Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 10:46:02 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 05/03/96 AIDS Daily Summary May 3, 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 ************************************************************ "Senate Sends AIDS Care Compromise to President" "EPA Orders Water Systems to Monitor for Parasite" "Mom's Privacy or Baby's Welfare?" "Biogen Inc.: Decision Upheld in Dispute With SmithKline on Fees" "Panels Challenge Clinton on Defense" "Congress Expected to Reverse AIDS Cut" "Stoffa to Stand Trial in Theft From AIDS Agency" "Agency Opens City Office for AIDS Support Services" "Adaptive Evolution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Type 1 During the Natural Course of Infection" "RGP-160 Treatment Vaccine (VaxSyn): Canadian Study Finds No Benefit" ************************************************************ "Senate Sends AIDS Care Compromise to President" New York Times (05/03/96) P. A22 The Senate passed a bill on Thursday to extend federal AIDS funding for five years and to urge voluntary HIV testing of pregnant women. The measure calls for mandatory HIV testing of newborns if the voluntary testing does not curb rates of mother-to-child transmission. The bill has been sent to President Clinton, who has expressed support for the measure. The funding provision will guarantee that rural areas of the United States see increases in their share of the $738 million for the treatment and support services. The issue of mandatory testing of newborns has been debated since July, with leaders in the Senate opposing the measure. The bill provides $10 million to help states implement guidelines for the voluntary HIV counseling, testing, and treatment of pregnant women. By the turn of the century, states would have to show a 50 percent reduction in HIV-infected newborns, that 95 percent of pregnant women are tested, or implement mandatory HIV testing of infants whose mothers' HIV status is unknown. Related Story: Houston Chronicle (05/02) P. 18A "EPA Orders Water Systems to Monitor for Parasite" Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A3 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered the largest U.S. water systems to monitor and keep records on cryptosporidium, a microbial parasite that can be deadly in individuals with poor immunity, such as people with AIDS. Currently, there are no federal standards related to cryptosporidium in drinking water. The National Association of People With AIDS said Thursday that its investigation of 31 water systems revealed that many had inadequate cryptosporidium surveillance and public notification programs. The advocacy group named Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Dallas; Minneapolis; Newark; and St. Petersburg, FL, as areas of particular concern, though it said that only in Seattle, Tampa, and Milwaukee are immunocompromised individuals at risk. The new EPA ruling covers 300 large metropolitan water systems, and the EPA said that about one-third of them already check for the parasite. "Mom's Privacy or Baby's Welfare?" Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A20 In a Washington Post editorial, the authors argue that the new congressional decision to urge voluntary HIV testing of pregnant women does not go far enough to protect newborns. The editors claim that a newborn's welfare should be more important than a mother's privacy and that all infants should be tested at birth, with results disclosed to both parents and primary care givers. This would ensure that HIV-infected babies receive the special care that they need. The editors also note that while the compromise is a positive step, it does not help babies born to mothers who object to the test and do not want to know their own HIV status. "Biogen Inc.: Decision Upheld in Dispute With SmithKline on Fees" Wall Street Journal (05/03/96) P. B4 A U.S. District Court judge has upheld an arbitration panel's decision in favor of Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen in the debate between it and Britain's SmithKline Beecham. The dispute concerned the rate of royalties SmithKline was to pay to Biogen from the U.S. sales of SmithKline's hepatitis B vaccine. SmithKline had appealed a 1995 arbitration panel's decision in favor of Biogen, but as it continued to pay the higher rate during the arbitration and appeal process, the ruling will not result in additional payments to the U.S. firm. "Panels Challenge Clinton on Defense" Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A6; Graham, Bradley Congressional defense committees passed bills this week to authorize an increase of $12.9 billion in military spending over the $254.4 billion in the administration's request for 1997. House Republicans included a range of conservative social policies in their bill, including re-introduction of discharge of all military members with HIV and a proposed ban on gays in the military. The Senate committee did not include the more controversial social issues, sponsored by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Calif.) and other conservatives, and they could fall away between congressional deliberations. "Congress Expected to Reverse AIDS Cut" Boston Globe (05/02/96) P. 12; Black, Chris As part of the Ryan White CARE Reauthorization Act, Congress is expected to reverse a proposed cut of $600,000 in Massachusetts AIDS funding and give the state a funding increase of 30 percent. The state would receive $9.3 million, or $2.1 million more than last year, due to a higher overall appropriation for AIDS funding and a change in the funding formula. The money is spent on AIDS drugs, home care, and other services for people with HIV. It had been thought that AIDS funding would be cut by $600,000 because reauthorization of the bill had been delayed. The funding formula was altered to provide more money for areas hardest hit by AIDS, rather than areas with high overall population. "Stoffa to Stand Trial in Theft From AIDS Agency" Philadelphia Inquirer (05/02/96) P. B2 A Common Pleas Court judge on Wednesday rejected Francis J. Stoffa Jr.'s request that charges of stealing thousands of dollars from a private Philadelphia AIDS agency be dismissed on grounds of insufficient evidence. Stoffa, the former executive director of Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives and its AIDS Task Force, will stand trial charged with multiple counts of theft, forgery, securing execution of documents by deception, credit card fraud and tampering with public records. He allegedly took cash from the agency's AIDS donations box, used an agency credit card for personal expenses, wrote checks to himself from AIDS funds, diverted cash for his own use, and used a credit card forged in the name of another agency board member. "Agency Opens City Office for AIDS Support Services" Philadelphia Inquirer (05/03/96) P. B2 The Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia has opened an AIDS program to provide counseling, support, referral, and educational services to people with AIDS and their friends and family. Karen Landy, a student at Reconstruction Rabbinical College who has worked with AIDS patients since 1989, is the coordinator of the Center City program. A similar program is operated out of the agency's Melrose Park office. "Adaptive Evolution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Type 1 During the Natural Course of Infection" Science (04/26/96) Vol. 272, No. 5261, P. 537; Wolinsky, Steven M.; Korber, Bette T. M.; Neumann, Avidan U.; et al. The rates of disease development and the survival times of different individuals with HIV vary widely. One theory thought to explain the differences is that the loss of CD4 cells in people with HIV-1 is primarily the result of increasing antigenic diversity that exceeds the immune system's ability to regulate the virus. Steven Wolinsky, of the Northwestern University Medical School, and colleagues tested this theory by measuring the levels of HIV-1 RNA and tracking the viral sequence changes that occurred along with immune response in six HIV-1 infected subjects. Blood samples from the patients were evaluated every six months. While the researchers found no association between humoral immune response and the rate of progression to AIDS, they did find that a HIV-1 specific human leukocyte antigen class-I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response was associated with slow rather than rapid rates of disease development. This contradicts the theory that the immunopathogenic effects of CTLs are responsible for the decline in CD4 cells. The researchers also report that greater antigenic diversity, an immunopathologic effect of CTLs, or dominance of a viral strain, is not related to the rate of disease progression. "RGP-160 Treatment Vaccine (VaxSyn): Canadian Study Finds No Benefit" AIDS Treatment News (04/19/96) No. 245, P. 3 A three-year, multi-center trial of recombinant GP-160 found that the vaccine offered no clinical benefit in 278 volunteers already infected with HIV. The Canadian study was completed last November, but the results were withheld until a similar trial in the United States was completed in March. A commentary in AIDS Treatment News says the vaccine's failure shows that more research into HIV pathogenesis is needed. The authors suggest that studies of long-term nonprogressors and people who remain uninfected even after repeated exposures to HIV may help to learn what kinds of immune responses are protective.