Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 12:46:03 -0500 From: "Vaux, Lenore" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary, 10/29/96 AIDS Daily Summary Tuesday, October 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 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 ****************************************************** "Across the USA: Florida, New Jersey" "Three GOP Freshmen Advance Agenda, Even as Revolution Falters" "Brazil to Offer Patients Free AIDS Drug 'Cocktail'" "All-Gay Rugby Club Accepted in Britain" "Chemical Cleanup Under Way at Lab" "Morrison Pleads Guilty to Firearm Charge" "One Man's Race Against AIDS" "Banned Works Up Ante for ARTcetera" "Prevention of HIV Infection in Developing Countries" "Medical Marijuana: The State of Research" ****************************************************** "Across the USA: Florida, New Jersey" USA Today (10/29/96) P. 7A Beginning next year, students starting seventh grade in Florida schools will be required to receive shots for measles, tetanus-diptheria, and hepatitis B, health officials announced. In Camden, New Jersey, meanwhile, free AIDS tests are being offered by the Area Health Education Center. New Jersey has the fifth-highest rate of AIDS among the states, and Camden's rate is higher than both the state and national average, officials said. "Three GOP Freshmen Advance Agenda, Even as Revolution Falters" Wall Street Journal (10/28/96) P. A1; Farney, Dennis Tom Coburn, a doctor from Oklahoma, was one of three Republican freshmen congressmen, all Christian conservatives, who shared a townhouse in Washington, D.C., and banded together to advance conservative social legislation. Coburn claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is suppressing an "invisible epidemic" of human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer. The CDC, however, says, it discourages sexual promiscuity and is supporting HPV research. Coburn has also criticized the federal government's AIDS policies, charging that federal programs favor the expensive treatment of late-stage disease rather than prevention. He was the prime sponsor of a controversial bill to require HIV testing of newborns unless their mothers had been tested during pregnancy. Coburn argued that the bill would encourage pregnant women to get tested and that HIV-positive women could then receive treatment to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their children. A Senate version of the bill recommended counseling of pregnant women and voluntary testing. A compromise measure was passed, in which mandatory testing would be implemented if counseling and voluntary testing failed to meet set goals. This past summer, Coburn started to push another controversial AIDS policy measure, one in which Congress would urge states to make it a felony to by knowingly HIV-infected and not inform one's partner. State health agencies would also be required to try to locate those partners and informed that they might be infected, though they would not be given the name of the carrier. The congressional session ended earlier this month before Rep. Coburn's bill reached a final vote. "Brazil to Offer Patients Free AIDS Drug 'Cocktail'" Miami Herald (10/28/96) P. 1A; Ellison, Katherine AIDS patients in Brazil will be able to receive, starting in November, combination drug treatments including the expensive new protease inhibitors. Officials say they will buy the drugs, which can cost up to $12,000 per patient per year, directly from the U.S. manufacturers Abbott Labs, Merck, and Hoffmann-La Roche. Brazil has the second-highest number of AIDS cases in the hemisphere, next to the United States. While several European countries are already offering the drugs free of charge, the number of AIDS cases in Brazil is far higher. The Health Ministry's estimate of 39,000 cases is believed to be very low, due to underreporting. In 1994, the World Health Organization estimated the actual number at 550,000. "All-Gay Rugby Club Accepted in Britain" Washington Post (10/29/96) P. D2 Britain's first all-gay rugby team, the King's Cross Steelers, has been accepted by the Surrey Rugby Football Union. Rob Hayward, club chairman, said that despite suggestions that other teams would be reluctant to oppose the club for fear of contracting HIV, opponents have not been hard to find. "Some of the people we have played against have admitted they raised the question among themselves and came to the conclusion there was not a problem," he said. "Chemical Cleanup Under Way at Lab" Richmond Times-Dispatch (10/29/96) P. B5; Springston, Rex While checking out a break-in in early October, police found that the deserted site of Applied Science Laboratories in Richmond, Va., contained hazardous chemicals, low-level radioactive waste, and blood that may be infected with HIV. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the site's cleanup, which started Oct. 16. Funds for the $200,000 project will come from the federal Superfund toxic-waste-cleanup program. The lab contained about 1,800 gallons of waste in about 3,000 containers. Blood found at the lab was assumed to be contaminated with HIV, a standard assumption when the safety of the blood is unknown, officials said. "Morrison Pleads Guilty to Firearm Charge" New York Times (10/29/96) P. B8 HIV-positive heavyweight Tommy Morrison was fined $100, given a six-month suspended sentence, and ordered to spend 30 hours talking to students about AIDS after he pleaded guilty to transporting a loaded firearm in Jay, Okla. Morrison could have faced a six-month jail sentence. Earlier this year, a loaded .22 caliber pistol was found in Morrison's car, left behind when he was taken to a hospital after suffering a medication-induced seizure at a traffic light. "One Man's Race Against AIDS" New York Times (10/27/96) P. 5; Longman, Jere Although Jim Howley, 35, was diagnosed with AIDS at the age of 28, he has become an intense athlete, and has completed 36 triathlons and several marathons. Howley takes a drug cocktail that includes AZT and a protease inhibitor, and, over the past year, has seen his HIV level become undetectable. He and his doctor believe that intense physical activity is important to maintaining his health because exercise helps the body convert nutrients into lean body mass and prevents AIDS-related wasting. When Howley contracted HIV he expected to die quickly and had poor health habits. But when he was later diagnosed with AIDS, he set a goal to complete a triathlon before he died. Experts say the evidence is inconclusive on the benefit or harm of intense exercise for AIDS patients, but Howley's doctor, Dr. Gary Cohen, said he was convinced by a study that linked protein loss to dying. "Banned Works Up Ante for ARTcetera" Boston Globe (10/28/96) P. C5; Temin, Christine The ARTcetera auction held Saturday night at Boston's International Place raised $400,000 for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, breaking the record of $260,000 set for the biannual event in 1994. More than 300 works were on display in a public preview, but eight artworks were temporarily censored last week, a move that may have actually helped the cause. The two photographs depicting male couples, left covered until the auction night, brought a total of $4,500, well above their retail value. "Prevention of HIV Infection in Developing Countries" Lancet (10/19/96) Vol. 348, No. 9034, P. 1071; d'Cruz-Grote, Doris Programs aimed at curbing the spread of HIV through heterosexual contact in developing countries are increasingly important, because such transmissions account for 70 percent to 80 percent of all HIV cases in the developing world, notes German researcher Doris d'Cruz-Grote in the Lancet. Current prevention strategies have been effective at targeting specific groups, she notes, but they have not led to sustained changes in behavior in the general population. In many developing countries, national AIDS awareness campaigns have been formed but have not been well-planned or critically reviewed. Although some evidence has been found of increased awareness, little proof of behavior change exists. These programs advocate three strategies--increased condom use, fewer sexual partners, and control of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)--to curb the spread of HIV. However, these strategies are not useful for married women and others who are economically and socially powerless to negotiate safer sex, says d'Cruz-Grote. To help remedy this situation, she suggests that women should be informed about sexual health and reproduction, and that students receive comprehensive sexual health education before becoming sexually active. In addition, d'Cruz-Grote recommends community-wide education and accessible STD services. "Medical Marijuana: The State of Research" AIDS Treatment News (10/28/96) No. 257, P. 1; Mirken, Bruce The recent controversy over the medical use of marijuana in California has sparked renewed interest in research about the drug's benefits and risks for patients with AIDS and other conditions. For years, the U.S. government has classified marijuana as a drug with much potential for abuse and no medical benefit, and doctors are prohibited from prescribing it. President Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, reinforced this position recently, saying "there is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed." However, medical journals, including The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), have published articles that both tout the medical benefits of marijuana and appeal for more research and loosened government restrictions. For example, Dr. Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar wrote in JAMA last year that marijuana was found to be more beneficial than the synthetic alternative, Delta-9-THC, or Marinol, for relieving nausea and vomiting that resulted from chemotherapy. They noted that "one of marijuana's greatest advantages as a medicine is its remarkable safety."