Subject: CDC Summary 2/12/93 Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1993 08:25:35 PST (210 lines) Archive-Number: 195 From: Billi Goldberg Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed. sold. Copyright 1992, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary February 12, 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 ===================================================================== "Business Leaders in Bangkok Join to Fight AIDS" Wall Street Journal (02/12/93), P. B4H (Owens, Cynthia) Due to the rampant spread of HIV infection in Thailand, a situation which could lead to economic disaster, leading business executives are joining forces to fight the spread of the disease. Their actions are somewhat belated; until recently the business community let the government take charge of the anti-AIDS efforts. But now the AIDS situation is dire, and businesses are racing against the clock. James P. Reinnoldt, regional general manager of Northwest Airlines, a unit of Wings Holdings Inc., said, "It's going to affect every business. You either pay now, or you pay later in a much bigger way." Reinnoldt and a dozen other foreign and local executives have established AIDS awareness programs in their companies, in addition to drafting policies to deal with workers who contract HIV. Now, they are seeking to recruit other businesses. These businesses have been spurred into action by government data indicating that Thailand stands to be devastated socially and economically if the spread of HIV in the country isn't controlled. But even the most optimistic projections state that two million Thais, or 3.5 percent of the population, will be infected with HIV by the year 2000, even though the government has officially reported only 620 AIDS-related deaths so far. About 500,000 Thais are already infected, giving the nation one of the highest infection rates in the world. According to experts, by the year 2000, as much as 10 percent of Thailand's population could have AIDS, with many of the patients in their prime working years. This would result in doubled health-care costs, and engulf as much as 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product. ===================================================================== "Metro Firms: Rockville Firm Arranges Tests of AIDS Treatment" Washington Times (02/12/93), P. C3 Advanced Biotherapy Concepts Inc. of Rockville, Md., has announced that it has agreed to conduct clinical trials of its patented AIDS drug with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. ===================================================================== "T Policy Abstains" Boston Globe (02/11/93), P. 44 (Palmer, Thomas C.) The Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (MBTA), also known as the 'T,' decided Wednesday not to display any advertisements promoting safe sex or condom use in its public transportation vehicles. The ambiguous policy that existed on T advertising was being pulled together into a specific policy last September, when controversy emerged over some public service advertisements proposed by the AIDS Action Committee, according to Loring A. Barnes, the T's assistant general manager for marketing. The new policy said that "messages or graphic representations pertaining to sexual conduct" would be allowed if they contained "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific" value. However, the policy was rejected. The new policy now states that such depictions "will not be accepted." Barnes said, "It's our job to represent everybody," and the new policy is an attempt to appeal to as many riders as possible while trying not to offend any. The AIDS Action Committee of Boston had provided seven ads regarding safe sex and condoms, two of which were found potentially objectionable by T officials. The ads ran for a month and prompted a great deal of criticism, including a petition signed by 800 people. Barnes said the T plans to continue displaying ads produced by the committee. However, the ads will be less explicit, in keeping with the new policy. ===================================================================== "Researchers Plan AIDS Vaccine Trials" United Press International (02/11/93) (Klinger, Karen) Boston--A vaccine designed to protect infants born to HIV-positive mothers from becoming infected themselves will be tested later this year, according to a pediatric AIDS researcher who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A trial of two kinds of genetically engineered vaccine will involve about 100 newborns, said Dr. John Sullivan of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Sullivan said he could not say whether the vaccine will keep babies from contracting HIV, but added, "I think it is very likely you could get some protection." He said the study will be the first to inhibit mother-to-child HIV transmission. About 6,000 HIV-positive women give birth in the United States every year, and about 1,500 babies contract HIV from them. Sullivan said recent research suggests that 50 percent to 75 percent of the babies are infected in the birth canal, rather than in the womb. The trial will involve giving the infants one dose of the vaccine shortly after birth and two more doses within their first eight weeks. The AIDS vaccines that will be used in the trial are made by two California companies-- Chiron Corp. of Emeryville and Genentech Inc. of San Francisco--and use gp120, the outer coat of HIV. The scientists hope that by vaccinating the babies with gp120, they can incite antibody production in the newborns, causing the babies' immune systems to block the viral infections from the mothers, said Sullivan. He added that the main goal of the study will be to test the safety of the vaccine and see if it causes any toxic side effects. ===================================================================== "$100,000 Payment to an AIDS Shelter" New York Times (02/12/93), P. B4 The village of Waterford, N.Y., has agreed in a settlement to pay $100,000 in mortgage payments and legal fees to an AIDS shelter. Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, the group that expects to open a 15-bedroom AIDS shelter this spring, sued the village for attempting to prevent the shelter for homeless AIDS patients from opening. In December, Federal Magistrate Ralph W. Smith Jr. ruled that the village had illegally changed zoning laws to prevent the AIDS group from establishing the shelter, thus violating the Federal Fair Housing Act. The magistrate awarded Support Ministries $25,000 in mortgage payments and lawyers' fees, and directed attorneys for the village, Support Ministries, and the state of New York--which joined Support Ministries in the case--to negotiate other settlements. ===================================================================== "Magic Johnson to Visit Tokyo for AIDS Forum" Reuters (02/10/93) Tokyo--Former basketball star Magic Johnson is planning to attend an international forum on AIDS in Tokyo, Japan, organizers revealed Thursday. The March 25 symposium will feature Johnson speaking as a special guest. He will discuss his own experience with the disease and say that the AIDS epidemic is everyone's problem. Johnson retired from the Los Angeles Lakers last year after learning he tested HIV-positive. He also quit the president's National Commission on AIDS in September, claiming that the Bush administration had "dropped the ball" on the AIDS epidemic. ===================================================================== "One in Five Irish Single Men Had Sex Without Condom" Reuters (02/12/93) Dublin--Among men in Ireland who had sex with a new partner in the last year, one in five did not use a condom, according to a survey released today. A leading condom manufacturer conducted the survey, which discovered that the men knew of the threat of AIDS but were still putting themselves at risk by not using condoms. The survey said that six out of 10 people had sex at least once a week and the condom, now more readily available in Roman Catholic Ireland due to a more liberal family planning policy, was considered the most popular contraceptive. "Cologne Hands Out Free Condoms for Safer Carnival" Reuters (02/11/93) Cologne, Germany--The city of Cologne has decided to provide free condoms when crowds pack the streets next week for Germany's wildest annual carnival. A city health spokeswoman said on Thursday that taxi drivers would hand out free packs of colorful condoms and booklets on preventing infection with HIV. The predominantly Catholic city is making the move because in recent years its AIDS hotline has been overwhelmed with calls from hung-over partiers concerned about the potential of infection from carnival romancing. ===================================================================== "NIH Panics Over AIDS 'Manhattan Project'" Science (01/29/93) Vol. 259, No. 5095, P. 587 (Stone, Richard) Officials from the National Institutes of Health are concerned about how Congress intends to organize the "Manhattan Project for AIDS" that President Clinton promised in his campaign. NIH directors first learned of the trouble last month when Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) proposed a bill that would shift control of AIDS research from the individual institutes of NIH to a powerful Office of AIDS Research (OAR) within NIH. The bill would move OAR to a sort of "AIDS central" with the authority to distribute the NIH AIDS budget. NIH officials see this as a $1-billion power shift, with activists obtaining more influence than NIH research and NIH's management becoming less powerful. But a weekend meeting with Senate staff and AIDS activists resulted in a compromise. The most recent version of the bill now requires the OAR to control only new and competing NIH grants, which will phase in its control of the AIDS budget over several years. NIH officials would prefer that nothing be changed, but they at least have a chance to make a better compromise when the House considers the bill later this year. ===================================================================== "Hidden AIDS: A New Test May Help Doctors Uncover Cases of Infection in Babies" Time (02/15/93) Vol. 141, No. 7, P. 20 Infants of HIV-positive mothers have a 30 percent chance of contracting the virus themselves. Standard tests that detect antibodies to HIV cannot determine which babies are infected and need immediate treatment. This occurs because the mother's own antibodies cross the placenta, causing the newborn to test HIV-positive even if not infected. However, researchers at UCLA published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that explains a possible solution. In their study, they used a new test that separates the maternal antibodies from infant blood samples, making the virus easier to detect. ===================================================================== "New CDC Definition Now in Effect, But Confidentiality Questions Remain" AIDS Treatment News (02/05/93) No. 168, P. 6 (Solomon, Nancy) Although the new federal definition of AIDS gives a more accurate representation of those with the disease, confidentiality may be undermined. The new definition added pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia, and invasive cervical cancer to the list of opportunistic infections that define AIDS. It also considers those with a T-cell count lower than 200 to have the disease. The new criteria for what constitutes AIDS are expected to send some state public health officials searching through patient records to increase their caseload statistics, so that their states can receive more federal funds. Legal advocates claim this process will weaken confidentiality rules, leading to fewer people seeking testing and an erosion of HIV confidentiality standards. The AIDS Legal Referral Panel in San Francisco, Calif., said in a memorandum, "Despite extensive advocacy directed at the CDC requesting a bar on name-based lab reporting of low [T-cell] counts, we find that we are forced to fight this battle on a state-by-state basis." Legal advocates recommend that activists fight name-based reporting of T-cell counts at the local level. Also, the new AIDS definition brings into question the access to T-cell testing, which can cost $100-$200, exceeding the amount most people without health insurance can afford. Therefore, lack of access to testing will lead to the underreporting of the epidemic and a lack of HIV services for women, minorities, and the poor. Legal advocates also suggest that activists urge local government agencies to provide anonymous T-cell testing to all who request it. * The AIDS Daily Summary will not publish on Monday, February 15, 1993, in observance of Presidents Day. The summary will resume publication on Tuesday, February 16, 1993. T