Subject: CDC Summary Date: 3/29/93 (225 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary March 29, 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 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD "Lifeline: AIDS and Work" USA Today (03/29/93), P. 1D A co-worker with HIV infection should be fired or put on disability at the first sign of AIDS, according to 24 percent of workers who participated in a new survey. However, most of the 2,000 private sector workers surveyed for the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS indicated tolerance for HIV-positive workers and concern about AIDS. Fifty percent claimed that AIDS is their leading health concern, 78 percent said infected workers should be treated like anyone else with a disability or illness, and 75 percent indicated support for AIDS education in the workplace. "Family Sues Hospital After Mislabeled HIV Test" Baltimore Sun (03/29/93), P. 2B (Roylance, Frank D.) A 16-year-old girl from Towson, Md., was incorrectly told she tested HIV-positive, which caused her and her family severe anguish, according to a lawsuit filed by her family against the hospital where the test was taken. In May 1991, the girl learned that she tested positive for HIV. But two months later, after weeks of fear, anguish and repeated testing, her family discovered that their daughter was not infected after all. The mistake was apparently the result of a mislabeled blood sample. Last Wednesday, the girl and her family sued St. Joseph Hospital in Towson, charging it with negligence in handling the blood sample after it was taken, or in the supervision of the outside laboratory that conducted the test. The lawsuit alleges that the error caused the family weeks of emotional suffering and resulted in the daughter considering suicide. However, the hospital's public relations director, Lori Vidil, said St. Joseph officials believe the mislabeling occurred at an out-of-state laboratory, which she did not name. She said, "Following this incident, we re-evaluated our internal policies and we feel these procedures were followed properly. However, we are no longer sending [HIV tests] to the lab we had been sending them to." Vidil said the hospital has not taken legal action against the laboratory, and refused to comment further on the suit until the hospital's lawyers review it. "Edward Savitz, Main Figure in Sex Scandal, Dies of AIDS" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/29/93), P. A1 (Wiegand, Ginny) Edward I. Savitz, the Philadelphia business executive accused of bizarre sexual fetishes who received national attention last year, died of AIDS on Saturday. He died at an unidentified Philadelphia hospice, where he had been transferred about a week ago by court order. He had previously been held at the prison wing of Girard Medical Center for allegedly sexually molesting four teenage boys. Barnaby C. Wittels, his lawyer, said, "The facts are that no one ever got AIDS from this man, and he is as yet untried and therefore cloaked in the presumption of innocence." He was charged with molestation at a pretrial hearing last April, and was scheduled to go to trial next Monday on 22 criminal charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, promoting prostitution, corrupting the morals of minors, and sexual abuse of children. Savitz had pleaded not guilty. Francis J. Stoffa, executive director of the AIDS Task Force of Philadelphia, said the case hurt public perceptions of people with AIDS. He said, "It was a horrible, horrible stereotype of a gay man. The Savitz case should be viewed for what it is--a unique case, a pathetic case. He was unto himself." Wittels said on March 19 that Savitz was close to death and would not make it to trial. He requested that Common Pleas Court Judge Legrome D. Davis allow his client to enter an AIDS hospice to "die with dignity." Related Story: New York Times (03/29) P. A10 "Federal Inaction Blamed in Blood Crisis" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/26/93), P. A5 (Mickleburgh, Rod) Canadian health officials seemed content with watching and waiting as the country's contaminated blood scandal developed, a special parliamentary hearing into the controversy was told Thursday. Liberal Rey Pagtakhan, a Winnipeg doctor, accused the Health and Welfare's bureau of biologics, the group that monitors the safety of blood products, of neglecting to interfere as blood products at risk of HIV infection were administered to hemophiliacs in the early months of 1985. Dr. Pagtakhan, a member of the subcommittee investigating how more than 1,000 Canadians contracted HIV through tainted blood products before safeguards were introduced, said he was surprised to discover that the Canadian Blood Agency, which funds the Red Cross' blood transfusion system, has provincial and territorial representatives on its board--but no one from the federal health and welfare department. "This is an agency responsible for the national blood supply, and yet it has only provinces on it. We can't allow this. It's alarming," said Pagtakhan. On Nov. 16, 1984, the bureau of biologics wrote to all Canadian, American, and European manufacturers of Factor VIII, the blood-clotting agent used by hemophiliacs, requiring them to heat-treat all products destined for Canada. But the first heat-treated products did not arrive in Canada until July 1, 1985. During this period, many hemophiliacs received Factor VIII that had not been heat-treated. Mark Boucher, acting director of the bureau of biologics, said the group acknowledged that a sufficient supply of heat-treated blood products couldn't be immediately available regardless of its advisory. "Care for Man With AIDS Substandard, MD Testifies" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/26/93), P. A14 (Downey, Donn) A Canadian man who died of AIDS without knowing he had the disease could have lived at least two years longer if his physician had cared for him properly, according to an AIDS expert from the United States. Michael Lange, associate professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University in New York, said that if Dr. Stanley Bain had been practicing in New York, the treatment for the man, Kenneth Pittman, would have been considered below the accepted standard. Dr. Lange testified Thursday in a civil lawsuit filed by Pittman's widow, Rochelle, and their four children against Dr. Bain, the Canadian Red Cross Society, and the Toronto Hospital, where Pittman received an HIV-tainted blood transfusion in 1984 during heart surgery. The family is seeking about $2 million in damages. Dr. Bain learned in April of 1989 that the donor of the blood used in Pittman's operation had tested positive for HIV. According to Lange, Bain had a duty to either investigate the potential that Pittman was infected or refer him to a specialist. Rochelle Pittman probably contracted HIV after that date. Dr. Lange added that if Dr. Bain had chosen to care for Kenneth Pittman, he could have prescribed an antibiotic to treat the pneumonia that ultimately killed him. Also, if he had been treated properly, Pittman might have lived an additional five years and enjoyed a better quality of life than he did in the years immediately before his death. On March 2, 1990, Pittman was admitted to North York General Hospital where he was given antibiotics. He subsequently died on March 20, unaware that he had AIDS. "As AIDS Casts Shadow of Death, More Churches Find Compassion" Los Angeles Times (03/28/93), P. A1 (Briggs, David) As the AIDS epidemic progresses and claims more lives, U.S. churches are starting to concentrate their efforts on the disease. Rev. Bill Heston of the First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, said, "When AIDS took a face at First Baptist, then it could no longer be avoided. It became a person that we care about, that we loved, and AIDS is secondary." Although First Baptist is considered ultra-conservative, it now offers six AIDS-care teams, assisting AIDS patients from its nearly 20,000-member community. AIDS advocates claim that a new awareness exudes from churches. At the start of the AIDS epidemic, many of these same churches had expressed apathy, fear, or disgust, and had turned their backs on the disease and those infected with it. The doctrine of unconditional love did not seem to include the homosexuals and drug abusers who were the most affected by AIDS. Now, however, about 1,800 churches nationwide have AIDS relief and education programs, making the religious community the second-largest provider of AIDS-related services outside of the government, says the National AIDS Interfaith Network in Washington, D.C. The Rev. David Jaeger, coordinator of AIDS ministry for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, Wash., says AIDS compares to "the story of Jesus Christ--suffering, misjudged, dying young, and coming back from the dead." "Canada Decides, At Last, to Increase Spending on AIDS" Nature (03/18/93) Vol. 361, No. 6417, P. 199 Canada will increase funding for AIDS programs within the next five years by 13 percent. The increase from C$37 million (US$30 million) to C$42 million, which was recently announced just days before the end of funding for the current five-year plan for a national AIDS strategy, falls short of the C$55 million recommended by AIDS groups. However, it eases some of the anxiety caused by the government's failure to reveal its plans sooner. Previously, Health Minister Benoit Bouchard had told the AIDS groups without explanation that their request was unrealistic. Even though there will be more funding for the next five years, there has been sharp criticism of the government's AIDS-related efforts, which has witnessed the number of AIDS cases double in the past three years to about 12,000. "Canada's government spends per HIV person about 40 percent of what the U.S. and Australia each spend," says epidemiologist Martin Schechter of the University of British Columbia. Schechter says, "The Royal Society report recommended spending $80-$100 million a year. The government's figure of $42.2 million doesn't appear to be based on any kind of rational approach to the problem." The health department said the five-year plan will have a greater concentration on five areas: partnerships among federal, provincial, and international agencies and private groups; recognizing HIV as a chronic and progressive condition; promoting health for people with AIDS and HIV; developing supportive social environments; and encouraging and maintaining healthy behavior. "AIDS Update: Bellingham, Wash." National Law Journal (03/29/93) Vol. 15, No. 30, P. 6 The Washington state Supreme Court ruled on March 11 that the state law requiring HIV tests for people convicted of a sexual offense also includes juveniles. Justice Robert F. Utter ruled that a warrant is not needed to convict the juveniles, regardless of whether the sexual misconduct included behavior capable of transmitting HIV. The judge said HIV testing should be limited to cases in which there is probable cause to believe transmission of bodily fluids transpired. "There is no evidence that the juveniles here are part of a high risk group," he wrote. Justice Utter added, "Certainly their conduct prior to the offenses they committed does not so indicate. The majority simply accepts the legislature's sweeping judgment that all of those who are convicted of committing sex offenses should be tested." "AIDS Update: Baltimore" National Law Journal (03/29/93) Vol. 15, No. 30, P. 6 The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled March 16 that HIV-positive surgeons can be held liable for neglecting to disclose their condition to patients before an operation. The unanimous ruling by the state's highest court reaffirmed two lawsuits filed against the estate of a Johns Hopkins Hospital breast cancer surgeon who died in 1990 of AIDS. The court made its decision based on an American Medical Association policy statement drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the statement, infected health-care professionals should either abstain from surgery or receive the patient's consent, as well as approval from a review committee.