Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 09:41:48 -0400 From: "Vaux, Lenore" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary, 09/25/96 AIDS Daily Summary Wednesday, September 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 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 ****************************************************** "Nationline: AIDS List" "GOP Is Restoring Money Previously Cut From Education and Other Programs" "Advertising: The Man Who Cloaked the Famous in Mink Now Enlists Them for an AIDS Crisis Campaign" "Across the USA: New Jersey" "Bernardo Must Take AIDS Test, Judge Says" "Silent Killer, Hepatitis C, Stalking Thousands Here" "Experts Are at Odds on How Best to Tackle Rise in Teen-Agers' Drug Use" "Drugs Surge as Campaign Issue, but All the Talk Clarifies Little" "Rising Hopes, Rising Costs" "Canada's Red Cross Demands HCV-Screening Funds" ****************************************************** "Nationline: AIDS List" USA Today (09/25/96) P. 3A; Bacon, John An AIDS patient who is among those listed on a computer disk that was sent to two newspapers last week has filed a breach-of-privacy lawsuit against the Florida Health Department and Pinellas County. The disk was sent to the papers, which did not publish the names, along with an anonymous letter saying a health worker had showed it to people at a gay bar. "GOP Is Restoring Money Previously Cut From Education and Other Programs" Wall Street Journal (09/25/96) P. A4; Rogers, David Republicans in Congress are restoring many of the funds for education and human-service programs that were cut last year. While spending for the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services was cut from $70 billion two years ago to $63.3 billion in the current fiscal year, current proposals would put the total above $70 billion for fiscal 1997. The Ryan White program, to provide money to state and local AIDS programs, would increase from $633 million two years ago to $896 million. The revised budget for the program includes $117 million for AIDS drug-assistance programs operated by the states. "Advertising: The Man Who Cloaked the Famous in Mink Now Enlists Them for an AIDS Crisis Campaign" New York Times (09/25/96) P. D5; Elliott, Stuart Peter Rogers and other advertising pros are creating pro bono anti-AIDS campaigns to appear this fall. Rogers has enlisted celebrities to appear in magazine ads for the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York that will appear in donated space. A television and print campaign in New York, created pro bono by Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, advertises the Race to Deliver, which raises funds for a local organization that feeds homebound AIDS patients. Thirty-five magazines donated more than $1.5 million in ad space to the campaign. A group of advertising agencies in San Francisco donated about $5,000 to help pay for a pro bono campaign for the Names Project, which is publicizing a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington on Oct. 11-13. "Across the USA: New Jersey" USA Today (09/25/96) P. 6A New Jersey Medicine magazine reported that a poll of state residents found that 30 percent wrongly believe that HIV can be spread by coughing or sharing utensils. "Bernardo Must Take AIDS Test, Judge Says" Toronto Globe and Mail (09/24/96) P. A2; Downey, Donn Paul Bernardo, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder and who has admitted to several rapes, will take a court-ordered HIV test at the request of his rape victims. Bernardo was also known to have sexual contact with prostitutes. His wife, who is serving a 12-year sentence for manslaughter, has tested negative for HIV. One of the rape victims is suing for damages, claiming that the fear of contracting HIV caused her nightmares, anxiety, depression and other problems. "Silent Killer, Hepatitis C, Stalking Thousands Here" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/24/96) P. 1A; Schieszer, John People who had blood transfusions before 1990 are at risk for hepatitis C, a potentially deadly virus that may be carried by more than 4 million Americans. Half of those with the virus never develop any serious problems, but the other half are at risk for serious liver disease. The government estimates that about 300,000 Americans were infected with the virus through blood transfusions before 1990. It is also spread through unsafe sex and shared needles. There is no cure for hepatitis C, and no vaccine for the virus. "Experts Are at Odds on How Best to Tackle Rise in Teen-Agers' Drug Use" New York Times (09/18/96) P. A17; Kolata, Gina As the evidence mounts that drug use among teens is increasing, a widely used anti-drug program known as DARE, for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is being criticized by some experts. Although new studies have reported that drug use among teens is on the rise, levels are still far below what they were at the height of the last epidemic. Still, the issue has become a flash point in the presidential campaign, and both political leaders and drug abuse experts say some action must be taken. The DARE program, used in almost 75 percent of U.S. school systems, employs trained police officers to come to classrooms and teach students how to resist drugs. The system has pleased teachers, parents, and police officers, but academic researchers say the program does not make a lasting impact on students' behavior. Researchers claim that proven, alternative programs have been passed over. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is now making an effort, via both community visits and promotional videos, to market alternative programs to schools. "Drugs Surge as Campaign Issue, but All the Talk Clarifies Little" New York Times (09/17/96) P. A1; Wren, Christopher S. The issue of illegal drug use--and what the government should do about it--has become a central point of debate in the Presidential campaign. Drug policy experts, however, say they do not know how much influence a President can have, especially on a problem that increasingly involves teenagers. Despite the growing drug problem, drug use has decreased overall since the 1970s. Furthermore, although Bob Dole has accused President Clinton of not making the drug war a priority, he and the Republican-controlled Congress reduced Clinton's budget appropriations for drug prevention and treatment. Meanwhile, Clinton, who was initially fairly quiet on the issue, has become more active--appointing a new drug czar, and vetoing a bill to cut spending on his Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act. Under the Clinton administration, federal spending on the drug war has increased from less than $13.3 billion in fiscal 1995 to a record $15.1 billion for fiscal 1997. "Rising Hopes, Rising Costs" American Medical News (09/16/96) Vol. 39, No. 35, P. 13; Shelton, Deborah L. Federal and state programs are having difficulty meeting the rising demand for AIDS drugs, especially that for the costly, new protease inhibitors. Medicaid's current annual outlay of $9,000 per person for antiretrovirals is expected to increase by about $5,500 as combination therapies using protease inhibitors are added. Moreover, enrollment in Medicaid is expected to increase by 50 percent as more HIV-infected people sign up to receive the protease inhibitors, according to the Health Care Financing Administration. Many state Medicaid programs and AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) have had to stop providing drugs for opportunistic infections or have started to ration drugs or restrict enrollment to avoid bankruptcy. As Medicaid programs become more restrictive, the demand on the ADAPs has increased. Enrollment in these programs, which serve patients who are ineligible for Medicaid or whose private insurance does not cover their necessary drugs, has increased from about 50,000 in 1994 to 70,000 in 1995. To attempt to meet the demand, some pharmaceutical companies have offered the ADAPs rebates and discounts, or offered their drugs free through patient-assistance programs. "Canada's Red Cross Demands HCV-Screening Funds" Lancet (09/14/96) Vol. 348, No. 9029, P. 746; Kondro, Wayne Although the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) is asking the provinces for $30 million to test 1.5 million stored blood samples for hepatitis C, the provincial Health Ministers have been reluctant to foot the bill. The CRC, which did not start screening for hepatitis C until 1990, wants to test the samples so that infected donors can be notified. However, the provinces say a better way to handle the problem would be to sponsor a "general education program" about the disease. The CRC maintains that if the provinces do not pay for the testing, they must protect the organization from any lawsuits brought by people who become infected from donated blood.