Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Wed Feb 19 07:31:07 PST 1997 (183 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary February 19, 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 ****************************************************** "Needle Program To Fight AIDS Wins Support" "FDA Quarantines Blood From Center in New York" "City AIDS Official Quits Amidst Dispute Over Funding Division" "Across the USA: Maryland" "DEA Probes Doctor Who Suggested Pot" "Marijuana Law Still on Books" "Activist Spinning Wheels in Crusade Against AIDS" "UPI Science News: [NIH Marijuana Workshop]" "AIDS Doctors Watching Newborns' Reactions to Drugs" "HIV-Negative" ****************************************************** "Needle Program To Fight AIDS Wins Support" Washington Post (02/19/97) P. A10 A report released Tuesday by federal health officials advocated the use of needle exchange programs at the community level but did not call for a government-funded national program. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala said that a review of studies of needle exchanges has shown that the programs are able to slow the spread of HIV among drug users, their partners, and children. "Overall these studies indicate that needle exchange programs can have an impact on bringing difficult-to-reach populations into systems of care that offer drug dependency services, mental health, medical, and support services," she said. Opponents of the programs have said that they would increase drug use. A ban remains on the use of federal funds for needle exchanges. "FDA Quarantines Blood From Center in New York" Wall Street Journal (02/19/97) P. B2 The New York Blood Center has been ordered by the Food and Drug Administration to quarantine products that may have been tested improperly for HIV. Following charges that the center was cutting costs in its testing processes, the center said two months ago that it would re-evaluate the handling of donated blood. In response to the FDA action, the center said that "no more than 1,500" units are being quarantined, and it maintained "that these units do not represent a health hazard." The quarantined units may be released if they are re-tested and found free of any infectious disease or if the blood donor tests negative. "City AIDS Official Quits Amidst Dispute Over Funding Division" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/19/97) P. B2; McCoy, Craig R. Philadelphia's director of AIDS services quit Friday, angered by an analysis of how funding is divided among the city's racial groups. Jesse Milan Jr., who is African American and HIV-positive, criticized in his resignation letter the analysis, which had claimed that too much AIDS funding was going to organizations "led by whites" while Latinos and African Americans account for most AIDS patients. City Health Commissioner Estelle Richman applauded Milan's action Tuesday, calling the review "inaccurate and inflammatory." The analysis was written by David Fair, the first person to hold the position from which Milan resigned. He wrote that, while non-whites account for 71 percent of HIV and AIDS patients in the Philadelphia region, 79 percent of the $13 million in federal AIDS funding was going to "organizations led by whites." Milan called the report "replete with conditions, caveats, and self-serving conclusions that make reasoned critique of it worthless." "Across the USA: Maryland" USA Today (02/19/97) P. 8A Maryland lawmakers approved a bill that would allow the continuation of a Baltimore program that provides free needles to drug users to reduce the spread of HIV. The measure will now be sent to Gov. Parris Glendening for approval. "DEA Probes Doctor Who Suggested Pot" Washington Times (02/19/97) P. A3; Krieger, Lisa M. Federal drug officials are investigating a California doctor who has recommended marijuana to "three seriously ill patients" since the state's medical marijuana law was passed in November. Family doctor Robert Mastroianni was questioned by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at his office near Placerville, CA, and warned that he was being formally investigated. A local pharmacist told Mastroianni that DEA agents had also reviewed his prescription records. Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, an organization of local doctors and AIDS patients, have requested that the San Francisco U.S. District Court stop federal drug chief Barry McCaffrey and other officials in the Clinton administration from punishing doctors who recommend marijuana for patients. "Marijuana Law Still on Books" Richmond Times-Dispatch (02/19/97) P. A6 In separate actions, legislators in Virginia's state Senate and House of Delegates voted to keep a state law that allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes. A bill to kill the law was rejected Sunday by a Senate committee and passed by the House. An anti-marijuana amendment was proposed and rejected by the House and then the Senate, following a speech by Democratic state Sen. R. Edward Houck. Sen. Houck said he was swayed by patients dying from cancer and AIDS who had testified Sunday that marijuana provided relief from their symptoms. "Activist Spinning Wheels in Crusade Against AIDS" Toronto Globe and Mail (02/18/97) P. A1; Stackhouse, John Bertrand Bourdreau, a 42-year-old real-estate agent from Calgary, Canada, has been traveling the world by bicycle since August 1994 in hopes of raising AIDS awareness. He has seen floods, famines, wars and highway robberies, and was held up by armed children in Honduras, robbed by police in Russia, and has been turned away from many countries. Bourdreau decided to take the four-year trip when his young daughter suggested he do something more with his life. He received the greatest reception in the first nation he entered, the United States. He was profiled on CNN and given the key to the city of Dallas after passing through 22 states. However, Bourdreau has faced difficulties in other countries, noting that political and religious opposition to AIDS education are the major barriers. "It's too bad, because we're going to lose millions and millions of people before we change. Perhaps the only thing we can do is protect the next generation," he said. "UPI Science News: [NIH Marijuana Workshop]" United Press International (02/19/97) A workshop will be held today and tomorrow at the National Institutes of Health to evaluate previous research on the medical use of marijuana and develop a consensus on the benefits and risks of the drug. Experts will consider what scientific questions need to be answered and potential diseases that marijuana could treat. The group will present its findings on Thursday. "AIDS Doctors Watching Newborns' Reactions to Drugs" American Medical News (02/10/97) Vol. 40, No. 6, P. 9 AIDS researchers are closely following the progress of a pair of twins born infected with HIV, hoping to learn more about possibly eradicating the virus with drug therapy. The infants, now 19 months old, were started on AIDS treatment when they were 10 weeks old. Signs of infection initially disappeared in both babies, but the virus returned in the boy two months ago while his sister remains virus-free. The twins are not receiving the powerful new protease inhibitors because they were born before these drugs were available. Rather, they are being treated with AZT, ddI, and nevirapine. "It's very encouraging that one can maintain suppression of the virus for this long," but the combination of medicines "won't be maximally effective," said Dr. Joep Lange, of the University of Amsterdam. The combination therapy has failed in six other babies, but no HIV is detectable in the female twin's blood. She also shows no antibodies to the virus, indicating that perhaps her immune system is not detecting it. "HIV-Negative" New York (02/10/97) Vol. 30, No. 5, P. 22; Istel, John The recent failure of all three of Chuck Ortleb's publications--New York Native, Christopher Street, and TheaterWeek--can be attributed to the publisher's obsession with AIDS and his promotion of AIDS conspiracy theories, claims John Istel in New York magazine. Former Native contributor, author, and AIDS activist Larry Kramer says Ortleb is among those "who are not infected with the virus but who AIDS nevertheless destroys." One story in Native linked AIDS and chronic fatigue syndrome, while an ad in TheaterWeek promoting Ortleb's unfinished AIDS musical suggested that aortic aneurysms are part of "the AIDS cover-up." Ortleb blames Native's failure on the optimistic tone of AIDS coverage in the mainstream press. "It made Native look like the Japanese soldier who didn't know the war was over," he said. While Native's early coverage of the AIDS epidemic was effective as a warning and call to action, controversy surrounded the claims made in later reports, and reader interest waned. "His whole position was that dolphins and ham sandwiches would give you AIDS," said a former TheaterWeek editor. Ortleb's outlet has become his World Wide Web page, which includes the musical he continues to work on and an interview with Camille Paglia. The online site will soon feature a research paper by Peter Duesberg, who disputes the consensus belief that HIV causes AIDS.