Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 10:52:39 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 05/08/96 AIDS Daily Summary May 8, 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 Drug Combination" "Roche Upbeat on New Treatment for AIDS" "Minority Coalition Targets 'AIDS Ride'" "Infant at Hospital Stuck With HIV-Infected Needle" "Interleukin-2 Therapy for HIV Warrants Expanded Trials" "Kenyan Government Bans Sales of Anti-AIDS Drug" "Asian Youth Educated to Combat AIDS" "Woman With TB Committed to Hospital" "Quality of Life and Coping Styles of HIV-Positive Women With Children" "Review Calls Avanti Safe; Expert Questions Validity" ************************************************************ "AIDS Drug Combination" Washington Post (05/08/96) P. A2 Hoffman-La Roche has announced that its protease inhibitor saquinavir, when used in combination with ddC, prolongs the lives of patients. Saquinavir has been considered the weakest of the three approved protease inhibitors, and only Abbott Laboratories' Ritonavir has been proven to lower the risk of death until now. Roche has requested that the Food and Drug Administration consider adding the new information to saquinavir's label. The 73-week study found the combination of saquinavir and ddC to be more effective than either drug alone. Related Story: USA Today (05/08) P. 4D "Roche Upbeat on New Treatment for AIDS" Financial Times (05/08/96) P. 16; Green, Daniel Hoffman-La Roche Chairman Fritz Gerber said that Invirase is expected to become one of the "top drugs" of several product releases planned by the company. Roche reported Tuesday that Invirase, when used with its older AIDS drug Hivid (ddC), reduced the rate of deaths by more than two-thirds compared to Hivid alone and resulted in a decline in AIDS-defining symptoms. Roche expects Invirase, which has been approved in the United States for use in combination therapy and advanced HIV infection, to be approved in Canada and Europe later this year. Franz Humer, director of Roche's pharmaceuticals division, said he expected annual sales of Invirase to reach at least $160.9 million within five years. "Minority Coalition Targets 'AIDS Ride'" Philadelphia Inquirer (05/08/96) P. B1; Collins, Huntly A controversy has erupted in the Philadelphia AIDS community over which AIDS groups will receive proceeds from a Philadelphia-to-Washington, D.C., bike ride. The event is expected to raise $5 million for groups in both cities. But a coalition of minority AIDS groups has charged that it will not share in the profit of the white-run AIDS fundraiser and has called for a boycott of the event. The minority groups have also said that they can fight the city's AIDS epidemic, largely affecting African Americans and Latinos, better than the AIDS groups run by whites. The AIDS organizations under attack note that the majority of their clients are blacks and Latinos. "Infant at Hospital Stuck With HIV-Infected Needle" Chicago Tribune (05/07/96) P. 1-7; Fegelman, Andrew While receiving treatment for a respiratory infection at Wyler Children's Hospital in Chicago, a four-month old girl was stuck with an HIV-infected needle earlier this year. While the girl has tested negative for HIV, doctors have recommended that she receive anti-HIV medical treatment as a precaution. The girl's parents have sued the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, which operates the hospital. The girl, a twin born on Jan. 7 and brought to Wyler on Jan. 30, was to be discharged on Feb. 12, when a nurse found a hypodermic needle stuck in the child's leg. Blood extracted from the needle tested positive for HIV, but hospital officials said the chance of infection is small. "Interleukin-2 Therapy for HIV Warrants Expanded Trials" Reuters (05/07/96) A study testing periodic infusions of the cytokine interleukin 2 (IL-2) in patients with progressive HIV infection has shown that the treatment is promising enough to merit a larger study. The results of the Phase II trial were presented at Biomedicine '96, a combined meeting of scientific societies, by H. Clifford Lane of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The IL-2 therapy has the potential to increase and maintain CD4 cell counts in patients with progressive HIV infection, Lane said. A related study found that asymptomatic people with HIV can safely receive low doses of IL-2 without toxic side effects for at least six months. "Kenyan Government Bans Sales of Anti-AIDS Drug" Reuters (05/08/96) Concerned about the controversy surrounding a drug touted as an AIDS cure, the Kenyan government has banned sales of the herbal drug Pearl-Omega until the Ministry of Health's Pharmacy and Poisons Board issues its report. The board met with Professor Arthur Obel, who claims discovery of the as-of-yet-unapproved drug, on Tuesday. Kenya has one of the highest AIDS rates in sub-Saharan Africa. "Asian Youth Educated to Combat AIDS" Xinhua News Agency (05/07/96) A group of 10,000 young people in China and other Asian countries are preparing to fight the spread of HIV. The peer-group educators will be trained in the coming years to be part of the First-Ever Cross Border AIDS Prevention Program. Led by the Asian Red Cross and Red Crescent AIDS Task Force, a manual on reproductive health and AIDS has been created to be used for the young people's training. The campaign will also focus on reducing the spread of HIV in women, who are vulnerable to the virus because they must depend on their partners to take safe sex precautions. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people in China have HIV. "Woman With TB Committed to Hospital" United Press International (05/07/96) A woman with tuberculosis (TB) was ordered to be committed to a hospital Monday at the request of St. Louis County Assistant Counselor Don Williams. The court order was requested after she refused to take her TB medication three times. The woman, who also has syphilis and HIV, wore a face mask to court. While people with contagious diseases have the right to refuse treatment, health officials noted that authorities also have the right to force them to undergo treatment to protect others. "Quality of Life and Coping Styles of HIV-Positive Women With Children" Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (03/96-04/96) Vol. 7, No. 2, P. 28; Rose, Molly A.; Clark-Alexander, Barbara The growing AIDS epidemic among women disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, especially in the northeast and southern United States. Mothers infected with HIV face especially daunting physical, emotional, social, and spiritual problems. Moreover, many women are not aware they have HIV until their infants test positive. Dr. Molly A. Rose, of the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Barbara Clark-Alexander, of the University of South Florida, conducted a study of 52 HIV-positive mothers between the ages of 18 and 39 to determine their perceived quality of life and their coping strategies. The women scored highest in the social and physical quality of life subscales and lowest in the psychological subscale. Among the coping styles employed, confrontive was used most frequently and was significantly related to physical quality of life. Passive coping was related to total and physical quality of life, while emotive coping was related to total, psychological, and physical quality of life. The low scores in the psychological quality of life scale suggest that the psychological aspects of HIV and AIDS should be a major focus of patient care, especially as the disease progresses. "Review Calls Avanti Safe; Expert Questions Validity" AIDS Alert (04/96) Vol. 11, No. 4, P. 45 A review of company studies of the Avanti polyurethane condom suggests that it slips and breaks less often or with the same frequency as latex condoms. Results of another study of the plastic condom, sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), are expected later this spring. The government study was requested by the Food and Drug Administration after previous studies showed high breakage rates with the new condom. Approved in 1991 for latex-sensitive individuals, Avanti is the only male condom, other than lamb skin, available for the estimated 1 percent to 2 percent of the general population that is sensitive to latex. Experts expect more people to develop greater sensitivity to latex with repeated exposure. Meanwhile, the maker of Avanti, London International Group of Cambridge, England, reported that the condoms broke at a rate of 0.9 percent and that latex condoms broke at a rate of 2.1 percent. These study results contradicted pilot NICHHD studies, however, and the FDA later asked the company and the NICHHD conduct new research. Several other plastic condoms have been submitted to the FDA for approval, and a thicker version of Avanti was approved last year.