Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Mon Jan 27 07:31:04 PST 1997 (178 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 27, 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 ****************************************************** "AIDS Drugs Seen as Hope in Easing Patient Burdens" "Triple-Drug Therapies Are Changing Patterns, Costs of AIDS Treatment" "AIDS Treatment May Renew Immune System" "AIDS Virus Is Under Control in 1 Twin, But Not the Other" "Cautious Optimism for AIDS Patients" "AIDS Toll Falls by Half in New York" "Needle-Swap Program Lowers HIV Infection" "Hepatitis B Vaccine: Prevention Saves Lives" "Economic Impacts of AIDS" "Networking for a Cure" ****************************************************** "AIDS Drugs Seen as Hope in Easing Patient Burdens" New York Times (01/27/97) P. A10; Altman, Lawrence K. While new experimental AIDS drugs offer patients even more hope that AIDS will become a manageable disease, experts at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections agreed that drugs will not end the epidemic. An AIDS vaccine is critical to curbing the global epidemic, they said, because the drugs are too costly for poor countries. Researchers, however, also reported that ongoing clinical trials of drug combinations are yielding promising results. Other presentations focused on upcoming studies of methods to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to infant, including a study of the drug nevirapine. At $2, the treatment would be affordable everywhere, said Dr. John L. Sullivan of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Researchers also reported advances in treating children with anti-HIV drugs. "Triple-Drug Therapies Are Changing Patterns, Costs of AIDS Treatment" Washington Post (01/27/97) P. A4; Brown, David The use of new combination therapies for AIDS may reduce the overall cost of treatment while prolonging survival, researchers reported at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Washington, D.C. last week. Protease inhibitors, which reduce the level of HIV in the body, and viral load tests, which allow doctors to determine this level, are key tools in the AIDS battle, the scientists noted. A September survey of 150 AIDS doctors found that 78 percent of their patients were taking anti-viral treatments. Half of that group was taking protease inhibitors. The drugs' dramatic results have impacted hospitals and hospices where AIDS patients are treated. Researchers at Tower Infectious Disease Medical Associates in Los Angeles report that, while total drug costs for patients at the center increased last year, overall health care costs dropped 23 percent due to fewer hospitalizations and less need for home health care. "AIDS Treatment May Renew Immune System" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (01/27/97) P. A1; Cimons, Marlene A protease inhibitor apparently has the ability to partly renew immune function in moderately advanced AIDS patients, researchers reported Sunday. AIDS specialist Dr. Michael Lederman, of the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University, reported the findings at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. The study showed that a combination of drugs, the protease inhibitor ritonavir plus AZT and 3TC, boosted the immune system's CD4 cells, including cells which had never been exposed to HIV. Lederman said the study demonstrates the benefit of early treatment, but warned that doctors treating patients with powerful drug combinations should not discontinue added therapies used to treat opportunistic infections. "AIDS Virus Is Under Control in 1 Twin, But Not the Other" Baltimore Sun (01/26/97) P. 5A Aggressive treatment of HIV in an infected pair of newborn twins has apparently controlled the virus in a baby girl but failed to be effective in her brother. The babies were started on a combination of three drugs at 10 weeks of age. Now, at 18 months, the virus, which was initially diminished, has returned in the boy. His sister continues to show no sign of infection. "Our goal is long-term suppression of HIV with potential eradication," Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga of the University of Massachusetts Medical School told participants at an AIDS meeting on Saturday. The twin study is especially interesting to researchers because, if AIDS is to be cured, it is most likely to occur in patients who have not had their immune systems damaged by HIV. "Cautious Optimism for AIDS Patients" USA Today (01/27/97) P. 4D; Painter, Kim The reports from the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which ended Sunday, include ones that found that fewer babies are being born with HIV and that the virus is spreading among young people. HIV infection in babies is declining, but, in New York City ,the rate of transmission from mother to child has been halved, rather than cut by two-thirds. HIV infection via sex and drug needles, among people aged 13 to 25, increased 20 percent between 1990 and 1995, researchers reported. "AIDS Toll Falls by Half in New York" Washington Post (01/25/97) P. A1; Brown, David AIDS-related deaths per day in New York City have declined by about half in the last year, researchers reported Friday. The downturn started last March, continued during the summer and fall, and is now leveling off. "It's good news, which we haven't had for a while," said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Harold Jaffe. AIDS-related deaths in New York reached the highest rate, 20.9 deaths per day, in November 1995. By November 1996, the rate had dropped to 10.1 deaths per day. Researchers attributed the decline to new treatments and increased funding for AIDS care. New York City received $100 million in funding in 1994 through the Ryan White CARE Act, compared to $44 million in 1993. Nationally, the AIDS death rate did not rise for the first time last year, CDC officials reported. "Needle-Swap Program Lowers HIV Infection" Washington Times (01/27/97) P. C6 The rate of HIV infection among injection drug users in Baltimore is slowing, apparently due to a needle-exchange program. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University report that drug users in Baltimore County are contracting HIV at a higher rate than drug addicts in Baltimore City. Addicts who participated in the needle exchange had 40 percent fewer infections than those who did not participate. The program is set to expire this summer, but city officials are trying to persuade state legislators to continue it. "Hepatitis B Vaccine: Prevention Saves Lives" Wall Street Journal (01/27/97) P. A23; Thiel, Thelma King Hepatitis B vaccination programs are critical for thousands of infants born each year, contends Thelma King Thiel, chairman and CEO of the Hepatitis Foundation International in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor. Thiel says that a previous letter, which attacked such programs, helped promote prejudice against people with hepatitis B. She notes that 4,000 infants are born each year to mothers infected with hepatitis B, and asserts that vaccinations protect these babies from disease. "Economic Impacts of AIDS" Futurist (01/97-02/97) Vol. 31, No. 1, P. 4 Economic growth in Africa and Asia is being threatened by the spread of AIDS, cautions the International Food Policy Research Institute. A new study from the group claims that economies are being impaired under the influence of AIDS, because money that would otherwise be invested in education, agricultural research, and other areas is needed to pay for health care. Also, productivity is being lost because the disease claims workers in their prime. "AIDS will worsen the poverty of poor people by depriving them of their only productive resource--their labor," the Institute predicted. "Networking for a Cure" LAN (02/97) Vol. 12, No. 2, P. 105; Thorp, Patricia ActionAIDS, Pennsylvania's largest AIDS-related service organization, depends on donations from technology companies to upgrade its growing computer system and keep it running. The Philadelphia-based organization uses a networked database to keep track of its 2,000 individual clients and the 100 families it serves. Clients receive information about HIV and AIDS, as well as legal assistance, and help with housing. Staff members can use the system to link clients with medical care and other services as well. A program for families, meanwhile, provides help with household management and child care, and the organization helps newly released inmates affected by HIV and AIDS readjust to society. ActionAIDS also helps increase AIDS awareness in communities through workshops and seminars. The group is staffed by 70 employees and 500 volunteers.