babies born to HIV-positive mothers are not infected themselves, but test positive for HIV antibodies. The child was adopted through the Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children, which arranges one-fifth of the 100 annual domestic adoptions of children with special medical needs. Few have HIV-positive mothers, however, in part because women with the virus often avoid making adoption plans in denial of their illness. "Across the USA: Colorado, Alaska" USA Today (12/03/96) P. 10A Colorado's El Paso County has reported decreasing rates of HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia since 1990. In Alaska, meanwhile, the number of women infected with HIV has increased 50 percent in the past year. The number of heterosexuals with the virus is 150 percent higher, and the HIV rate is rising in Hispanics and black men. "Courage, Luck, and Message of Hope" Wall Street Journal (12/03/96) P. A23; Wagner, Russell R.; Lazarus, Sarah; Warren, Caleb; et al. In a series of letters to the editor, readers of the Wall Street Journal respond to an article in which writer and editor David Sanford described his personal struggle with AIDS. Russell R. Wagner, of rural Iowa, empathizes with Sanford and other AIDS patients, and says the article helped him understand the challenges faced by people with the disease. Sarah Lazarus, of Concord, Mass., and others applaud the article and the Journal for helping to bring a personal AIDS message to a wide audience. Other readers note that, while Sanford described his relationship with his partner as a "marriage," he contracted HIV from a man he met in a bathhouse, "whose name he didn't catch." "Book World: Science vs. Reality" Washington Post (12/03/96) P. E2; Seideman, Nancy In his book "Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge," sociologist Steven Epstein uses the U.S. AIDS scene as an example of what happens when the leaders of a social movement become part of the establishment. Epstein describes the actions of activists, scientists, politicians, drug companies, and physicians in their efforts to obtain recognition and save lives while protecting their own self interests as well. Reviewer Nancy Seideman says that the credibility fight around researcher Peter Duesberg, who challenges the idea that HIV causes AIDS, is the most interesting of Epstein's examples. "Senate Tackles State Propositions Allowing Use of Illegal Drugs" New York Times (12/03/96) P. A13 The enforcement of new laws allowing the medical use of marijuana in California and Arizona was considered Monday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and other senators, are seeking increased enforcement of federal antidrug laws. Federal law-enforcement officials said they have no specific plan yet, but will pursue drug violators on a case by case basis. "Jessye Norman Enlists Churches in AIDS Fight" USA Today (12/03/96) P. 1D; Stearns, David Patrick Opera star Jessye Norman is producing an AIDS benefit Wednesday night that will be attended by stars including Whoopi Goldberg and Elton John. It will be held at New York's Riverside Church, and will be broadcast next year at this time. The concert will benefit an organization called Balm in Gilead, which leads the effort to involve black churches in the fight against AIDS. "Characteristics of Women 50 Years of Age or Older With Heterosexually Acquired AIDS" American Journal of Public Health (11/96) Vol. 86, No. 11, P. 1616; Schable, Barbara; Chu, Susan Y.; Diaz, Theresa Of all the AIDS cases in women reported through December 1994, 9 percent were among women aged 50 and older, and most of these women contracted HIV through heterosexual contact. Little research has been done to determine the level of HIV risk behavior in older women. Barbara Schable and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention interviewed HIV-positive women in this age group and report on their sociodemographic characteristics and sexual and other risk behaviors. They found that older women were more likely than younger women to live alone, not to have completed high school, to be tested for HIV while hospitalized, and never to have used a condom before testing positive for HIV. The CDC researchers conclude that physicians should try harder to recognize HIV risk behavior in older women, should encourage HIV testing, and should promote condom use. "Generation of CD4 and CD8 T-Cell Clones From PBLs of HIV-1 Infected Subjects Using Herpesvirus Saimiri" Nature Medicine (11/96) Vol. 2, No. 11, P. 1272; Saha, Kunal; Sova, Pavel; Chao, Wei; et al. In vitro studies of HIV have revealed widespread differences in the virus' ability to infect peripheral blood cells, probably a factor of individuals' differences in CD4 T cells, genetic backgrounds, and virus biology. Although these differences would be best studied at the single-cell level, T cells have a short life span. In the journal Nature Medicine, researchers at Columbia University describe a method using herpesvirus saimiri to establish long-term cultures of CD4 and CD8 T cells from the blood cells of HIV-1 infected patients. Their method allows the cells to be cloned and maintained in culture for at least eight months. The authors report that the cloned cells are able to express markers of mature T cells and are infectable with primary and laboratory strains of HIV-1. This method will allow researchers to study T cell biology, HIV-1 infection at different stages, and immune responses to HIV-1 exposure, they say.