Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 19:31:45 -0500 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 11/25/96 AIDS Daily Summary November 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 ****************************************************** "FDA Panel Divided on Pharmacia's Drug for Treating AIDS" "The Not-So-Hidden Epidemic" "Across the USA: New York" "HIV-Positive Man Gets His Day in Court v. Red Cross" "Spermicide Study Begins" "Teen-Sex Survey" "Break the Cycle of AIDS" "Book Review: A Crisis of Meaning: How Gay Men Are Making Sense of AIDS" "Scourge of Africa" "La. Clinic Resumes Free Medicine for HIV Patients" ****************************************************** "FDA Panel Divided on Pharmacia's Drug for Treating AIDS" Wall Street Journal (11/25/96) P. B7 Unable to decide whether Pharmacia & Upjohn's new AIDS drug delavirdine merits recommendation for accelerated approval, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration left the decision to the agency. The panel voted 4-4 after hearing company data on the drug, which the reviewers said showed modest benefits. "I do feel that there is a need for this drug ... [but] I don't think the data support accelerated approval," said Fred Valentine, a reviewer from New York University. Officials from the agency will meet with Pharmacia representatives today to determine the next step. "The Not-So-Hidden Epidemic" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (11/25/96) P. A10 New evidence that the United States leads all other developed countries in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) should alert Americans that the problem should be handled as a public health threat affecting everyone, according to the editors of the Los Angeles Times. The editors note the seriousness of several STDs and point to the disparity in U.S. spending for prevention versus treatment. In conclusion, they urge schools be allowed to educate adolescents about the consequences of unprotected sex. "Across the USA: New York" USA Today (11/25/96) P. 8A Under a proposal offered by New York Assemblyman Jules Polonetsky, hospital patients in New York would be able to bank their own blood. Polonetsky says the practice would help to reduce the potential for disease. "HIV-Positive Man Gets His Day in Court v. Red Cross" Washington Post (11/23/96) P. C1; Miller, Bill A Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals has ruled that a patient who received HIV-infected blood during a transfusion can legally challenge the American Red Cross for not taking greater precautions than smaller blood banks. When Roland Ray sued the organization for negligence in 1994, after learning he was infected, a D.C. Superior Court rejected his claim. However, the appellate court ruled on Thursday that the judge gave the jury confusing instructions that favored the Red Cross. According to Ray's attorneys, the ruling may be used to further other claims against the Red Cross in similar cases. "Spermicide Study Begins" Washington Post (11/23/96) P. A2 A panel of advisors to the Food and Drug Administration reported that sufficient data is not available to conclude how well spermicides work as contraceptives. The panel's study found that women who rely on spermicides as their only contraceptive have from a 9 percent to a 57 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year. Spermicide labels should include a warning that they may cause vaginal irritation, which could increase a woman's chance of contracting HIV, the panel said. In addition, the group agreed that spermicides can help protect against gonorrhea and chlamydia. "Teen-Sex Survey" Houston Chronicle (11/22/96) P. 14A According to a new survey by RAND Corp. and researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, teenagers who may not be engaging in intercourse may still be putting themselves at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) through other sexual practices. The RAND corporation study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that one-seventh of all high school students surveyed who were virgins had engaged in other risky practices like oral sex, and another 21 percent had engaged in masturbation with a partner. Study author Dr. Mark Schuster, a RAND analyst and UCLA pediatrician, notes, "Clinicians in particular should not rely on an inquiry about virginity as their only screening question" to determine whether youths are at risk for an STD. "Break the Cycle of AIDS" Miami Herald (11/23/96) P. 28A In an editorial in the Miami Herald, the authors, citing the high rate of HIV in gay and bisexual men in the community and the country, urge that AIDS be accepted as a public health issue. Studies show that homosexuals continue to practice high risk behaviors for a variety of reasons. Grass-roots education and support for gay youths may help to stem the spread of HIV in these groups, the authors conclude. "Book Review: A Crisis of Meaning: How Gay Men Are Making Sense of AIDS" Los Angeles Times--Book Review (11/24/96) P. 3; Mixner, David In a review of Steven S. Schwartzberg's "A Crisis of Meaning," AIDS activist David Mixner recommends the book for people who are coping with HIV themselves or for those who have loved ones who have HIV. Mixner says the "author provides a structure to understand why one person with AIDS seizes his or her status as an opportunity for a new beginning, while another gives up on life." Moreover, he applauds Schwartzberg's grouping of ideas into terms and categories, as well as his use of case histories to enliven the book. "Scourge of Africa" Science (11/08/96) Vol. 274, No. 5289, P. 923 While 93 percent of the world's HIV infections occur in developing countries, the virus is especially concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. That region, with its high level of male promiscuity and low level of condom use, accounts for 68 percent of newly infected people worldwide. Life expectancy in the region was at age 70 before the AIDS epidemic, but it is now under the age of 40 in many places, says demographer Ron Lee of the University of California, Berkeley. In some cities there, as many as 40 percent of pregnant women are infected and 25 percent of those who die from AIDS are children. Adolescent girls, who are targeted for sex by older men, are especially at risk, said John Bongaarts of the Population Council. However, as the epidemic is growing in Asia and Africa, prevention efforts have been slowing down due to "donor fatigue" in countries that provide support, according to Deborah Rugg of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "La. Clinic Resumes Free Medicine for HIV Patients" American Medical News (11/11/96) Vol. 39, No. 42, P. 29 Patients with HIV and AIDS continue to receive free medicine from the Louisiana State University Medical Center after a proposal to stop the distribution of about 70 drugs was reversed. The center's Viral Disease Clinic provides the medication to about 430 patients. However, officials said in September that the free distribution would stop as of Oct. 1, but the decision was reversed after state officials informed the center that all nine hospitals in the charity hospital system provide the drugs to patients at no charge. Dr. Deborah Cohen, medical director of the HIV Program Office in Louisiana's Office of Public Health, said stopping the free distribution could have threatened $770,000 in federal funding to the state for the program.