Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 10:02:16 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 06/24/96 AIDS Daily Summary June 24, 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 ****************************************************** "Green Cross Corp." "Ride to Remember: 1,901 Cyclists Join AIDS Fund-Raiser" "In Night Ministry, Cookies and Condoms Carry the Message" "Adamant About Animal Rights" "Doctor Charged in Man's Suicide" "Hands Reach Out to Family Hit by AIDS" "Rare Food Parasite Eyed in Illnesses" "Hollywood Marks 'Day of Compassion'" "Returning Home: Reflections on the USA's Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic" "Anti-AIDS Ads Back Gay Community" ****************************************************** "Green Cross Corp." Wall Street Journal (06/24/96) P. B9A Japan's Green Cross Corp. has announced that it will face a one-time charge of at least $42.5 million in the fiscal year ending March 1997 as a result of litigation by HIV-infected hemophiliacs who allege that the company supplied them with unheated blood products potentially contaminated with HIV. The number of plaintiffs has increased from 401 in March to its present 806. "Ride to Remember: 1,901 Cyclists Join AIDS Fund-Raiser" Washington Post (06/24/96) P. B1; Argetsinger, Amy The Philadelphia-to-Washington D.C., bicycle ride that ended Sunday was one of five AIDS rides across the country that together are expected to raise $25 million for AIDS organizations. The 1,901 riders that ended their trip from Philadelphia near the Washington Monument raised $4.5 million for Washington's Whitman-Walker Clinic, Food & Friends, and other AIDS service organizations. Many of the participants, who were required to raise a minimum of $1,400 each, rode in support or memory of friends with AIDS. "In Night Ministry, Cookies and Condoms Carry the Message" New York Times (06/24/96) P. A10; Terry, Don The Night Ministry, a nondenominational group of clergy and volunteers, provides outreach to pimps, prostitutes, teenage runaways, and homeless people on the streets of Chicago. Volunteers go out in the group's van five nights a week, delivering cookies, condoms, medication, conversation, and religion. When the ministry was founded 20 years ago, it was based on listening and counseling, but with the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the group started providing condoms as well. Rev. Thomas Behrens, who helped found the ministry, noted that the group provides condoms because "we can't continue to build relationships with people if they're dead." "Adamant About Animal Rights" Washington Post (06/24/96) P. B3; Lipton, Eric Animal rights activists gathered in Washington, D.C., on Sunday for the March for the Animals, representing circus animals, dolphins, and animals used for fur, medical research, and cosmetic testing. Some factions of the demonstrators were urging peaceful rallies, while others advocated noisy, disruptive protests. AIDS activists have criticized the animal rights movement for putting animals before humans. Animal rights groups argued, however, that research on animals does little to advance the search for new AIDS treatments. "Doctor Charged in Man's Suicide" Toronto Globe and Mail (06/21/96) P. A1; Coutts, Jane; Hess, Henry An AIDS specialist in Toronto was charged Thursday with helping one of his patients kill himself. Dr. Maurice Genereux is believed to be the first doctor in Canada to be charged with assisted suicide. He was released on bail with permission to continue practicing medicine but not to prescribe controlled drugs. The case involves the death of Aaron McGinn, a 31-year-old AIDS patient who died at his home in early April. McGinn's death was attributed to AIDS, but three weeks ago, the Toronto coroner's office received a call that AIDS was not the real cause of death. After researching the case, the coroner and police investigators concluded that McGinn had committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal, a drug Genereux had prescribed for him several months before. Steve Minuk, McGinn's close friend and former lover, said he had known of McGinn's desire to take his own life and had promised not to interfere. "Hands Reach Out to Family Hit by AIDS" Philadelphia Inquirer (06/22/96) P. B1; Shaw, Donna Following the death of her only son, Mark, to AIDS in 1992, Judith Trullinger became suicidal and could not work. She now owes about $35,000 on her mortgage and as much as $145,000 in back taxes, and thus was about to lose her home in a sheriff's sale Friday. Delaware County Judge Joseph F. Battle, however, gave Trullinger a three-month reprieve on her mortgage. Sen. Rick Santorum's (R-Pa.) office offered her free legal assistance in the case and may help her with the taxes she owes as well. Since the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Trullinger's dire needs on Thursday, many people have offered to help by providing money, housing, tax preparation, and other services. Moreover, the Delaware Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation plans to set up a fund for Trullinger, whose son, a hemophiliac, contracted HIV from tainted blood products. Trullinger also could be eligible to receive at least $100,000 under a nationwide settlement between four pharmaceutical companies and the lawyers for HIV-infected hemophiliacs. "Rare Food Parasite Eyed in Illnesses" Boston Globe (06/21/96) P. 1; Miles, Katrina; Knox, Richard A. After confirming 28 cases in Massachusetts of persistent diarrheal illness linked to a food-borne parasite, state health officials are considering warning doctors to watch for more cases involving the unusual microbe. The infection has been reported in several hundred people in North America. The Massachusetts health department is not advising people to avoid any fruits or vegetables, but is recommending that people with compromised immunity--like those infected with HIV or who are undergoing cancer treatment--consider eating only cooked, peeled, or locally grown produce. The illness--caused by a one-celled organism called Cyclospora cayetanenis-- can lead to severe dehydration if left untreated. "Hollywood Marks 'Day of Compassion'" United Press International (06/21/96) HIV and AIDS were common themes on Friday's soap operas and television talk shows as Hollywood marked the fourth annual Day of Compassion to remember people who died of AIDS and to raise public awareness about HIV and AIDS. Soaps, including ABC's "All My Children" and "General Hospital," remembered fictional characters and real people who died of AIDS. Such talk show hosts as Maury Povich, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah Winfrey discussed AIDS issues including children with AIDS, AIDS charities, and teenage mothers with AIDS. "Returning Home: Reflections on the USA's Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic" Lancet (06/15/96) Vol. 347, No. 9016, P. 1673; Merson, Michael H. In an essay in the British medical journal the Lancet, Dr. Michael Merson of the Yale University medical school, comments on the United States' response to AIDS and how it can be improved. Merson worked for the World Health Organization for 18 years--for five years as director of the agency's Global Program on AIDS. He says he was surprised when he returned to the United States at the ignorance he encountered among many Americans about how HIV is spread, and the fear among school systems about teaching HIV prevention. Merson suggests that condoms should be more readily available and advertised in the media. He also criticizes the government's policy of not allowing federal funds to be used for syringe exchange programs and recommends that states address the financial needs of AIDS patients in their Medicaid plans. Merson says the United States' poor response to AIDS is due in part to the reluctance to discuss sexual behavior and to the stigmatization associated with AIDS. He advises community-based organizations to implement AIDS prevention programs and says AIDS services need to be available to all segments of the population. Removing the stigma of HIV is important, Merson concludes, as is minimizing debates about AIDS education and prevention campaigns. "Anti-AIDS Ads Back Gay Community" Advertising Age (06/17/96) Vol. 67, No. 25; P. 38 In a new public service campaign geared to the gay community, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) and BBDO West remind young men that "There's life after sex." The campaign is designed to encourage young gay men not to throw their lives away with unsafe sex. Allen Carrier, APLA communications director, said that some stations or viewers may object to the campaign because it endorses the gay community.