Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 13:13:52 -0400 From: aidsinfo Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 05/23/96 AIDS Daily Summary May 23, 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 ************************************************************ "Preventing HIV Infection in Newborns" "Lifeline: Cycling for AIDS" "Way to Fight AIDS Is to Know About It" "Before the Big Day" "Thymus Transplant Performed in AIDS Patient" "Science & Health Bulletin: Kenya-AIDS Vaccine [to Be Ready in Six Months]" "Isoniazid Resistant TB: Not Higher in HIV-Positive Individuals" "Thousands Get Hepatitis-Tainted Shots in Taiwan" "Monkey Study Prompts High-Level Public Health Response" "Tuberculosis Morbidity--United States, 1995" ************************************************************ "Preventing HIV Infection in Newborns" Washington Post (05/23/96) P. A20; Kuvin, Sanford F. In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Dr. Sanford F. Kuvin, a board member of Americans for a Sound AIDS Policy, advocates mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women. He says Congress' conditional agreement to require testing of newborns by the year 2000 is a positive move, but that testing the mothers would be more useful, because many perinatal transmissions can be prevented with AZT therapy. Kuvin contends that a mother's right to privacy should not come before her child's right to health. "Lifeline: Cycling for AIDS" USA Today (05/23/96) P. 1D; DeRosa, Robin About 3,000 riders will participate in the Philadelphia-to-Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride fundraiser, June 21-23. The 250-mile trip is expected to raise more than $5 million for various AIDS organizations. "Way to Fight AIDS Is to Know About It" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (05/22/96) P. 2E; Landers, Ann In a letter to her readers, advice columnist Ann Landers advises individuals, communities, and institutions to take a role in educating young people about how to prevent the spread of HIV. She points to the recent "Youth and HIV/AIDS" report released by the White House and the need for education efforts targeted to young people. Landers notes that "education is the key to prevention," advocating teaching about HIV in the classroom, and urges teachers to contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National AIDS Clearinghouse to obtain this report. "Before the Big Day" Los Angeles Times (05/22/96) P. E3; Doheny, Kathleen Under California law, couples planning to get married no longer have to be tested for syphilis and rubella, but health officials recommend that they consider taking HIV tests and genetic tests. Because HIV can be transmitted from mother to child, a test for the virus is especially important for high-risk couples who plan on having children. People who have a chance of passing on a genetic disorder are also encouraged to be tested. "Thymus Transplant Performed in AIDS Patient" Reuters (05/22/96) In hopes of bolstering his immune system, an HIV-positive man from San Francisco received a thymus transplant last week. Matthew Sharp, 39 years old, received the tissue from a one-year-old donor undergoing heart surgery. Sharp's doctor, Richard Hong, said he hopes to perform the procedure in eight more patients. Funding for the surgery is provided by the Linda Greenberg Foundation of Southern California and is administered by Project Inform, a patient advocacy group in San Francisco. "Science & Health Bulletin: Kenya-AIDS Vaccine [to Be Ready in Six Months]" PANA News Service (05/22/96); Tindwa, Peter Prof. Arthur Othoeno Obel, the Kenyan creator of a controversial AIDS treatment called Pearl Omega, said he is now working on a vaccine for HIV and that he intends to conform to scientific conventions. Obel's claims about Pearl Omega were criticized by scientists but supported by non-scientists. He said that research on his vaccine, which he hopes will wipe out HIV, will be a collaborative effort with reputable institutions. Obel, the chief government scientist in the office of the president, predicted that AIDS would be eliminated by the year 2000, though he would not reveal his design for the vaccine. "Isoniazid Resistant TB: Not Higher in HIV-Positive Individuals" Reuters (05/22/96) Tuberculosis patients infected with HIV are no more likely than those not infected with the virus to demonstrate TB drug resistance, researchers report in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine. Steven Asch of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and colleagues found that, from a group of 1,500 TB patients, isoniazid resistance was less common among 235 HIV-positive patients than in 1,271 patients who were HIV-negative or had not been tested. In an editorial accompanying the article, John A. Sbarbaro of the University of Colorado at Denver said the findings contradict those of similar studies in New York. He determined that there is no unique association between HIV and drug-resistant TB, "only a unique relationship between those infected with HIV and those environments (such as hospitals) where drug-resistant organisms were (and are) prevalent." "Thousands Get Hepatitis-Tainted Shots in Taiwan" Reuters (05/22/96) Between 20,000 and 50,000 people in Taiwan have been exposed to hepatitis B after receiving injections of a tainted drug intended to protect them from the virus. According to officials of the health department's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, inspections have confirmed that 55,000 of the shots, imported from Italy in 1994, were infected with the virus. "The health department will assist anyone infected ... to seek compensation from the Italian maker," noted Chao Show-lin of the health department's National Quarantine Service. Officials said that a recall of the tainted shots was ordered on Wednesday and that a full-scale investigation of the incident has been launched. "Monkey Study Prompts High-Level Public Health Response" Science (05/10/96) Vol. 272, No. 5263, P. 805; Cohen, Jon The potential implications of the recent discovery that monkeys treated with the hormone progesterone are at increased risk for SIV infection stirred intense interest in the public health community, but still remain unclear. The finding, made public by researcher Preston Marx of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center on May 6, suggests that women who use contraceptives with progesterone, like Depo-Provera and Norplant, which are used by some 2.5 million American women, might be at increased risk for HIV. Marx's study showed that monkeys that were given progesterone had nearly an eightfold higher risk of becoming infected, but studies on humans are less definitive. An analysis of nine published studies designed to assess the impact of Depo-Provera on women's risk of HIV infection showed mixed results. Ann Duerr, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who conducted that analysis, said that while more information is needed, the current data do not suggest that a change in policy is necessary. She also emphasized that Norplant and Depo-Provera do not offer protection against HIV and women at risk of infection with the virus should use condoms. "Tuberculosis Morbidity--United States, 1995" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (05/10/96) Vol. 45, No. 18, P. 365 The total number of tuberculosis (TB) cases reported in the United States decreased 6.4 percent from 1994 to 1995, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. This was the third year in a row the number of cases decreased, and 1995 had the lowest TB rate since the disease was first tracked in 1953. From 1994 to 1995, the number of TB cases decreased for both men and women and for each age group and racial/ethnic group except Asians/Pacific Islanders. The proportion of cases in people not born in the United States and its territories, however, increased from 31.3 percent in 1994 to 35.7 percent in 1995. Six countries--Haiti, India, Mexico, China, Philippines, and Vietnam--accounted for 63.6 percent of these cases. The number of cases reported in U.S.-born individuals decreased 10.8 percent from 1994 to 1995, while the number of cases in foreign-born persons rose 5.4 percent. An editorial note accompanying the CDC report attributes the decrease in cases to increased testing, prevention and control measures, and to federal support for state and local TB-control efforts. Some local TB control measures have targeted the HIV-infected population, and more comprehensive HIV testing and counseling for TB patients is planned.