Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 10:11:10 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 03/25/96 AIDS Daily Summary March 25, 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 ************************************************************ "AIDS Drugs Bring Hope, High Prices" "Stricken, But Speaking Out" "Fanfare: Auto Racing" "FDA Approves Human Testing of Preventive AIDS Vaccine" "Vaginal Microbicides Explored for AIDS Prevention" "Leading AIDS Researcher Warns of Second Epidemic" "TB A Threat in Latin America, Caribbean" "Advisory on Zidovudine to Reduce HIV Transmission From Mother to Infant Sent to Thousands of Health Care Providers" "Lamivudine Resistance May be Associated with Beneficial Effects" "AIDS Update: AIDS Research: Charge It" ************************************************************ "AIDS Drugs Bring Hope, High Prices" Washington Post (03/25/96) P. A1; Gillis, Justin The recent approval of costly new AIDS drugs, which could raise the cost of treating HIV from $2,500 a year to $12,000, leaves cities and states in the difficult position of trying to devise ways to help pay for them. In the face of federal government spending shortfalls, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening has promised about $1 million in additional state funds to pay for the new drugs. In addition, the Clinton administration has asked Congress to approve an extra $52 million for drug payment programs, but the request has been stymied by the budget debate. Scientists hope the new drugs will allow HIV-infected individuals to live longer, more productive lives. "Stricken, But Speaking Out" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/25/96) P. F5; Reeves, Tracey A. Since finding out in 1992 that she has HIV, Lisa Tiger has become an AIDS activist in the American Indian community, sharing her story and telling others that anyone can get AIDS, including people like her from the rural middle class. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as of June 1995, 1,010 American Indians had AIDS, but people like Tiger and Miguel Marinez of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center claim the figure is too low. Daniel Simpson, an AIDS coordinator for the Indian Health Service, says the infection rate is underreported because AIDS is a taboo subject in the American Indian community. "Fanfare: Auto Racing" Washington Post (03/25/96) P. C2 Auto racer Tim Richmond infected several women with HIV before he died in 1989, according to the Miami Herald. Richmond's former fiancee, LaGena Lookabill Greene, announced last year that she had AIDS and that she was infected by Richmond. The Herald reported that two other of Richmond's partners also have AIDS and that another one has died. "FDA Approves Human Testing of Preventive AIDS Vaccine" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (03/25/96); Shaw, Donna For the first time, a preventive AIDS vaccine made with HIV DNA will be tested in uninfected people. The vaccine, made by Apollon Inc. and the University of Pennsylvania, will be given to 16 HIV-negative volunteers who will be followed for 18 months to determine the vaccine's safety and efficacy. The vaccine's two parts--one containing the genes for the production of key HIV proteins and the other containing genes to make viral core proteins, will be tested separately. Also, a DNA-based Apollon-Penn vaccine designed to delay the onset of AIDS is now being tested in HIV-infected individuals. "Vaginal Microbicides Explored for AIDS Prevention" Reuters (03/22/96) Researchers have found several compounds that may be used as vaginal microbicides for preventing HIV infection. Dr. Rudi Pauwels of the Institute for Antiviral Research in Belgium and colleagues report that little attention has been given to the chemical prevention of HIV infection and that spermicides with HIV-inactivating action may have promise to block heterosexual HIV transmission. Nonoxynol 9 and chlorhexidine are two virucidals being studied, and compounds that target other steps in the viral replication cycle could be valuable as secondary barriers. "Leading AIDS Researcher Warns of Second Epidemic" Reuters (03/22/96) Dr. Max Essex, chairman of the Harvard AIDS Institute, warns that the United States may be facing a second AIDS epidemic. HIV-1B, the common HIV type in the United States and Europe, is transmitted through injection drug use, blood products and primary homosexual contact. HIV-1C, -E, -D, and -A subtypes, especially HIV-1C and HIV-E, are currently spreading rapidly in Southeast Asia and Africa. Essex says that these non-B strains are transmitted primarily through vaginal intercourse, and are a greater threat to the world's population. Furthermore, he says that if they took hold in the United States or Europe, they could cause "a heterosexual epidemic of significantly greater magnitude." "TB A Threat in Latin America, Caribbean" Reuters (03/22/96); Kenen, Joanne Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, killing more than 70,000 people in 1995, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reported Friday. Of all the TB-related deaths in the Western Hemisphere last year, 95 percent were in Latin America and the Caribbean. The countries with the worst epidemics include Bolivia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. PAHO estimates that less than 70 percent of the TB patients receive complete treatment, increasing the likelihood of resistant TB strains developing. A PAHO official said that even poor countries can fight the epidemic with consistent treatment, citing Peru and Nicaragua as examples. "Advisory on Zidovudine to Reduce HIV Transmission From Mother to Infant Sent to Thousands of Health Care Providers" Health Resources and Services Administration (03/22/96) The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced Friday that it has provided its service providers with information about offering therapy for HIV-infected pregnant women to reduce viral transmission to their infants. "Program Advisory: Use of Zidovudine (ZDV) to Reduce Perinatal HIV Transmission in HRSA-Funded Programs" offers useful strategies and options for helping women to make practical decisions about ZDV treatment. Included in the 30-page document is a model form to document provider counseling, patient choice for administration of the ZDV therapy, and previous suggestions from the U.S. Public Health Service concerning HIV testing and counseling for infected pregnant women and ZDV use. HRSA Administrator Ciro V. Sumaya said, "We must ensure that women are fully informed and understand that the decision is ultimately theirs." According to HRSA, which works with thousands of health care providers in such programs as the Community and Migrant Health Centers and the Ryan White CARE Act, the guidance should represent the standard of care for pregnant women and be followed in all programs funded by the agency. "Lamivudine Resistance May be Associated with Beneficial Effects" Lancet (03/02/96) Vol. 347, No. 9001, P. 603; Choo, Vivien Patients in clinical studies develop resistance to lamivudine (3TC) after 12 weeks of monotherapy, but do well regardless. This could be because the resistant strain appears at the same time immunity against viral replication develops. Vinayaka Prasad of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Mark Wainberg of McGill University conducted a study with the M184V strain, which can be 1,000 times more resistant than the wild-type virus to 3TC. The researchers found that HIV antibodies decreased seven times faster in zidovudine-treated patients than they did in patients treated with 3TC. This suggests that the M184V strain may have prevented the emergence of strains that help the virus escape attack by antibodies. The researchers also found that when the strain was grown in the presence of anti-HIV agents, it prevented the emergence of variants that were resistant to them. "AIDS Update: AIDS Research: Charge It" Men's Health (03/96) Vol. 11, No. 2, P. 54 People who use the Rainbow Visa Card are now supporting AIDS research with each purchase they make. A percentage of all charges made with the card is donated to nonprofit HIV and gay and lesbian health groups.