Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 11:07:29 +0500 From: "Vaux, Lenore" Subject: AIDS Daily Summary AIDS Daily Summary January 10, 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 Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Court Orders Firm to Pay Damages in Patent Case" "In the Loop: GOP Wants $75 Million to Counsel Teens on Sex" "Nourishing the Body and Soul" "Procept Initiates New Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in HIV-Positive Patients" "Skating Community Hit Hard by AIDS" "Case-Control Study of HIV Seroconversion in Health Care Workers After Percutaneous Exposure to HIV-Infected Blood" "To Treat or Not to Treat--Approaches to Antiviral Therapy" "Health-Illness Beliefs and Practices of Haitians with HIV Disease Living in Boston" "Pro-Con: Should AIDS Tests Be Mandatory for Pregnant Women?" "Banned in the U.S.A." ************************************************************ "Court Orders Firm to Pay Damages in Patent Case" Wall Street Journal (01/10/96) P. B4 The Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court has ruled that Cambridge Biotech Corp. may once again sell its HIV-1 Western Blot test, though the company must pay retroactive damages to the Institut Pasteur in France. The decision reverses an injunction which prevented Cambridge Biotech from selling the test, which the French institute said violated its patent. Cambridge Biotech must pay a one percent royalty on net sales for the test both in the future and retroactive to July 7, 1994. "In the Loop: GOP Wants $75 Million to Counsel Teens on Sex" Washington Post (01/10/96) P. A15; Kamen, Al A provision in the GOP's welfare reform bill would provide the states with $75 million to teach youths "the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity" until they are married. The "abstinence education" funds are geared toward "those groups which are most likely to bear children out-of-wedlock." According to the federal government, the programs would teach children that abstinence is the only "certain" method of avoiding pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and "other associated health problems." The measure says that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity," and sexual activity outside of marriage "is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects." "Nourishing the Body and Soul" Washington Post (01/10/96) P. B1; Wilgoren, Debbi In the aftermath of the blizzard, Monsignor Raymond G. East made several visits on Monday and Tuesday to people who were unable to attend church over the weekend. East waded through unshoveled walks from his Anacostia parish in Washington, D.C., offering prayers and hugs. On Tuesday, East delivered hot meals as part of Food and Friends, an organization that brings meals to some 400 people with AIDS. The group was forced to shut down for the first time ever on Monday, but dozens of volunteers and four-wheel drive vehicles helped resume service to 250 individuals who said they had no other source of food. In addition to their regular meal deliveries, the volunteers will deliver groceries today so the patients will have food in case inclement weather interrupts service again. "Procept Initiates New Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in HIV-Positive Patients" Business Wire (01/09/96) Procept Inc. has been approved to start a new Phase I/II clinical study that will assess the safety, efficacy, and antiviral activity of its PRO 2000 for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. The dose-escalating trial will involve daily bolus injections of PRO 2000, which has been shown to block the binding of gp120 in in vitro preclinical tests. The 16-subject trial will be conducted at Belgium's Saint Pierre University Hospital of The Free University of Brussels. "Skating Community Hit Hard by AIDS" Washington Post (01/07/96) P. A1; Gildea, William Washington Post writer Christine Brennan's new book, "Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating," shows that AIDS has affected male figure skaters more than any other athletes and that the epidemic continues to endanger top U.S. skaters. World champion pair skater Randy Gardner is quoted as saying, "I could name close to 30 people in skating who have died from AIDS." The book claims that the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA) has not responded with adequate urgency to the disease. The USFSA, however, argues that it has been actively involved in AIDS-awareness programs in the past years, and notes that a new nationwide outreach program will increase the information flow. "Case-Control Study of HIV Seroconversion in Health Care Workers After Percutaneous Exposure to HIV-Infected Blood" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (12/22/95) Vol. 44, No. 50, P. 929 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with British and French public health officials, used data from national surveillance systems in the three countries to assess the risk factors for health care workers of HIV infection through work-related exposures to blood. The authors suggest that characteristics of the exposure and the infected patient, as well as the use of zidovudine after the exposure, were associated with a lower risk of HIV transmission. The study included 31 health care workers who had a documented exposure to HIV-infected blood at work, through a needlestick or other sharp object, and a related HIV seroconversion. Their cases were compared to a control group of 679 health care workers who were exposed to the virus but showed no seroconversion. Factors associated with transmission, the researchers said, included a deep injury, blood visible on the device, procedures involving placing a needle directly in a vein or artery, and those with a terminally ill patient. The workers who were infected were also significantly less likely to use zidovudine. "To Treat or Not to Treat--Approaches to Antiviral Therapy" AIDS Clinical Care (01/96) Vol. 8, No. 1, P. 1; Japour, Anthony This interview with five experts on AIDS therapy, Dr. Robert Coombs, Dr. Scott Hammer, Dr. Michael Saag, Dr. Charles van der Horst, and Dr. Deborah Cotton, explores their impressions of the results from three large clinical trials. The trials--called ACTG 175, Delta 1 and Delta 2--analyzed the efficacy of treatment with AZT alone compared to AZT combined with ddI or ddC, and ddI alone. Coombs said that the "ACTG 175 results are the first convincing evidence of overall survival benefit with ddI, either alone or in combination with AZT, compared with AZT alone." According Hammer, the results suggest that "AZT monotherapy may no longer be the optimal approach." Van der Horst said the results show that "treatment outweighs no treatment even very early," and that he "would treat even patients with CD4 counts above 500 if their counts were dropping." Cotton observed that the results show a "modest" benefit of AZT monotherapy, but that she "would not 'push' therapy in an asymptomatic person." The experts were next asked about what data they use to determine the best treatment. Coombs said he uses the patient's CD4 cell count and clinical status, along with their viral load. Saag said his decision to treat asymptomatic patients is based on his "understanding of how the virus causes disease and the pathogenesis of HIV infection." "Health-Illness Beliefs and Practices of Haitians with HIV Disease Living in Boston" Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (11/95-12/95) Vol. 6, No. 6, P. 45; Martin, Michele A.; Rissmiller, Patricia; Beal, Judy A. Martin et al. conducted interviews and studied the medical records of nine Haitian men and women to analyze the health-illness beliefs and practices of Haitians living in Boston with AIDS. The researchers found that Haitians have a distinct set of health beliefs and practices which may conflict with those of modern health care providers. Haitians may credit their symptoms to biomedical, natural, or supernatural causes. For example, one woman said her illness was a punishment from God. "God sends sickness to people who do bad things," she said. Another said she refused to let a man stay in her house, and that "this man may have sent the HIV disease to me" for revenge by black magic. Others believed their condition was a "natural" illness, caused by environmental forces, like heat, wind or dampness. Most of the participants said they tried to hide their disease from friends and family members to avoid rejection. One participant said his brother and sister "say terrible things to hurt me since they found out that I have AIDS." All the participants said they used some kind of spiritual practice to cope with their illness, usually attending church and praying. The researchers also found that the participants rarely saw a medical doctor and that they used traditional healing practices. "Pro-Con: Should AIDS Tests Be Mandatory for Pregnant Women?" Health (01/96-02/96) Vol.10, No.1, P. 28; Kuvin, Sanford; Stryker, Jeff The AIDS drug AZT can significantly reduce the risk of maternal-fetal HIV transmission. Federal guidelines state that any screening of pregnant women should be voluntary, however some physicians and legislators claim that those rules are not sufficient. In Health magazine, Dr. Sanford Kuvin, an infectious disease physician, argues that HIV tests should be required for pregnant women, because voluntary testing is not effective. He points out that, in some states, mothers who refuse to take syphilis and hepatitis B tests are accused of neglect. He also maintains that mandatory HIV testing is already in place for a large segment of society--blood donors, military, federal prisoners, Job Corps applicants, immigrants, and foreign service employees. But Jeff Stryker, a medical ethicist at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco, contends that HIV tests should not be mandatory for pregnant women, because a positive test "carries great stigma," and that women would be less likely to seek prenatal care just to avoid the test. He notes that during pregnancy, women are more likely to be open to testing and other health measures to improve their chances of having a healthy baby. "Banned in the U.S.A." POZ (12/95-01/96) P. 40; Archer, Bert "April Fool's Day," by Australian writer Bryce Courtenay, is the story of his son Damon's life as a hemophiliac and as a hemophiliac with AIDS. Courtenay wrote the book after his son died in 1991. A bestseller in Australia, the U.K., New Zealand and South Africa, the book has been rejected by U.S. publishers because, according to Courtenay, "the concept of a heterosexual getting AIDS is simply unacceptable to their middle American readers." The book tells of Damon's illness, the AIDS environment in Australia at the time, and of Courtenay's progression from a mostly absent father to an AIDS activist.