Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 09:51:50 -0500 From: "Vaux, Lenore" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary, 11/26/96 AIDS Daily Summary Tuesday, November 26, 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 Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ****************************************************** "With Plague's Fury, HIV Spreads in Belarus Town" "Chiron Drops Development of Vaccine for Herpes, Sending Stock Down 17 Percent" "Judge Postpones Cash Payouts to HIV-Infected Hemophiliacs" "FDA's Kessler Will Resign Early in 1997" "Venereal Diseases Rampant Among America's Teenagers" "AIDS Researcher Dies" "'Aunt' Bea Injured by Drug Needle" "China to Set Up AIDS Study Center" "Research Issues Involving HIV-Associated Tuberculosis in Resource-Poor Countries" "CD4-Dependent, Antibody-Sensitive Interactions Between HIV-1 and its Co-Receptor CCR-5" ****************************************************** "With Plague's Fury, HIV Spreads in Belarus Town" Washington Post (11/26/96) P. A1; Hockstader, Lee In the town of Svetlogorsk, Belarus, more than 1,000 people have contracted HIV since June due to the sharing of needles by drug addicts. Officials say the virus may infect 90 percent of the town's 3,000 to 4,000 addicts within two years. Factors contributing to the epidemic, such as poverty, ignorance, and a huge population of drug addicts, have also helped fuel the spread of the virus to Russia and Ukraine. In Russia, 1,000 new cases are expected this year, five times the number reported last year. In Ukraine, more than 8,000 new cases of HIV have been reported in the last two years, but the actual number of cases is thought to be much higher than those reported. "Chiron Drops Development of Vaccine for Herpes, Sending Stock Down 17 Percent" Wall Street Journal (11/26/96) P. B7; King, Ralph T., Jr. Development of a vaccine for genital herpes will be halted due to its failure in two phase III clinical trials to prevent infection, Chiron reported. The company's stock declined 17 percent to $18.125 on the news. Chiron had spent an estimated $50 million on the vaccine's development over more than 10 years. The results support some analysts' opinion that Chiron's research pipeline is overrated. "Judge Postpones Cash Payouts to HIV-Infected Hemophiliacs" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/26/96) P. A8; Shaw, Donna The proposed $640 million settlement for HIV-infected hemophiliacs in the United States was delayed on Monday, because lawyers are still working on a plan to protect the money from federal and state government claims. U.S. District Judge John F. Grady told the claimants, who would each receive $100,000, that he sympathized with their needs for the money, but that the deal was being held up by lawyers on both sides. Many of the hemophiliacs depend on government programs like Medicaid and Social Security, and they might be forced to pay the settlement money to the government if an alternative is not found. Lawyers for both sides said a solution might be found in an act of Congress. "FDA's Kessler Will Resign Early in 1997" Washington Post (11/26/96) P. A1; Schwartz, John David A. Kessler, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration for the past six years, said Monday that he will resign early next year. Kessler said he had accomplished his major goals at the agency. Although praised by President Clinton, Kessler was criticized throughout his tenure from varying political standpoints. AIDS activists said he delayed the approval of important drugs, while some later complained that he approved them too quickly. Conservatives criticized his regulation of products ranging from vitamins to cigarettes. "Venereal Diseases Rampant Among America's Teenagers" Washington Post--Health (11/26/96) P. 7; Russell, Cristine The United States has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) of any developed country, and about one-fourth of the estimated 12 million new cases of STDs annually reported here occur in teenagers, a committee of the Institute of Medicine reported last week. The panel advocated increased efforts by schools and private health care plans, as well as government funding to study, prevent, and treat these diseases. The report said that $10 billion annually is spent on treating and monitoring the diseases, which can cause serious health problems including cervical cancer. The panel recommended that schools increase education efforts about STDs, and provide access to condoms and health services. "AIDS Researcher Dies" Richmond Times-Dispatch (11/26/96) P. B3 Dr. Kathelyn Sue Steimer, who led research into the development of an AIDS vaccine at Chiron, died recently at the age of 48. She was vice president for research in the vaccines division. "'Aunt' Bea Injured by Drug Needle" Washington Times (11/26/96) P. C6 'Aunt' Bea Gaddy, a Baltimore advocate for the homeless who prepares a Thanksgiving Day dinner for thousand's of city residents, was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital Sunday after stepping on an intravenous drug needle. Gaddy was given several shots and tested for HIV. She said she had found a man who was staying at her shelter shooting drugs, and she stepped on the needle he dropped. "China to Set Up AIDS Study Center" Xinhua News Agency (11/25/96) A national AIDS prevention and control center is being established in China, according to officials at the Ministry of Public Health. The estimated number of HIV cases in the country is between 50,000 and 100,000. "Research Issues Involving HIV-Associated Tuberculosis in Resource-Poor Countries" Journal of the American Medical Association (11/13/96) Vol. 276, No. 18, P. 1502; De Cock, Kevin M.; Binkin, Nancy J.; Zuber, Patrick L. F.; et al. Tuberculosis (TB) infects an estimated 8 million people each year, and it kills an estimated 3 million, mostly in developing countries. About 9 percent of all TB cases are linked to HIV infection. Some TB programs in developing countries are failing to control the disease, even though effective treatment is available. Understanding why these programs fail is important to developing strategies to deal with the increasing number of cases. Dr. Kevin M. De Cock, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues, note areas in which HIV's impact on TB must be recognized to effectively control the disease. The authors say that the current tools used to control TB need to be reassessed in light of HIV's impact on the disease. They also advocate increased resources for TB control and research, greater political commitment, and more evident leadership within the international public health community. The researchers point to the examples of good TB control programs and their positive results in some African countries and in New York City. "CD4-Dependent, Antibody-Sensitive Interactions Between HIV-1 and its Co-Receptor CCR-5" Nature (11/14/96) Vol. 384, No. 6605, P. 184; Trkola, Alexandra; Dragic, Tatjana; Arthos, James; et al. Certain strains of HIV-1 require the beta-chemokine receptor CCR-5 to infect CD4 T-cells. HIV-1's surface glycoprotein gp120 mediates the binding of the virus to the CD4 molecule. Researchers at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, and Tulane University Medical Center sought to determine whether CCR-5 serves as a second binding site for HIV-1 at the same time of after the interaction between gp120 and CD4. They report that HIV-1 binds more efficiently to CD4 when gp120 and CCR-5 interact. The authors suggest that hindering the binding of HIV-1 to either CD4, CCR-5, or both, could be an important strategy for virus neutralization.