Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:11:31 PST (161 lines of text) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 14, 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 ****************************************************** "Man Wanting to Die Is Too Sick for Court" "Clinton to Seek Curb on Medicaid" "Avid Corp. Licenses HIV Inhibitor From DuPont Merck" "Cell Genesys Inc." "Vaccinations Against Future Loose Living" "AIDS Drug Cocktail Finds Growing Role in Preventing Infection" "Volunteers Help AIDS Patients Tend Pet Pals" "Eye-Opening News About Teens and Sex" "Perinatal Transmission and Sex Practices During Pregnancy" "Resistance of Neonatal Monkeys to Live Attenuated Vaccine Strains of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus" ****************************************************** "Man Wanting to Die Is Too Sick for Court" New York Times (01/14/97) P. A11 A Florida AIDS patient who is involved in a lawsuit to end the state's ban on assisted suicide was in too much pain to attend court Monday and may die before he could benefit from a favorable ruling. Charles Hall testified when the trial opened last year in West Palm Beach, but has returned to his home in Beverly to wait for a decision in the case. His physician, Dr. Cecil McIver, said he did not think Hall would survive long enough to benefit if the court overturned the ban. "Clinton to Seek Curb on Medicaid" New York Times (01/14/97) P. A1; Pear, Robert In an attempt to help balance the federal budget by 2002, President Clinton has proposed limiting Medicaid spending, despite criticism from Democrats. Clinton's plan would allow Medicaid, which increased an average of 7.9 percent per year from 1992 to 1996, to grow 4 percent to 5 percent each year. Clinton would request additional funding for AIDS care and other federal health services, according to the newsletter Community Health Funding Report. Spending on HIV prevention would be increased $20 million to $637 million, with extra funding targeted to HIV prevention for drug users. "Avid Corp. Licenses HIV Inhibitor From DuPont Merck" Philadelphia Inquirer (01/14/97) P. C3 Under an agreement with DuPont Merck, Avid received the license for an HIV protease inhibitor known as DMP450. Avid acquired the worldwide marketing rights to the drug, while DuPont Merck was paid an undisclosed sum and is eligible for future milestone and royalty payments. Human testing of the drug is expected to begin in the coming months, Avid said. "Cell Genesys Inc." Wall Street Journal (01/14/97) P. B6 Cell Genesys announced on Monday that it will acquire Somatix Therapy for stock valued at $86 million, or $3.51 per share. The deal will enable the two companies to combine their research efforts on gene therapy for cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. Neither Cell Genesys nor Somatix currently has a product on the market, and one is not expected until the year 2000 at the earliest. Somatix shares fell 16 percent in Monday's composite trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while Cell Genesys closed at $8.813, down 31.25 cents. "Vaccinations Against Future Loose Living" Wall Street Journal (01/14/97) P. A21; Severyn, Kristine M. Vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases should not be required for children and teenagers, contends Kristine M. Severyn, director of Ohio Parents for Vaccine Safety, in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor. She says the vaccine industry is now targeting these diseases, evidenced by a Wall Street Journal article which reported that two companies are testing vaccines for the virus that causes genital warts. She points out that the vaccine for hepatitis B, which is transmitted both sexually and through tainted drug-injection equipment, is being given to babies at birth and is recommended for teenagers. In conclusion, Severyn notes that speakers at a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public meeting recommended that all 11- and 12-year-olds receive vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, and she claims that "vaccine policy has gone too far." "AIDS Drug Cocktail Finds Growing Role in Preventing Infection" Boston Globe (01/13/97) P. C1; Emery, Theo When health care workers are accidentally exposed to HIV on the job, they are increasingly prescribed a cocktail of drugs similar to that used to treat infected patients and, at least in the short term, often saved from infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the combination of drugs is effective as a so-called postexposure prophylaxis in 79 percent of such cases if it is started within one or two hours of exposure. The agency has recommended that the treatment be given all health workers exposed to HIV on the job. Other uses of the treatment are being considered, such as HIV prevention for rape victims and intravenous drug users who have been exposed to the virus. However, the CDC is reluctant to extend the PCP recommendations due to gaps in understanding how HIV is transmitted and the side effects of the drugs. "Volunteers Help AIDS Patients Tend Pet Pals" USA Today (01/14/97) P. 4D; Ashley, Beth Pets Are Wonderful Support, or PAWS, an organization that helps people with HIV and AIDS care for their pets, began in San Francisco in 1988 and spurred the creation of 30 similar organizations in major U.S. cities. Volunteers for the group help patients keep their pets at home by walking dogs, delivering pet food, changing litter boxes, taking pets to be groomed, and other services. "Eye-Opening News About Teens and Sex" American Health (1/97-2/97) Vol. 16, No. 1, P. 22 Half of the high school students participating in a recent survey said their doctors had never broached the topics of AIDS or safer sex with them, the Santa Monica, CA public policy organization Rand reports. Teenagers questioned in another study, conducted by researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington, said that they thought peers were more sexually active and less likely to practice safer sex than they actually were, possibly causing them to feel pressure to have unsafe sex themselves. "Perinatal Transmission and Sex Practices During Pregnancy" AIDS Clinical Care (01/97) Vol. 9, No. 1, P. 9; Sax, Paul E. Mother-to-child HIV transmission is known to be affected by factors other than maternal viral load. An analysis of the impact of sex practices during pregnancy, published in the journal AIDS by P. B. Matheson and colleagues, found that heterosexual behavior was significantly linked to an increased risk of perinatal transmission. The study evaluated the reports from 75 pregnant women on the frequency of heterosexual sex and condom use during pregnancy. Frequency of unprotected sex during pregnancy was associated with transmission of HIV to the infant. The researchers suggest that unprotected intercourse could expose the fetus to HIV, as well as increase both the likelihood of placental membranes being disrupted and the risk of chorioamnionitis. "Resistance of Neonatal Monkeys to Live Attenuated Vaccine Strains of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus" Nature Medicine (01/97) Vol. 3, No. 1, P. 32; Wyand, Michael S.; Manson, Kelledy H.; Lackner, Andrew A.; et al. Macaque monkeys infected with SIV, the simian immunodeficiency virus, provide valuable models for research toward a human HIV vaccine. Live-attenuated vaccines using SIV have demonstrated strong protection against infection in juvenile and adult rhesus monkeys. This strategy raises safety concerns, however, about the potential exposure of fetuses and neonates to the virus. Ronald C. Desrosiers of the New England Regional Primate Research Center at Harvard Medical School and colleagues found that among 18 neonatal monkeys who were inoculated just after birth, only the two that had been given an especially high dose showed high viral loads or disease symptoms. The researchers also report that mothers vaccinated during pregnancy did not transmit the virus to the fetus and that vaccination of the infants was needed to provide protective immunity. The authors conclude that the live-attenuated vaccine approach should be considered a potential option for a human HIV vaccine.