Date: Fri, 27 Dec 96 14:43:26 EST From: "Shelly Olim" Subject: AIDS Daily Summary 12/20/96 AIDS Daily Summary December 20, 1996 The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC. 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 ****************************************************** "NIH Director Endorses Needle Exchange Research" "Powerful Treatments Create Growing Rift Among AIDS Groups" "AIDS Advances Called Top 1996 Scientific Breakthrough" "Donor May Be Charged After Patient Is Infected With HIV" "Adolescent Drug Use Continues to Rise" "Market Place: A Broad Patent Is Spurring the Shares of Protein Design Lab" "Across the USA: Virginia" "Health Notes: AIDS Trial Starts" "Medical Education Gets Wired: Interactive Media Laboratory Targets Patients and Physicians" "Citizen Koch's Condom Campaign" ****************************************************** "NIH Director Endorses Needle Exchange Research" Washington Post (12/20/96) P. A13 A controversial needle exchange study has been approved by the director of the National Institutes of Health, despite charges from a health industry watchdog group that it is "immoral and unethical." NIH Director Harold Varmus said that the $2.4 million study, which would compare the impact of two methods of needle distribution on the rate of infectious disease among injection drug users, could be initiated as long as the participants are offered shots against hepatitis B. Half of the participants will be allowed to exchange used needles for clean ones, while the other half will be told how and where they can buy needles from drugstores. Current and former drug users are participating, so the study will not only assess impact of the two methods on disease, but also determine if the former users would be more likely to relapse to drug use if clean needles were available. The Public Citizens' Health Research Group contends that the study would increase the disease risk among those drug users who will not receive free needles. "Powerful Treatments Create Growing Rift Among AIDS Groups" Wall Street Journal (12/20/96) P. A1; McGinley, Laurie The recent successes of new AIDS drugs have driven some patient advocates to call for a shift of funding away from social services toward drugs and treatment. The providers of these services, including transportation, housing, and counseling, are now desperate to maintain funding for their programs as a result. James Loyce Jr., director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, comments, "You can have the best medicines and medical services in the world, but if people can't get to the appointment, what good does it do to have a doctor sitting there someplace?" Providers also note that their services are still important, because the new drugs do not work for everyone and they might not have lasting efficacy. In explaining their position, advocates of increased funding for treatments say the service organizations have grown into massive bureaucracies that seek to perpetuate themselves. "AIDS Advances Called Top 1996 Scientific Breakthrough" Baltimore Sun (12/20/96) P. 24A Research into HIV, which resulted in new AIDS drugs and a greater understanding of the virus' function, was named the "Breakthrough of the Year" for 1996 by the journal Science. The research, which identified three natural chemokines that suppress HIV, was published by scientists in Milan, Italy and Robert Gallo, and researchers at the U.S. Cancer Institute. Science reported that the findings "may one day blossom into new treatments or even vaccines." "Donor May Be Charged After Patient Is Infected With HIV" Richmond Times-Dispatch (12/20/96) P. A11 A blood donor whose HIV-tainted blood infected a transplant patient may face criminal charges, Milwaukee County officials report. Under Wisconsin's HIV confidentiality law, the name of the infected man cannot be released, though authorities hope to contact him through the hospital. Officials at the blood center where the donation was made said the donor lied on a screening survey about his high-risk sexual behavior. The donated blood tested negative for HIV, because a test used at the time could not detect the infection for three to six weeks after the man was infected. "Adolescent Drug Use Continues to Rise" New York Times (12/20/96) P. B12; Wren, Christopher S. A new survey has found that drug use continued to increase among adolescents this year, raising concerns about the efficacy of drug prevention programs. Marijuana was the most prevalent of the drugs used, accounting for 90 percent, but alcohol was found to be much more widely used than illegal drugs. Lloyd D. Johnston, who led the annual survey at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, said the results show that "we're clearly moving in the wrong direction and continuing to do so." The level of marijuana use has not reached the level of 1978, when 11 percent of high school seniors said they used it daily. The recent survey found that 5 percent use the substance every day. "Market Place: A Broad Patent Is Spurring the Shares of Protein Design Lab" Wall Street Journal (12/20/96) P. D6; Fisher, Lawrence M. Protein Design Lab, which announced on Monday that it had received a patent covering the production of humanized antibodies in mice, saw its shares rise 25 percent this week. The patent could create royalties for the company, whose product pipeline is also promising, analysts say. Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Geller notes Protein Design Labs benefits from broad enabling technology that could lead to the development of drugs for many different diseases as well as a solid business strategy. Among the drugs in the company's pipeline are Kanebo, a possible treatment for cytomegalovirus in transplant and AIDS patients, and a drug for chronic hepatitis B and liver transplants. "Across the USA: Virginia" USA Today (12/20/96) P. 20A Margaret Anne Hunter, of Alexandria, Va., has sued a woman she met on the Internet for misrepresenting herself as a man with AIDS. Hunter and Holly Anne Groves, of Bryan, TX, were married four months before Hunter found out Groves was a woman. "Health Notes: AIDS Trial Starts" United Press International (12/20/96); Wasowicz, Lidia Researchers at Neurobiological Technologies of Richmond, Calif., are initiating a trial of the drug Memantine, a potential treatment for AIDS-related dementia and nerve damage. No treatments are currently available for these conditions. About one-third of all AIDS patients develop neurological problems, including loss of cognition, movement, and sensation, and up to 40 percent report neuropathic pain. "Medical Education Gets Wired: Interactive Media Laboratory Targets Patients and Physicians" Journal of the American Medical Association (12/11/96) Vol. 276, No. 22, P. 1788; Stephenson, Joan Among the multimedia programs developed at Dartmouth's Interactive Media Laboratory to help health care professionals, students, and patients deal with particular health issues, is a project on treating HIV and AIDS. "HIV and AIDS: An Interactive Curriculum," developed jointly by the Columbia University School of Nursing and Dartmouth Medical School, is designed to provide information about HIV to students pursuing health-related professions. Topics covered in the six-hour program include the virus' cycle, risk factors, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and psychosocial issues. The program combines video, text, music, charts, graphs, and other graphics, including an animated demonstration of how HIV attacks a cell. The personal experiences of four HIV patients are incorporated into the program, and viewers have four interactions with a simulated patient, a 20-year-old college student. A second version of the program for doctors and nurse practitioners is being developed. "Citizen Koch's Condom Campaign" New York (12/16/96) Vol. 29, No. 49, P. 13; Keil, Beth Landman; Mitchell, Deborah New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch is promoting a plan to show public-service announcements that encourage safer sex in place of the trivia quizzes shown at city movie theaters before films. The suggestion was offered by one of the Mayor's radio listeners, and a short animated film was produced as a result by two young film students whose aid Koch enlisted. The mayor had also sought help from dozens of Hollywood sources, but no one accepted. Koch proceeded to personally lobby movie theaters in the city, but he was largely unsuccessful. City Cinema, however, agreed to show the film on five of its screens.