Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 01/06/93 Date: Thu, 06 Jan 1994 10:13:54 CST (175 lines) Approved: greening@sti.com (Dan R. Greening) Archive-number: 12402 From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Note: Copyright 1994, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed. Copyright 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 06, 1994 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 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD "Lack of Gay Faces Prompts Criticism of Condom Ads" Washington Times (01/06/94) P. A3 (Price, Joyce) While the federal Centers for Disease Control is being applauded for its bold new AIDS prevention advertisements, the lack of homosexual representation has drawn criticism even from supporters. "The majority of people at risk for HIV still are gay," says Helen Fox, director of public policy for the National Minority AIDS Council. "Not having a public service announcement that specifically targets one of the populations most at risk is a mistake." Fox's statement is backed by CDC statistics, which indicate that gay men accounted for 55 percent of adult and adolescent AIDS cases reported between June 1981 and Sept. 30, 1993, while heterosexuals represented only 7 percent. One of the new ads features two lovers, whose position under bedsheets intentionally keeps vague the gender of the couple. Another, which features a white man telling an unseen person that "We'll Wait," could also possibly be homosexual, according to some speculations. "But we're not interested in coded ads," says Dave Ford, spokesman for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "We're interested in ads that specifically target young gay and bisexual males, who are at tremendous risk for HIV infection." Ford adds that condom ads directed at a young gay man who is just coming to terms with his sexuality would send a message that the federal government "recognizes his existence and is making decisions" aimed at keeping him healthy, and that to underestimate the impact of such a campaign would be a mistake. "Catholics Denounce New Anti-AIDS Ads" Baltimore Sun (01/06/94) P. 9A The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago yesterday urged broadcasters not to air the federal government's new anti-AIDS advertisements, which encourage condom use as a means to prevent AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The messages promote sexual activity, contends the nation's second-largest archdiocese. While the ads, which began airing on radio and television nationwide on Tuesday, do mention abstinence in several of the spots, the clear message is to use latex condoms during sexual intercourse. "The only morally correct and medically sure means of preventing the transmission of the HIV virus is through abstinence from sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage and through not sharing contaminated needles," read a statement from the archdiocese. "To encourage the use of condoms is to encourage the myth that there is such a thing as 'safe sex.' Public education efforts should be directed, therefore, to promoting that which is both good medicine and responsible living." "Ban on Medical Use of Marijuana Under Review" Washington Post (01/06/94) P. A7 AIDS patients and other terminally ill persons have long sought medical relief through the use of the illegal marijuana plant--a practice that was prohibited in 1992. Now, reports the Public Health Service, the Clinton administration is reconsidering the ban against this controversial use of marijuana as a medical treatment. Beginning in 1976, the government allowed the Food and Drug Administration to approve marijuana therapy for people who were suffering from painful, often terminal, diseases and who had not found relief in conventional therapies. The practice was banned by the Bush administration, which felt the substance could be detrimental to these patients. "It is something everyone is anxious to get resolved," says Rayford Kytle, a spokesperson for the Public Health Service. Related Story: New York Times (01/06) P. D19. "Losing Ground Against AIDS" New York Times (01/06/94) P. A21 (Gagnon, John) Health officials have failed to focus on homosexuals and intravenous drug users--the two groups at highest risk for AIDS infection--in their prevention efforts, contends John Gagnon, a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Instead, he says, they have wasted precious money on an ad campaign that primarily targets heterosexual young adults. The government's "scattershot" policy for AIDS resource distribution is a product of a misunderstanding about where the epidemic has been and where it is going, asserts Gagnon. He cites California as an example, where 80 percent of AIDS patients are gay men, yet only 10 percent of prevention dollars are spent on gay men. In addition, the government has neglected those at risk of infection through intravenous drug use, including the homeless and prison inmates. Prevention and treatment, Gagnon declares, require tailored approaches. He acknowledges the questions that arise when considering a policy based on the recognition that not every population is at equal risk. Some say that if the mainstream is convinced that the epidemic is not likely to affect them, they will abandon those among the marginalized society who are still at high risk. But the greater danger, Gagnon insists, is the climbing rate of infection in the high-risk community that is the result of inadequate prevention resources too thinly spread. "Condom Crusade" Washington Post (01/06/94) P. A27 (Will, George F.) A state court in New York recently struck down a condom-distribution program in public schools, siding with some parents who objected to condom availability without parental consent. A note made by the court in its decision, remarks syndicated columnist George F. Will, raises an important question. Condoms are widely available in drug and other stores, so what is the driving motivation behind the condom crusade? AIDS, says Will. New York City's condom-distribution program was implemented expressly with reference to the disease, rather than as a response to the epidemic of teen pregnancies. The fact that transmission of the virus through heterosexual intercourse is not the primary means of transmission, the fact that the rationale of the condom crusade is exclusively about AIDS rather than illegitimacy, and the fact that the campaign emanates aggressive disdain for parental sovereignty all bring Will to the conclusion that the condom-distribution program is actually a tactic of ideological dissemination. "It facilitates the campaign to 'democratize' the public's perception of AIDS, a political program advanced behind such slogans as 'AIDS does not discriminate' and 'AIDS is an equal opportunity disease,'" says Will. He finds that the campaign makes AIDS a "privileged disease," which receives a share of resources that is disproportionate relative to the resources allocated to diseases that are more costly in lives and less driven by risky behaviors. The agenda of the campaign, concludes Will, is to assert equal legitimacy for all "lifestyles" and "preferences" and to reduce personal responsibility for the consequence of choices. "HIV Resistance Noted" American Medical News (01/03/94) Vol. 37, No. 1, P. 2 HIV patients infected with drug-resistant strains of the virus are three times more likely to die than people with other strains, according to researchers. Although drug resistance among HIV-positive patients was detected as early as 1989, this latest study is the first evidence that resistance is linked to progression of AIDS disease. The finding could prompt development of drugs that attack the virus through different mechanisms. "Depression Doesn't Speed AIDS Onset, Death" Science News (12/04/93) Vol. 144, No. 23, P. 374 (Adler, T.) Symptoms of depression, which often surface in HIV patients, appear to have little effect on the progression of the disease or the longevity of the patient, according to the findings of two new studies. The first, conducted by Jeffrey H. Burack and colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco, expanded and revised earlier findings which initially reported higher depression rates among depressed patients. In the new report, Burack concluded that "neither overall depression nor affective depression was significantly associated with earlier AIDS diagnosis or earlier mortality." In an additional finding that was unique to their study, the researchers reported that the number of CD4 immune cells, the decline of which indicates disease progression, fell more rapidly than did the CD4 counts in nondepressed subjects. That finding was not corroborated, however, in the second study, by Constantine G. Lyketsos of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. That study found similar rates of CD4 cell decline in both depressed and non-depressed patients. They did concur with Burack and colleagues that there was "no evidence that depressive symptoms independently prognosticate worse outcomes in HIV infection."