Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Tue Feb 11 07:31:03 PST 1997 (180 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary February 11, 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 ****************************************************** "Study of Needle Exchanges Puts Politics Ahead of Health" "Work Week: Outcomes Differ in Two Disability Law Discrimination Lawsuits" "Shrub May Yield Latex Less Likely to Trigger Allergies" "When the Diagnosis Is AIDS, It Pays to Be Informed" "Will We Ever Eradicate AIDS?" "Chefs and Others Will Lend a Hand to AIDS Nutrition Group Manna" "India's Sex Workers Face Condom Shortage" "World Bank Grants Uganda Money in Fighting AIDS" "Hospital Nurses' Occupational Exposure to Blood: Prospective, Retrospective, and Institutional Reports" "HIV-Related Mental Health in Correctional Settings" ****************************************************** "Study of Needle Exchanges Puts Politics Ahead of Health" Washington Post--Health (02/11/97) P. 11; Caplan, Arthur L.; Annas, George The $2.4 million needle exchange study in Anchorage, AK, that was recently approved by the National Institutes of Health, is unethical and unnecessary, contend bioethics experts Arthur Caplan and George Annas in a Washington Post commentary. Caplan serves as director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and Annas is chairman of the Health Law Department at Boston University School of Public Health. The researchers plan to compare needle-exchange programs to drugstore needle distribution by counting the number of addicts who contract the hepatitis B virus. However, Caplan and Annas claim the study is unethical because it does not offer subjects protection from hepatitis B, which is preventable with a vaccine. Moreover, they say, the effectiveness of needle exchanges has already been proven, asserting that Congress would rather support more studies than pay for the programs, which are politically controversial. "Work Week: Outcomes Differ in Two Disability Law Discrimination Lawsuits" Wall Street Journal (02/11/97) P. A1; Karr, Albert R. An HIV-positive bartender who was fired by the Hilton Hotel in Buffalo, NY, has been awarded $1.4 million by a federal jury, which found that the hotel violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The judge reduced the award to Danny Greenway by half. Greenway had testified that his work had been praised before his HIV infection became known, but his employer, who plans to appeal the ruling, said he was fired for poor performance. "Shrub May Yield Latex Less Likely to Trigger Allergies" Washington Post--Health (02/11/97) P. 9; Murphy, Caryle A new process to harvest hypoallergenic latex from a shrub promises to give relief to thousands of people who are allergic to the latex found in rubber gloves, balloons, and other products. The process, patented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been licensed to the Philadelphia-based company Yulex, which expects to make the new products available in four to six years. The company will initially market gloves and catheters to the medical community. Latex allergies became much more common in the 1980s, possibly due to the dramatic increase in the use of latex gloves by health care workers after the threat of AIDS became known. "When the Diagnosis Is AIDS, It Pays to Be Informed" Washington Post--Health (02/11/97) P. 18; Graham, Jim While some of the advice given in the book "Living Well With HIV & AIDS" is helpful, the medical treatment information provided can be misleading, claims Jim Graham, director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, in a Washington Post book review. He says that most of the book is helpful as a guide for patients to become aware and involved in their own medical care. It advocates exercise, relaxation, and visualization to deal with pain, for example, rather than drug treatment. However, Graham notes, the book's advice to readers about dealing with symptoms and medical treatment is oversimplified and could frustrate patients. He suggests that the authors, Dr. Allen L. Gifford, Kate Lorig, Diana Laurent, and Virginia Gonzalez, should have focused only on advice on living well, not on medical advice. "Will We Ever Eradicate AIDS?" Miami Herald (02/10/97) P. 13A; Sullivan, Louis The eradication of AIDS, while an optimistic hope, has been buoyed by recent research, says Louis Sullivan in a Miami Herald Commentary. Sullivan, formerly Secretary of Health and Human Services, is now president of Morehouse School of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam recently reported that a combination of three drugs was able to rid a small group of infected patients of HIV in their blood and tissue. Sullivan says this finding is important, but that increased efforts are still needed to battle the global AIDS epidemic. He notes, moreover, that increased support is needed for prevention efforts, public funding for AIDS drugs, and continuing public and private research. "Chefs and Others Will Lend a Hand to AIDS Nutrition Group Manna" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/11/97) P. D3; Iams, David Philadelphia's Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance, known as Manna, will benefit from ChefAID, a black-tie gala to be held on April 20 featuring the cuisine of four Philadelphia restaurant chefs. Manna volunteers help supply more than 1,050 free meals a day, six days a week, to homebound people with HIV or AIDS living in Philadelphia and South Jersey. "India's Sex Workers Face Condom Shortage" United Press International (02/11/97); Nanda, Harbaksh Singh The condom supply for prostitutes in New Delhi, India, has been lacking since August, leaving nearly 10,000 sex workers vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Kharaiti Lal Bhola, president of the Prostitutes Welfare Association, said many prostitutes are already infected with the virus and that "with no condoms, these hapless women have no protection whatsoever." Condoms are distributed by the government in India. Starting in 1992, more than 180,000 condoms were supplied to nearly 100 brothels in New Delhi each month as part of an HIV prevention program. Condom makers in the country, however, say the government has not renewed any condom orders. "World Bank Grants Uganda Money in Fighting AIDS" Xinhua News Agency (02/11/97) Uganda's eastern district of Kumi was awarded $113,500 from the World Bank to fund disease control efforts, especially to fight AIDS, the Monitor reported today. Each week, eight people die of AIDS in the region, one of the Uganda's hardest hit areas. "Hospital Nurses' Occupational Exposure to Blood: Prospective, Retrospective, and Institutional Reports" American Journal of Public Health (01/97) Vol. 87, No. 1, P. 103; Aiken, Linda H.; Sloane, Douglas M.; Klocinski, Jennifer L. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania assessed nurses' risk of HIV exposure from needlestick injuries and the factors impacting those risks. Over the 30-day study period, the researchers documented percutaneous injuries sustained by nurses on 40 units in 20 hospitals in cities with high AIDS rates. These prospective reports were compared with retrospective and institutional reports. Prospective and retrospective reports revealed similar rates of injuries, while institutional rates were significantly lower. Recapping needles and temporary work assignments were associated with increased injuries, while working in hospitals characterized by professional nurse practice models and taking precautions to avoid contact with blood were related to fewer injuries. The authors found that needlestick injuries are not random and are more common than institutional reports suggest. They suggest, therefore, that to reduce risk of injury and infection, the frequency of needle recapping should be reduced, precautions should be increased, the use of temporary nurses should be reduced, and organizational changes should be implemented. "HIV-Related Mental Health in Correctional Settings" Focus (01/97) Vol. 12, No. 2, P. 1; Rubel, John G.; Bowles, C. Kenneth The U.S. Bureau of Justice reports that 2.4 percent of the 880,000 inmates in U.S. prisons are HIV-positive, and at least 17 percent of that number have AIDS. HIV-infected inmates are often discouraged from seeking mental health services in prison because prison staff members are perceived as intimidating. The negative self-image inmates have, combined with the stigma of being HIV-positive, can lead to isolation and denial. Many HIV-positive inmates blame others for their disease and fail to understand how their antisocial behavior contributes to their unhappiness. Mental health workers must help inmates overcome their denial, which is difficult because denial is often used to help inmates cope with long incarcerations and to avoid the fact that they have little control over their lives. Therapy should aim to help inmates articulate their emotions, especially about HIV. Support groups and peer counseling provide opportunities for inmates to become more trusting, while fostering emotional and social support.