Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 16:04:09 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 05/29/96 AIDS Daily Summary May 29, 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 ************************************************************ "Variety of Obstacles Is Blocking New Contraceptives, Panel Says" "Drug Firms Join Attack on Krever" "Stylish New Cookbooks That Have Charitable Intentions" "Abbott Gets European Approval for HIV Treatment" "EU Clears AIDS, Other Funds For Third World" "Interleukin Mediates Fungicidal Activity in Leukocytes in AIDS Patients" "Explanation for Interferon Resistance in HIV-Infected Patients With Hepatitis C Offered" "Hepatitis E No More Common in HIV-Positive Persons Than in HIV-Negative Persons" "Antibodies to Butyrate-Inducible Antigens of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus in Patients With HIV-1 Infection" "Advisers Deny Pressure Over Japan's 'First' AIDS Case" ************************************************************ "Variety of Obstacles Is Blocking New Contraceptives, Panel Says" New York Times (05/29/96) P. A17; Leary, Warren E. Despite an urgent need for new contraceptives to cut the rate of population growth and reduce abortions, no new ones will reach the market without more research and increased cooperation among government, industry, and insurers, a committee of the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, warned Tuesday. The group noted that the development of new contraceptives has been inhibited by fear of liability lawsuits, political or social opposition to certain approaches--such as to the so-called "abortion pill" RU-486--and uncertainties about markets. The group suggests that government and private insurers could encourage the use of contraceptives and create a larger market by offering routine coverage of contraceptive services. Furthermore, the government could encourage pharmaceutical companies and other contraceptive developers to create new products by enacting a federal product liability statute that would protect manufacturers from some liability once they met strict FDA requirements. "Drug Firms Join Attack on Krever" Toronto Globe and Mail (05/28/96) P. A4 Connaught Laboratories and three other drug companies have joined the Canadian Red Cross and other parties in the fight over the government's inquiry into the tainted-blood tragedy. The groups are objecting to the inquiry's warning that potential findings of misconduct could be made against them. The misconduct findings could be equivalent to criminal or civil liability, Connaught lawyer Stephen Goudge said Monday. The inquiry could find that the companies, Connaught, Baxter, Armour, and Bayer, knew as early as 1982 that their blood products might be infected with HIV, but failed to warn consumers. "Stylish New Cookbooks That Have Charitable Intentions" New York Times (05/29/96) P. C8; Hamlin, Suzanne The collecting of recipes into a "community cookbook," sold to raise money for local causes, has been expanded on by large publishers, resulting in charity books which raise money for organizations that help the elderly, homeless, and people with AIDS. Proceeds from the sales of Anne Rosenzweig's "Comforting Foods" and Roberto Donna's "Home Food" go to Project Open Hand, a nonprofit group in San Francisco that provides food to more than 2,000 people with AIDS. The book sales are the group's largest source of income, except for some individual donations, an organization official said. "Abbott Gets European Approval for HIV Treatment" Reuters (05/28/96) Abbott Laboratories has received approval for marketing its HIV protease inhibitor Norvir in Europe. The drug was cleared for use in HIV-infected adults with advanced or progressive disease, in combination with antiretroviral nucleoside analogues. Final authorization is awaiting approval by the European Commission in Brussels. "EU Clears AIDS, Other Funds For Third World" Reuters (05/28/96); Blackburn, Peter The European Union approved on Tuesday the distribution of $402 million to fight AIDS, help Asian and Latin American refugees, and protect the environment. Britain had threatened to block EU decisions until a global ban on British beef exports was reversed, but agreed the funds could be approved on a majority vote. The group approved spending $55 million between 1997-1999 for AIDS programs targeting the poorest people in the poorest countries. Another $55 million will be used in environmental protection, and $300 million will be distributed to support the needs of Asian and Latin American refugees. "Interleukin Mediates Fungicidal Activity in Leukocytes in AIDS Patients" Reuters (05/28/96) Interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 may make AIDS patients more susceptible to microbial infection, researchers at the University of Perugia in Italy report in the journal AIDS. The scientists found that the cytokines inhibited candidacidal activity in polymorphonuclear leukocytes when treated in the lab. The effect was more evident in cells from HIV-infected subjects than normal controls. The researchers suggest that monitoring the levels of these cytokines in AIDS patients could help develop ways to neutralize their overproduction. "Explanation for Interferon Resistance in HIV-Infected Patients With Hepatitis C Offered" Reuters (05/28/96) To explain why people infected with HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are less responsive to interferon treatment than HCV patients without HIV, researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center point to nucleotide variability in the HCV genome. Kenneth E. Sherman and colleagues report in the journal Hepatology that people with both HCV and HIV had increased HCV RNA variability. Sherman suggests that the increased genomic variability in the hypervariable coding region may be responsible for the poor response to interferon treatment in co-infected patients. "Hepatitis E No More Common in HIV-Positive Persons Than in HIV-Negative Persons" Reuters (05/28/96) French researchers report in a letter appearing in the May 25 issue of the Lancet that HIV-infected individuals do not appear to be at greater risk of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection than people not infected with HIV. Francois Bissual and colleagues say their findings do not support the theory that HEV is transmitted sexually. The report comes after an Italian study found a high prevalence of HEV antibodies in HIV-infected homosexual men. Bissual says, however, that testing for HEV is not necessary for HIV-infected patients. "Antibodies to Butyrate-Inducible Antigens of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus in Patients With HIV-1 Infection" New England Journal of Medicine (05/16/96) Vol. 334, No. 20, P. 1292; Miller, George; Rigsby, Michael O.; Heston, Lee; et al. A recently discovered virus, called Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpeslike virus (KSHV), is thought to be the agent responsible for the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a tumor common in men with HIV-1 as well as other immunocompromised individuals. KSHV DNA has been found in tissue samples from more than 90 percent of HIV-1-associated KS lesions. To further evaluate the relationship between KSHV and KS, Yale University researcher Dr. George Miller and colleagues developed tests for KSHV infection and tested serum samples from 102 patients infected with HIV-1. Antibodies to KSHV-associated proteins were found in 67 percent of HIV-1-infected KS patients and in only 13 percent of HIV-1-infected patients without Kaposi's sarcoma. The researchers concluded that there is an association between the presence of antibodies to a KSHV protein and the occurrence of Kaposi's sarcoma in HIV-1 infected patients. "Advisers Deny Pressure Over Japan's 'First' AIDS Case" Nature (05/16/96) Vol. 381, No. 6579, P. 181; Swinbanks, David The Japanese government's decision not to recognize AIDS as the cause of death of a hemophiliac in 1983 may have prolonged the use of tainted blood products in Japan, leading to the HIV infection of thousands of hemophiliacs. That patient was under the care of Takeshi Abe, then head of the government's AIDS study group. Abe described the case to the members of the study group, which decided not to recognize the patient's disease as AIDS. Although the disease was identified as AIDS two years later, it came only after Japan's first AIDS case was identified in a homosexual who visited Japan from the United States. Another member of the study group testified that pressure from government leaders, or former leaders who were then employed by blood product manufacturers, may have played a role in the decision. Recognizing the hemophiliac's disease as AIDS would have called for importing heat-treated blood products, hurting domestic blood product suppliers. Recently released documents show that the government did know about four other HIV-positive hemophiliacs in November 1984, but that those records were not made public.