Subject: CDC Summary 2/10/93 Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1993 08:04:15 PST (238 lines) Archive-Number: 165 From: Billi Goldberg Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed. sold. Copyright 1992, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary February 10, 1993 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. Copyright 1992, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ====================================================================== "Va. To Probe Alexandria's AIDS-Notification Effort" Washington Post (02/10/93), P. D5 (Bates, Steve) Virginia health officials announced last night that they will conduct a major investigation of the Alexandria, Va., Health Department because they have discovered an alarming lack of evidence that people who tested HIV-positive were ever told of their status. State officials said in a report released at a City Council meeting that they plan to inspect all of the city department's functions and audit at least 300 randomly selected case records of various diseases compiled by the agency in the last five years. All of the 278 Alexandrians known to have tested HIV-positive are expected to be interviewed by investigators to ensure that they know of their infections. The report on a recent probe of 59 cases targeted by a city Health Department employee confirmed allegations that notification attempts were minimal or documents were missing in about two-thirds of the cases. Consequently, city officials said that some agency workers could eventually be disciplined or fired. Michael Snoddy, the employee with the Alexandria Health Department, told the City Council that the few dozen cases he presented to investigators signify "the veritable tip of the iceberg," and that the city health department had damaged the health and well-being of uncounted city residents. State officials claim that clinic workers are supposed to tell people who test positive for HIV to return to the testing location in about two weeks to find out the results. If patients do not return, health workers are expected to pursue them aggressively in person. Related Story: Richmond Times-Dispatch (02/09) P. B1 ====================================================================== "Report Links AIDS Spread to Culture of Hispanics" Boston Globe (02/09/93), P. 17 (Kong, Dolores) The high rate of HIV infection among Latinos in Massachusetts is due to the cultural factors that help spread the epidemic in the community, according to providers of social and health care services to the Latino and Hispanic community in Massachusetts. "The husband goes out, the wife is still at home with the children. She doesn't complain. It's the culture," said Monica Marchisio, coordinator of the Hispanic AIDS Resource Center Project at Lowell House Inc., a substance abuse and treatment agency in Lowell, Mass. On Monday, officials from social and health care agencies for the Latino community met to explain findings of a new report on Latinos and AIDS. The report refers only to Latinos, from Latin America, because they represent the predominant Hispanic, or Spanish-speaking, population in Massachusetts. Although Latinos comprise only 5 percent of the state's population, they account for 12 percent of AIDS cases and 28 percent of IV-drug related cases, according to the report by the Latino AIDS Consortium of Massachusetts. Of all AIDS cases reported among Latina women, 28 percent resulted from heterosexual sex with an IV-drug user, the report found. Factors like cultural and linguistic barriers, poverty, and minimal funding specifically for services to Latinos account for the disproportional effect on the population, the report said. State public health officials have not yet announced any new anti-AIDS efforts targeted at Latinos, but yesterday some cited ongoing programs to address the problem, including an increase in the percentage of Hispanics being admitted for drug treatment in the state. These programs also provide HIV risk reduction services. ====================================================================== "The Pop Life: Disney for AIDS" New York Times (02/10/93), P. C14 (Rule, Sheila) Walt Disney Records is expected to release on Tuesday an album benefiting the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. "For Our Children: The Concert," involves pop and children's recording artists performing classic and original children's songs. It was recorded live in Los Angeles in September. The album features Paula Abdul singing "Zip-a- Dee-Doo-Dah" and Salt-N-Pepa singing "This Old Man", as well as artists like Michael Bolton, Sheila E., and Bobby McFerrin. George Duke, a producer, recording artist, and musician, was the musical director for the concert and the album. He said the most difficult part in organizing the concert, which had to be done in two weeks, was getting the artists to choose their songs. The release of "For Our Children: The Concert," is in conjunction with the broadcast of the concert on the Disney Channel, as well as a live telethon and the release of a home video. The concert was inspired by Disney Records' first album to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, "For Our Children," which was issued in 1991 and has raised approximately $3 million. ====================================================================== "Attacker Wears Condom After Victim Claims AIDS" United Press International (02/09/93) Milwaukee--A woman who was being raped told the suspect she had AIDS, but instead of ending the attack, the man put on a condom and proceeded, police said Tuesday. The woman alleged that a man in his early thirties approached her as she walked to the grocery store. He pulled out a handgun, demanded money, and forced the woman to walk to a nearby parking lot. He then pushed the woman and demanded that she take off her clothes. Inspector Vincent Partipilo said, "When it became evident that he was going to rape her, the woman told him she had AIDS." Partipilo added that instead of stopping the attack, the man pulled out a condom, put it on, and continued to rape the woman. It remained undetermined whether the woman actually has AIDS or if she just said she did to frighten the attacker and make him stop raping her. ====================================================================== "Japan Wants More Condom Vending Machines" Reuters (02/09/93) Tokyo--The Japanese health ministry encouraged local governments on Tuesday to allow for the installation of more condom vending machines to help thwart the spread of HIV infection. A ministry spokesman said, "We should create an environment where anyone can buy condoms without embarrassment." He added that there are 47 prefectural governments in Japan, and 38 of them had restrictions on condom vending machines. By the end of 1992, 543 Japanese had AIDS and 2,551 were infected with HIV, according to the most recent government statistics. The number of deaths from AIDS stood at 298. ====================================================================== "Free AIDS Tests in Japan for Valentine's Day" Reuters (02/09/93) Tokyo--Free HIV tests will be offered to young Japanese couples as Valentine's Day gifts by a local authority. The prefectural government in Saitama, near Tokyo, is scheduled to provide tickets to the first 200 couples who ask to be tested for HIV. A spokesman said Tuesday that the number of HIV cases among young heterosexuals in the country has risen significantly. He added, "We hope the program will help young people increase their awareness of the disease." Even though the program is targeted at young couples, older couples and homosexuals will not be refused an HIV test if they request one, the Saitama spokesman said. ====================================================================== "French AIDS Victim Plans Lawsuit in Blood Scandal" Reuters (02/08/93) Paris--A French hemophiliac who was infected with HIV via a contaminated blood transfusion said on Monday that he planned to file a lawsuit against three health officials. The man was one of the nearly 1,200 hemophiliacs who contracted HIV in the last half of 1985 before an available heating process to eliminate the virus from blood products was introduced. Edmond Herve, former health and social affairs minister, said he wants justice in the scandal and he believed a trial would emphasize the responsibility of the Health Ministry. Herve accused Gaston Rimarieux and Charles-Henri Filippi, former chiefs of staff for the health and social affairs ministers, himself and Georgina Dufoix. He also named Claude Wiesselberg, an adviser who Herve said knew about the dangers of contamination through blood in 1983 or 1984 but did not reveal it at ministerial experts' meetings. Herve said they all were responsible for the national blood stocks having been tainted from July 1985 to the end of that year. Last Friday, a panel of judges ruled that it was too late to try Herve and Dufoix and former prime minister Laurent Fabius by a special parliamentary High Court for neglecting to help persons in danger. The case against the three former ministers has returned to parliament, which would have to indict them with manslaughter--carrying a time limit of 10 years--for a trial to occur. Three former health officials were convicted of fraud and negligence last year. The infected hemophiliacs and their families have demanded that more senior officials be tried. ====================================================================== "HIV Tropism" Nature (01/28/93) Vol. 361, No. 6410, P. 309 (Moore, John and Ho, David) The neutralization resistance of primary viruses might have dire consequences for the chances of successful therapeutic intervention by the administration of neutralizing antibodies, write John Moore and David Ho of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, N.Y. In a recent issue of Nature, Nara et al. state that cell surface factors other than CD4 influence HIV-1 tropism in vitro, but it has been known for some years that HIV-1 isolates that vary in genetic composition replicate at different rates in transformed CD4 cell lines and in primary cells. The underlying reasons for the apparent link between the sensitivity of HIV-1 isolates to neutralization by soluble CD4 (sCD4) and the ability of these isolates to replicate in transformed T cells are imperfectly understood. Nara et al. stress the effect of the target cell on the sCD4-sensitivity of HIV-1, but neglect to mention reports that document the importance of viral factors. The data of Nara et al. are derived from studies using HIV-1 IIIB, which is a highly adapted virus; thus it is potentially misleading to draw general inferences from studies with this virus. Cell line-adapted HIV isolates such as IIIB or RF are up to 1,000 times more sensitive to sCD4 neutralization than primary viruses, irrespective of whether peripheral blood mononuclear cells or cell lines are used to monitor their replication. HIV-1 did not evolve to resist neutralization by sCD4, but it may well have done so to counter neutralizing antibodies in general, and those directed at its CD4-binding site in particular. The requirement of HIV-1 for protection against neutralization may be lost when the virus is grown in tissue culture and more rapidly growing strains are selected. ====================================================================== "HIV Detected in Babies as Young as One Month of Age" AIDS Alert (01/93) Vol. 8, No. 1, P. 9 Recent studies show that infant diagnosis of perinatal HIV infection can be performed successfully as early as four weeks. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can identify HIV infection in children as young as one month old, reports Dr. Nathan Shaffer, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. Those findings are "comparable" to the detection rate for HIV culture, and other new approaches are being developed as well, Shaffer said. Of the HIV- exposed children enrolled at birth who were followed prospectively at two-to-three month intervals for at least 15 months, 56 percent tested HIV-positive at younger than one week of age by the PCR method. By one to three weeks of age, 55 percent tested positive, and by one to three months, 95 percent tested positive. At four to six months of age, 95 percent of the infants tested HIV-positive. When the infants were older than six months of age, 100 percent tested positive using the PCR method. However, only 20-72 percent of infants tested during the same time intervals were shown to be HIV-positive using the HIV-IgA (HIV- specific IgA) test. According to Shaffer, additional studies at the CDC using the PCR method demonstrate that HIV is detected in approximately 50 percent of the infants tested during the first week of life. Approximately 70 percent of infants tested positive at one to three weeks of age. Also according to the studies, HIV is detected in about 80 percent of infants tested at one to two months of age. The studies found that at three months and older, 95-100 percent of infants tested positive for HIV. ====================================================================== "Children's AIDS Program is a Model for Keeping Families Intact" AIDS Alert (01/93) Vol. 8, No. 1, P. 10 An AIDS program in Boston, Mass., is aims to assist families affected by the disease by providing free day care, residential respite care, and in-home services to strengthen family unity. The Children's AIDS Program (CAP) respite service provides care for children when parents temporarily cannot do so. Thelma Hyatt, director of the CAP, said typical situations include a parent's own hospitalization or just needing a break from the strain of raising children while ill. The residential program can accommodate up to 12 children in CAP's new houselike setting, located on the grounds of Boston Specialty and Rehabilitation Hospital in the Mattapan Neighborhood. Children up to the age of 11 are eligible for the residential respite program, even though exceptions are made occasionally in times of crisis. CAP's day care program can take up to 20 children between the ages of one month to six years and allows parents to attend to their specific needs. Sylvia Fohlin, CAP's family services director, said that because all children in the day care program are infected with HIV, CAP provides a safe haven from the discrimination they often experience from the public. The in-home component service enables a parent with AIDS to receive up to 20 hours of help each week from a personal care attendant offering housekeeping, child care, and basic medical care. The proposed drop-in program would help parents who do not need full-time child care, but could benefit from having a secure place to leave their children for a few hours. The program receives most its funding from the city of Boston, and has a budget of more than $900,000 a year, said Hyatt.