Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 10:52:37 +0500 From: gharaghs{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/gharaghs}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 3/6/96 AIDS Daily Summary March 6, 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 ************************************************************ "Debate Over Teaching AIDS Prevention" "Chiron's Eye Implant Device Is Approved for AIDS Care" "General Denounces AIDS Policy as Unfair" "Clinton Seeks Relief Funds for Disasters, AIDS Drugs" "State Doctors Reject Policy on Reporting HIV" "Chronicle: Two Friends Turn Their Grief into Action and Find Compassion Along the Way" "Ontario Probes Hepatitis Outbreak" "New HIV Vaccine to be Tested On Humans in Sweden" "A "Complement-ary" AIDS Vaccine" "HIV Prevention for Intravenous Drug Users" ************************************************************ "Debate Over Teaching AIDS Prevention" Baltimore Sun (03/06/96) P. 7A Teenagers are infected with HIV at an average rate of more than one an hour, according to a new report released by the White House Office of AIDS Policy. The report urges strong AIDS education for children so they know how to protect themselves later when they have sex or experiment with drugs. "Kids are dying because adults are arguing about what to tell them about AIDS," said Miguel Bustos, one of the report's authors. Most U.S. schools provide some AIDS education, but many do not allow discussion of sexual intercourse, homosexuality, bisexuality, and condoms. Conservative groups have criticized AIDS education, saying that advising teens about using condoms condones teen-age sex. The report, however, said that "discussion of the facts concerning such matters is not inconsistent with also encouraging abstinence of delayed sexual activity." It recommended HIV counseling for teens without parental consent, free or low-cost HIV tests for teens, and a board of HIV-positive teens to advise on government services for teens. Related Story: USA Today (03/06) P. 3D "Chiron's Eye Implant Device Is Approved for AIDS Care" New York Times (03/06/96) P. D5; Fisher, Lawrence M. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave approval on Tuesday to the Chiron Corporation to begin marketing a device that is implanted in the eyes of AIDS patients to help them fight an infection that causes blindness. The device, called Vitrasert, was approved for use with ganciclovir, an antiviral drug for treating cytomegalovirus retinitis, which affects about 40 percent of AIDS patients. Ganciclovir is marketed by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. and is sold under the name Cytovene. The Vitrasert device should improve the delivery of ganciclovir, which is now administered through costly and unpleasant intravenous infusions. Related Story: Wall Street Journal (03/06) P. B4 "General Denounces AIDS Policy as Unfair" New York Times (03/06/96) P. A14 Gen. John Shalikashvili, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday that discharging military personnel because they have HIV is unfair and wastes money spent on their training. Shalikashvili said that the policy is "wasteful because we do have individuals who are in their middle ranks in whom we have invested some training and they have considerable experience and so they do contribute." Under the new provision, which was sponsored by Rep. Robert Dornan (R-Calif.), 1,049 service members with HIV would be discharged within five months. Related Story: Philadelphia Inquirer (03/06) P. A10 "Clinton Seeks Relief Funds for Disasters, AIDS Drugs" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/06/96) P. A11 President Clinton asked Congress on Tuesday for $52 million to help states provide medicine to AIDS patients and $914.3 million to help victims of natural disasters. The White House said that while AIDS research has led to promising medicines, the high cost of the drugs has made them unavailable to many people who need them. The $52 million would go to states to help about 55,000 AIDS patients who do not have prescription drug coverage or who cannot afford the full regimen of AIDS medicines themselves. "State Doctors Reject Policy on Reporting HIV" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (03/06/96) P. A1; Shuit, Douglas The California Medical Association has rescinded its year-old policy of mandatory reporting of people who test positive for HIV. The new policy promises cooperation with public health officials in developing an HIV reporting policy that "preserves patient-physician confidentiality." The policy was changed out of the fear that people at risk for HIV would not be tested if they knew their name would be reported to officials. When the group made the reporting mandatory last year, the decision was criticized by AIDS organizations. State law says that doctors must report any cases of AIDS, tuberculosis, and syphilis, but not HIV infection. Supporters of mandatory reporting say that it is the only way to ensure that a person's partners are notified, but physicians now say that the risks of reporting outweigh the benefits. Studies have shown that mandatory reporting does deter people from being tested. Twenty-five states now require confidential reporting of HIV-infected individuals. "Chronicle: Two Friends Turn Their Grief into Action and Find Compassion Along the Way" New York Times (03/06/96) P. D22; Brozan, Nadine Maternity-wear manufacturer Dana Cappiello lost her friend Anthony Torrieri to AIDS three years ago and found that some people did not understand her grief. "Family and people I thought were his friends said: 'He was gay. Didn't you expect him to die of AIDS?'" she explained. As a result, Cappiello and friend Kathy Scutchfield created the Until There's a Cure Foundation to raise money for AIDS causes. The two make bracelets that are sold in stores across the country, including Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and the Body Shop. On Tuesday, the women attended a press conference in Washington at which a government report "Youth and HIV/AIDS: an American Agenda," was released. The $140,000 report was prepared by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, but Cappiello noted that she and Scutchfield "gave $100,000 because there was not enough Government funding." "Ontario Probes Hepatitis Outbreak" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/05/96) P. A3; Immen, Wallace Ontario is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis B in patients tested at clinics in the Toronto area. Thirty patients were infected with the virus from improperly sterilized needles used in brain-scanning tests at three clinics supervised by one doctor, Richard Shabas, Ontario's chief medical officer for health reported. Thousands of patients at those clinics and one other will be asked to get tested for hepatitis or other blood-borne diseases. The patients had all received EEGs, a brain-activity test that uses about 20 needle electrodes. EEG machines that use surface electrodes are replacing those that use needles, but smaller clinics use the older equipment. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario issued formal guidelines last year on sterilizing needle electrodes that recommend cleaning them with soap and water to remove all residue, and then sterilizing them with heat or gas. "New HIV Vaccine to be Tested On Humans in Sweden" Reuters (03/05/96) A new genetic HIV vaccine, hoped to be able to strengthen the immune system, will soon be tested on humans in Sweden. The tests, to be administered at the Karolinska Institute, are set to begin in about a month on nine people in the early stages of HIV infection. Animal tests have shown that the immune system reacts positively to similar genetic vaccines. The vaccine consists of single genes from HIV which are injected into a patient's muscle, activating the immune system to attack the virus. The results of the study could tell researchers if it is possible to improve the immune system in people with HIV. "A "Complement-ary" AIDS Vaccine" Nature Medicine (02/96) Vol.2, No.2, P. 153; Dierich, Manfred P. ; Stoiber, Heribert; Clivio, Alberto Human complement, the antimicrobial enzyme system found in plasma, causes the rejection of xenotransplants. Human cells are protected from this reaction, and it has been suggested that the same device that protects human cells could be employed to protect transplanted organs. Pigs are now being raised that have a human transgene for a protein that regulates human complement activation and is supposed to protect the pig's cells from attack by human complement. HIV-1 has been using human complement and anticomplement strategies for its own purposes and, Dierich and colleagues suggest, it may be possible to use this strategy against the virus in a vaccine. When a new virus is created, it acquires part of the host cell membrane, including complement proteins, thereby allowing it to use the host cells' own defense against the host complement system. Efforts toward an HIV vaccine so far have focused on eliciting an effective immune defense, but a more promising target would be antibodies for the gp41 and gp120 sites relevant to complement activation. Vaccinating a person with the proper gp41 proteins could result in antibodies against the complement binding sites for HIV-1, the researchers conclude. "HIV Prevention for Intravenous Drug Users" Lancet (02/10/96) Vol.347, No.8998, P. 401; Epstein, Adrienne In a letter to the editor of the Lancet, Adrienne Epstein of the HIV Health Services Unit at Massachusetts Department of Public Health advocates needle exchange programs to help control the spread of HIV. Epstein discusses a conference at which health officials, pharmacists, police officers, and outreach workers from the New England states met to develop strategies to make clean syringes available to injection drug users. The group focused on implementing needle-exchange programs and decriminalizing the possession of syringes. All states agreed that providing sterile syringes and education about how to avoid infection was the best strategy to combat HIV transmission. In addition, a National Academy of Science report advocates needle-exchange programs and measures to decriminalize purchasing and owning syringes. Epstein notes that the conference emphasized the need to educate the community about the positive impact of such programs.