Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 11:11:31 PST (159 lines of text) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 13, 1997 The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ****************************************************** "Viewing AIDS Writings Through Prism of Hope" "Survey Finds '90s College Freshmen More Conservative Than Predecessors" "AZT May Mute Benefits of New AIDS Therapy" "Are Needle Exchanges a Forgotten Weapon in the War Against AIDS?" "With Judge's Approval, Marijuana Club Is Set to Bloom Again" "Across the USA: Tennessee" "Quiet Gains for Health" "Police Halt Condom Protest at Vatican" "Early Tests May Indicate Rate of Progression to AIDS" "Partner Notification Law Opens Prevention Door" ****************************************************** "Viewing AIDS Writings Through Prism of Hope" New York Times (01/13/97) P. C11; Smith, Dinitia Over the weekend, the Key West (Fla.) Literary Seminar on Literature in the Age of AIDS--the first conference of its kind--brought together more than 300 AIDS writers, patients, and doctors to consider the future of AIDS literature. As new advances in treatment are bringing new hope to the AIDS community, this community remembered the lives claimed by the disease. Panel discussions considered the merit of AIDS literature as a separate genre, the advocacy role of AIDS writing, and the impact of AIDS writing on American literature. "Survey Finds '90s College Freshmen More Conservative Than Predecessors" New York Times (01/13/97) P. A14; Sengupta, Somini Compared to college freshmen in the mid-1970s and 1980s, those interviewed in a 1996 survey were more conservative--giving less approval to casual sex and showing more concern about paying for their education. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles reported the findings, from a survey of 354,853 college freshmen at 494 institutions. The researchers noted that growing AIDS awareness among college students has contributed to the more conservative sexual attitudes. "AZT May Mute Benefits of New AIDS Therapy" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (01/13/97) P. A3; Colker, David New research suggests that AIDS patients who took long courses of the drug AZT may have hurt their chances of being treated effectively with the new protease inhibitors. Some experts say that AZT effectively encouraged HIV to mutate in these patients, leaving them with a virus that is resistant to the new drugs. "The irony is that what we as physicians did a few years ago in trying to fight the disease has left a number of patients with fewer options," said Daniel Kuritzakes, an AIDS researcher at the University of Colorado. An estimated 5 percent to 30 percent of patients now being treated for HIV are in this situation, researchers say. "Are Needle Exchanges a Forgotten Weapon in the War Against AIDS?" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (01/13/97) P. A11; Kilmer, Beau G.; Farah, Joseph The ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs should be lifted, argues Beau G. Kilmer, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a commentary in the Los Angeles Times, Washington edition. However, Joseph Farah, of the Western Journalism Center in Sacramento, contends in an opposing commentary that the programs do not save lives and that they encourage drug use. Both writers point to the recommendations and findings of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Research Council. Kilmer notes that the CDC has endorsed lifting the ban, while an NRC and Institute of Medicine report concluded that needle exchanges would save the government money. Farah, meanwhile, claims that both the CDC and the NRC found no empirical proof to suggest that the programs will save lives. "With Judge's Approval, Marijuana Club Is Set to Bloom Again" New York Times (01/13/97) P. A14 San Francisco's Cannabis Buyers' Club, closed since a raid by state drug officials last August, is being allowed to re-open. Judge David A. Garcia of San Francisco Superior Court ruled that the club could provide marijuana to patients with serious illnesses under the state's new medical marijuana law. The judge said the club could not make a profit and that members would have to have their medical conditions documented by a doctor. "Across the USA: Tennessee" USA Today (01/13/97) P. 8A A Tennessee pathologist told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he contracted HIV in 1992 after an accident during an autopsy of an AIDS patient. Mahlon Johnson, a pathologist at Vanderbilt University, said he has been taking drug therapy which has kept the virus down to undetectable levels. "Quiet Gains for Health" Journal of Commerce (01/13/97) P. 6A; London, William M. Among the encouraging health-related reports for 1996 is that, for the first time, the death rate from AIDS-related causes did not increase from the previous year. The disease, however, is still the leading cause of death among American males aged 25 to 44. Advances in drug treatments have buoyed the hopes of those infected with HIV by suggesting that the disease could be managed as a long-term illness. "Police Halt Condom Protest at Vatican" Reuters (01/12/97); Pullella, Philip A group of student demonstrators were stopped from distributing condoms in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sunday. The 15 students were protesting the Catholic Church's ban on the use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV. Later, the group gave condoms and literature to people on the streets just outside the square, which is on Vatican sovereign territory. "Early Tests May Indicate Rate of Progression to AIDS" Lancet (01/04/97) Vol. 349, No. 9044, P. 33; McCarthy, Michael Testing HIV-infected individuals for various health factors just after seroconversion may provide insight into how quickly AIDS is likely to develop, new research suggests. Homayoon Farzadegan of Johns Hopkins University, and colleagues, evaluated the serological, virological, and epidemiological factors for two groups of homosexual men with approximated seroconversion dates. At their first seropositive visit, men who were rapid progressors had "significantly higher concentrations of plasma HIV-1 RNA and prevalence of p24 antigenemia and significantly lower amounts of antibodies to the HIV-1 gag proteins p17 and p24," compared to the non-rapid progressors, the researchers reported. They suggest that the early development of an anti-gag immune response may play an important role in preventing rapid progression, and that a potential approach for a vaccine could be to generate an immune response to gag-proteins. "Partner Notification Law Opens Prevention Door" AIDS Alert (1/97) Vol. 12, No. 1, P. 1 An amendment to the Ryan White CARE Reauthorization Act, requiring spousal notification, has been criticized for pertaining to spouses only, but promises to renew interest in partner notification efforts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for HIV/STD Prevention discussed the new law at its November meeting. "The reality is someone felt strongly enough about it that it got passed, and we have an obligation to comply with it," said the CDC's Dr. Helene Gayle. "Our feeling is, that being the case, let's look more broadly in this area and see if we can't make policies that do have public health impact given that this one probably doesn't." Because it applies only to people who are or were legally married, the law exempts most couples at highest risk for HIV transmission. Partner notification efforts receive the largest portion of federal funds for HIV counseling and testing, but no national standard exists for how it should be practiced. The CDC has created a working group to research partner notification practices and develop policy guidelines.