Subject: CDC Summary 3/8/93 Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1993 20:10:31 PST (265 lines) Archive-Number: 353 From: Billi Goldberg Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed. sold. Copyright 1992, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary March 8, 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 ===================================================================== "Blood Untreated Despite HIV Data" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/05/93), P. A1 (Picard, Andre) In 1984, the Canadian government was aware that 55 percent of Canadian hemophiliacs contracted HIV through contaminated blood products, but proceeded to use unscreened blood that was "already in the pipeline," according to recently released documents. The documents, obtained through Access to Information and compiled by the Canadian Hemophilia Society, also stated that the government knew in early 1985 that four in every 100,000 blood donors were infected, but continued to allow blood transfusions even though it didn't test the blood for HIV until late that year. David Page, president of the Canadian Hemophilia Society, said Thursday night, "This new information backs up our conclusion that the workings of the Canadian blood system have to be investigated in depth." About 1,000 Canadians contracted HIV as a result of the bureaucratic delays. These included 733 hemophiliacs and 231 blood-transfusion recipients who have received compensation from Ottawa. The new findings bolster accusations by victims that poor communication between bureaucratic agencies and an insufficient administrative structure worsened the problem, which lead the infection of hundreds more people. The Commons subcommittee on health issues is currently investigating the Canadian blood system. The documents revealed last Thursday will be presented at that committee this Thursday night. ===================================================================== "Targeting Urged in Attack on AIDS" New York Times (03/07/93), P. 1 (Kolata, Gina) Some AIDS experts say that the epidemic in the United States can be virtually eliminated, even without a vaccine or wonder drug, by prevention efforts that target 25 to 30 U.S. neighborhoods with high rates of HIV infection. Experts have previously maintained that everyone is at risk of contracting HIV, so messages encouraging less risky behavior should be widely broadcast. Some of these experts still say that because HIV has spread throughout the country, it is ineffective to focus on a few neighborhoods. But other experts argue otherwise. They say the pattern of HIV's spread and the success of programs that have concentrated primarily on affected groups and neighborhoods could be used to help curb the spread of the fatal virus. The new view of the pattern of the disease's spread has resulted from a recent analysis by a committee of the National Research Council that indicates AIDS is ravaging a handful of neighborhoods while leaving most of the nation untouched. The report, "The Social Impact of AIDS," released in February, stated the epidemic was "settling into spatially and socially isolated groups and possibly becoming endemic in them." Also, data from the United States and abroad show that it is possible to reverse the course of an AIDS epidemic or even prevent one if efforts are intense and narrowly focused. These efforts have been successful even among supposedly fractious populations like IV-drug users. ===================================================================== "National Briefs: Drug Abusers Buy Clean Needles" Boston Globe (03/05/93), P. 8 IV-drug users are purchasing more clean needles and may be sharing them less frequently as a result of new Connecticut laws that have legalized needle purchase and possession, federal health officials said Thursday. Last year, the state eliminated laws that required a prescription to buy needles. Among 124 drug users the Center for Disease Control interviewed, 19 percent said they bought clean needles at a pharmacy in June, either illegally or because they somehow obtained a prescription. Approximately 74 percent bought potentially contaminated needles on the street. But by November, 41 percent of the 124 drug users were purchasing clean needles, compared with 59 percent who bought them on the street. ===================================================================== "Many D.C. Students Take Advantage of Condom Giveaway" Washington Post (03/08/93), P. D5 As a part of an intense effort to thwart the spread of HIV among Washington, D.C., high school students, more than 10,000 condoms have been distributed since October, when school nurses started making the prophylactics available. The condoms were obtained by about 1,100--or 7 percent--of the students at public high schools. According to district health officials, 2 percent of the city's senior high students would request condoms in the early years of the distribution program. The effort has also allowed nurses to detect unrelated health problems in students such as alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, and sexually transmitted diseases, said Mary Ellen Bradshaw, chief of the District's Bureau of School Health Services. Superintendent Franklin L. Smith said before the school year began that he would permit parents to advise school nurses not to give condoms to their children, and to tell them if their children requested condoms. But Public Health Commissioner Mohammad Akhter said the program would be undermined if nurses did not ensure the students' confidentiality. Caitlin Ryan, chief of the city's Agency for HIV/AIDS, said last week that she has only received one letter from a parent complaining about the condom program. Before students may receive condoms, they must attend two school assemblies about health issues, including AIDS. In addition, they must undergo a counseling session with a school nurse. ===================================================================== "AIDS Fears Boost Child Prostitution Trade, Experts Say" Reuters (03/04/93) (Pleming, Sue) Brussels--Children are being lured into prostitution at younger ages, partly as a result of clients' fear of contracting HIV from older prostitutes, according to human rights advocates. Wassyla Tamzali, head of UNESCO's program for women's rights, said, "The children being traded are getting younger and younger. Even children as young as 12 years old are being sold for prostitution." A conference entitled "Trafficking in Women and Human Rights" was to be held on Saturday in Brussels. The conference was sponsored by the U.N. cultural body UNESCO, and coincided with International Women's Day. Janice Raymond, an American academic and leader of the umbrella pressure group Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, said the emergence of AIDS has resulted in a dramatic rise in child prostitution. "Sexual exploitation used to be rare in children, but with AIDS about, child virgins have become very popular. They are seen as AIDS-free and get a good price," said Raymond. Raymond's group has requested a new international convention to halt all types of sexual exploitation of women and children. The convention will be presented to the Brussels conference, and Raymond hopes it will soon be implemented by the United Nations to replace outdated legislation on trafficking in human beings. ===================================================================== "Manila Slams Cardinal Sin for Attack on Condoms" Reuters (03/05/93) Manila--Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin was accused of being impractical by the Philippine government because of his opposition to the use of the condom as a means to thwart the spread of HIV and as a family planning device. Presidential spokesperson Annabelle Abaya said, "He would want to protect the teachings of the Church ... but there is a huge gap between practical and theoretical application." Sin assailed the government of President Fidel Ramos on Thursday, saying it was sacrificing moral values to solve the country's economic and political dilemmas. However, Abaya said the government is only trying ensure that Filipinos know that condoms are provided as a family planning approach and to help curb the spread of HIV. Sin's speech to businessmen was the latest criticism by the Roman Catholic Church protesting official policies it says oppose the moral traditions of this predominantly Roman Catholic country. Sin has said that controlling the spread of HIV is a good idea but promoting the use of condoms could encourage promiscuity. Health Secretary Juan Flavier has revealed that nearly 36,000 Filipinos are believed to be HIV-positive and he warned there could be a crisis in five years. ===================================================================== "Researchers Produce Antibody That Targets HIV Enzyme" United Press International (03/06/93) Tokyo--A Japanese research team has announced the discovery of an antibody that targets an enzyme responsible for spreading HIV, the Kyodo News Service reports. Professor Jo Chiba, an immunologist at the Science University of Tokyo, and researchers from the National Institute of Health and Ube Industries Ltd. revealed their findings at a meeting of the Japan Health Sciences Foundation's Tokyo headquarters. The discovery is still in the test tube stage, the researchers said, but it could prove to be effective in the diagnosis of AIDS and development of a new treatment. The researchers have submitted an application for a patent on the findings. Because the newly developed antibody combines with the enzyme at different parts of the DNA molecule than other drugs, the researchers said it can be used against HIV that has developed tolerance to AZT. The team developed the monoclonal antibody by infecting a laboratory mouse with a virus produced by inserting a gene from the enzyme into the substance used in the production of raw vaccine, and then produced several types of monoclonal antibodies based on the cells from the mouse. After combining the antibodies with the enzyme taken from HIV, one of the monoclonal antibodies showed an ability to virtually inhibit the action of the enzyme, the researchers said. ===================================================================== "Pa. Reconsiders Asking Labs to Report Low T-Cell Counts" American Medical News (02/22/93) Vol. 36, No. 8, P. 30 Pennsylvania health authorities are re-examining a new AIDS policy that calls for laboratories to report the names of people with low T- cell counts. The policy, which began on Jan. 4, has been suspended by Philadelphia's health commissioner, Dr. Robert K. Ross. The state had asked that medical labs voluntarily disclose to state health officials the name, address, age, sex, and race of anyone with fewer than 200 T- cells per cubic milliliter. The reason the state proposed such a policy is because an accurate count of all people with AIDS affects the state's ability to receive its share of federal funding for treatment of the disease. Opponents of the policy claim the reporting will deter people from being tested for HIV. They also cite a separate law that makes it illegal to reveal confidential information related to a person's HIV condition. Kathy Lieber, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said the controversy incited a review of the policy. Dr. Ross said Philadelphia would consider devising a reporting approach that protects people's identities. Scott Burris, counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union's AIDS and Civil Liberties Project, said it would be illegal for labs to provide the state with the names of people with low T-cell counts. Pennsylvania's Act 148 states that it is illegal to reveal confidential information, such as test results, associated with a person's HIV infection. ===================================================================== "News in Brief: International" Advocate (02/23/93) No. 623, P. 31 Mandatory HIV testing of foreigners was recently proposed in Europe and Southeast Asia. Conservative foreign aid minister Carl- Dieter Spranger of Germany incited protests from the opposition Social Democrats and a German human rights group by recommending that asylum seekers from countries with high prevalences of HIV infection, such as those in Africa and Asia, should be required to test for HIV infection before being admitted into Germany. The human rights group Pro Asyl said that Spranger's plan was "racist." Cornelia Sonntag, spokeswoman for the Social Democrats, said the testing could only bolster prejudices against asylum seekers, who are often targets of neo-Nazi aggression. Similarly, The Saigon Newsreader reported that HIV tests will be mandatory for prostitutes, prisoners, drug addicts, homosexuals, and foreigners seeking permission to spend more than three months in Vietnam. The report also said that citizens who are found to be HIV- positive will not be allowed to marry. ===================================================================== "Illustrating AIDS Taboos" Progressive (02/93) Vol. 57, No. 2, P. 15 (Metz, Holly) An inmate HIV educator at the Women's Correctional Institution in Delaware has developed a comic book targeted directly at women in prison. Using prison jargon and describing the challenges of prison life, the 12-page comic book, "Before I Used to Be Scared," addresses issues like the ostracism that HIV-positive inmates face. Suzanne Triano, the comic book's author, who was recently paroled after nine- and-a-half years, said, "There's so much prejudice against people with AIDS in the prison. And the language that's used to describe women afflicted with this is so demeaning." She says the comic book is intended to ease stress in a closed environment already overwhelmed by tension and distrust. "Before I Used to Be Scared" uses humor to provide non-judgmental safe-sex messages. Triano says she developed the comic book because the few pamphlets that educated women about AIDS did not address the special needs of women in prison. While the percentage of incarcerated women who categorize themselves as lesbians or bisexuals is very low, Triano says, "over 80 percent of the women in prison are engaged in lesbian relationships at one time or another in their incarceration. So there's a lot of unprotected activity going on, which needs to be addressed." The warden at the Women's Correctional Institution, Paul Howard, worked with Triano to produce and distribute the comic book she proposed. However, the warden cannot provide the plastic wrap, condoms, dental dams, or rubber gloves that the comic recommends for safer sex, because it is illegal to do so under state law. ===================================================================== "Messages About AIDS Reach Some, Not All" American Pharmacy (02/93) Vol. NS33, No. 2, P. 7 Two recent reports indicate that not all high-risk groups are grasping anti-AIDS messages. A nationwide telephone survey of more than 10,000 heterosexuals aged 18-75 revealed that 15-31 percent of the respondents were at some risk for HIV infection in the past one to five years. But only 17 percent of the respondents with multiple sex partners reported using condoms all the time. Of those with sex partners in high-risk groups, only 12.6 percent used condoms all the time, and only 10.8 percent of untested transfusion recipients always used condoms. Those reporting sex with multiple partners were more likely to be white or African American young male adults than Hispanic, unmarried, or highly educated individuals. The researchers stated that public health messages about AIDS prevention seem to be reaching heterosexuals with multiple sex partners "to some extent," especially young adults, but are not reaching middle-aged and elderly adults or people who have received blood transfusions. In a separate study conducted by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, it was discovered that about one-third of some 1,800 homosexual men studied in 16 small cities performed unprotected anal intercourse an average of eight times during a two-month period. Most of these were outside of monogamous relationships. While 90 percent of men who had protected anal intercourse described their HIV risk over the last two months as none or slight, 77 percent of those who had unprotected anal intercourse incorrectly described their risk as none or slight. These findings emphasize the need for more aggressive anti- AIDS efforts.