Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 01/10/94 Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 08:52:38 CST (216 lines) Approved: phil (J. Philip Miller) Archive-number: 12443 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 10, 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 "People Over 50 Ignoring Safeguards Against AIDS" New York Times (01/10/94) P. A8 (Blakeslee, Sandra) While young people seem to be getting the message about AIDS prevention, older Americans are largely ignoring safeguards against the disease, finds a new medical survey. To find out what older Americans are doing to protect themselves against AIDS, Dr. Ron Stall and Dr. Joe Catania of the University of California at San Francisco studied more than 3,000 interviews of people over the age of 50 taken from large national surveys. Ten percent of the respondents reported having multiple sex partners or a blood transfusion in the 1980's before AIDS screening was widely available, said Stall. Despite these risk factors, he said, older Americans were six times less likely to use condoms and five times less likely to undergo AIDS testing than younger people with similar risk factors. Stall points out that, for older Americans, there has been no public health warning. "When have you ever seen an AIDS poster with a wrinkled face?" he asks. Also, adds Dr. Mitchell Feldman, an assistant professor of medicine at UCSF, doctors tend to ignore AIDS risk factors in older patients. "They assume older people don't have sex and are not at risk," he says. "But not only are they having sex, they are not taking precautions." He says education programs for Americans over 50 are badly needed. While they seem to think they will not be infected by AIDS, people over age 50 have consistently accounted for 10 percent of AIDS cases, with the toll now at more than 33,000. "AIDS Research" Associated Press (01/10/94) Baltimore--Fear of becoming infected with AIDS is causing female and minority volunteers to avoid participation in vaccine experiments for the disease, and the fear is hampering research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, according to scientists. "As soon as people hear the word AIDS, they just turn the other way," says Dr. Jack Lambert, clinical director of AIDS vaccine studies at the school. Those that do get involved, he notes, "very often have had personal experiences with friends or partners or family members, or they are committed for moral or religious reasons." Recent revelations about Cold War radiation experiments on unknowing subjects have also renewed the public's mistrust of medical experiments. While gay professionals are loyal participants in AIDS research, director of recruitment Carol Hilton says that since 1988, only 21 percent of 300 volunteers have been black and just 29 percent have been women. Scientists say they need a more diverse group of volunteers in order to evaluate vaccines across racial and gender lines. The scientists at Johns Hopkins are testing vaccines made from a protein similar to one found on the surface of HIV, but the substance is not infectious because it contains none of the genetic material present in the actual virus, say researchers. Although some vaccines do prompt the immune system to produce antibodies, researchers say there is no evidence that this will cause AIDS. Still, "people have a distrust of what is actually in that needle, what is in that pill you are giving," remarks Michael Snowden, executive director of Baltimore's Black Educational AIDS Project. "Victims of Rape Left in Dark on HIV Threat" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (01/10/94) P. B1 (Meyer, Josh) An emerging issue faced by criminal justice system authorities is the demand by rape victims to know if their attackers exposed them to the AIDS virus, and the obligation of the system to protect the health status of suspects. Since 1989, victims of rape, sodomy, and certain types of sexual molestation in which body fluids were exchanged have been entitled to obtain a court order to force their attackers to undergo HIV tests. Frequently, however, prosecutors will choose only the strongest cases, leaving many victims with the anxiety of not knowing whether they have been exposed to a deadly disease. And those who successfully force the accused to take the test are prohibited by law to disclose the results. Some authorities say the law protects rapists at the expense of their victims. "Those victims have a right to know," says Los Angeles Police Detective Gary Barthelmess. "They're going to spend the rest of their lives wondering if and when they will come down with it." But Dr. Martin Finn, medical director of AIDS programs for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, says that while it is not perfect, the confidentiality law is necessary. Without it, he asserts, people might claim that they were sexually attacked as a way of finding out the HIV status of a sexual partner or other person. Some AIDS outreach and awareness groups also oppose changing the shield law, saying that people would never come forward to be tested if they thought the results would be made known to others. Finn notes that only about 15 percent of sexual assault victims have asked for the results of attackers' HIV tests, but he expects the issue to become more pronounced. "AIDS Ad Pulled Because Star Has Sex Assault Record" Baltimore Sun (01/08/94) P. 4A The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has withdrawn a radio public service announcement from its new nationwide AIDS prevention campaign because the celebrity narrator of the spot has been convicted of indecent exposure and sexual battery. The advertisement, one of four radio PSAs that promote condom use as a means of avoiding infection, features 27-year-old Anthony Kiedis, a singer with the rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Victor Zonana, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that department officials were "outraged by Kiedis' behavior" in 1989, when he exposed himself to a woman after a concert in Virginia. A review has also been ordered to determine how Ogilvy & Mather South, the advertising firm that produced the spot, failed to discover Kiedis' conviction before signing a contract with him. The ad was pulled because Kiedis is "not an appropriate spokesman," according to Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala. "We must not allow a single ad to overshadow the vital lifesaving message in the campaign." Kiedis' spot apparently had not been broadcast, but the remaining three ads will be used, according to Zonana. "Inmate Guilty of Tossing Urine Tainted by AIDS" Philadelphia Inquirer (01/08/94) P. B2 A 36-year-old man serving time in Hudson County Jail in New Jersey has pleaded guilty to flinging a cup of AIDS-contaminated urine at a jail nurse. Inmate Walter Ciszkowski, who tested HIV-positive at the prison, called to the nurse and, when she responded to his pleas, threw the urine at her. She ducked behind a door, but was still hit on her torso and legs. The nurse is especially vulnerable to the AIDS virus because she has a disorder that causes open sores and skin abrasions. So far, she has tested negative for HIV. Ciszkowski's guilty plea to one count of aggravated assault avoids the possibility of a possible charge and trial for attempted murder. "Antibodies Found to Have Different Effects on Distinct HIV Strains" Chemical & Engineering News (01/03/94) Vol. 9, No. 1, P. 22 Monoclonal antibodies specific for a variable loop region of the envelope glycoprotein, gp120, of HIV-1 has distinct effects on different strains of the virus, according to scientists at the University of California at San Francisco. The antibodies reportedly neutralize one type of HIV-1, fail to neutralize a second type, and amplify the infection of a third strain. And according to Jack A. Levy, the UCSF virologist who spearheaded the research, those differences in behavior can be traced to a single amino acid change in the so-called V3 loop of gp120. Why neutralizing antibodies developed early in HIV infection cannot keep the virus in check remains a piece of the puzzle surrounding the relationship between HIV and AIDS. Levy says his research could explain the emergence of neutralization "escape" variants in the presence of neutralizing antibodies. These variants could cause AIDS, he says. The study results also suggest "caution in immunization of individuals," say the researchers. "Medically Acquired HIV" Lancet (Great Britain) (01/01/94) Vol. 343, No. 8888, P. 46 (Ragg, Mark) Since the discovery that four patients contracted the AIDS virus on the same day in 1989 while undergoing minor surgery in the same doctor's office in Australia, concern about HIV has surged. The four women most likely were infected by a patient treated earlier that day--a man who died the following year of an AIDS-related illness. Much of the concern stems from uncertainty over how the virus was transmitted. The NSW Health Department claims that infection-control procedures are adequate, and it appears that the surgeon adhered to them. While reassuring, this fact raises other anxieties. If the guidelines are sufficient, what happened? And how many of the estimated 17,000 infected Australians who have had their cases attributed to risk factors such as IV drug use or sexual contact actually contracted the virus through other means? Other concerns target the fact that the infected patients were notified just the same day that the public received the news. The health department has been accused of holding scientific publication in higher priority than the welfare of the infected women. The Minister of Health has ordered a review of infection-control practices, including the manner in which compliance is monitored. Two of the patients--one of whom is infected with HIV and another who has developed AIDS--are suing the surgeon. "HIV Disease in Print: Support Groups" Focus (12/93) Vol. 9, No.1, P. 3 (Quackenbush, Marcia) "Support Groups: The Human Face of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic" by G. Barouh is a compilation by the Long Island Association for AIDS Care (LIAAC) of recommendations and guidelines for conducting AIDS support groups. The target audience is "people whose lives have been touched by AIDS, health care educators and providers, and people with AIDS and their loved ones," which includes just about everyone on earth. The book reviews the structure, goals, and operation of groups for eight different populations that include recently diagnosed HIV-positive individuals, infected substance abusers, and more. It also includes useful information concerning enrollment expectations, screening and intake criteria, and rules and guidelines of the support group. One critic warns, however, not to indiscriminately accept the guidelines of the LIAAC, which often deviate from the structure of other support groups. These criticisms of what is perceived as an unnecessarily rigid policy do not detract from the book's value. Despite a too broadly defined audience, the book is a helpful tool for anyone who has facilitated or designed HIV-related support groups, or plans to do so. This paperback is 91 pages and is available for $10.