Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 09:39:31 PST (194 lines of text) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary Tuesday, February 25, 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 Patients Live Longer on 3-Drug Therapy" "Japan Blood Supplier, Facing H.I.V. Penalty, to Be Acquired" "Program's Focus on Sexual Abstinence Questioned" "Hands Together Against AIDS" "Equipment Operator Fired Over Medical Marijuana Use" "Star Power Pumps up AIDS Walk" "Court: Insurer Must Cover AIDS Patient" "AIDS Boy Fights to Go to South African School" "ABCs of AIDS Education Slow in Reaching Workplaces" "The HIV Melting Pot" ****************************************************** "AIDS Patients Live Longer on 3-Drug Therapy" Washington Post (02/25/97) P. A6 Government researchers report that AIDS patients who take a three-drug combination, including a protease inhibitor, have fewer infections and survive longer than patients who take a two-drug therapy. A study by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of more than 1,100 patients in the advanced stages of AIDS found that those who took a combination of zidovudine, lamivudine, and the protease inhibitor indinavir had half the cancers, infections, and deaths of patients who took a two-drug combination. Previous research had evaluated the drugs' ability to lower the amount of HIV in the body, rather than how the drugs affected patients' health and survival. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the findings "confirm the importance of including protease inhibitors in treatment strategies for patients with advanced HIV disease." "Japan Blood Supplier, Facing H.I.V. Penalty, to Be Acquired" New York Times (02/25/97) P. B7; Pollack, Andrew Facing estimated payments of $195 million as its share of a settlement with hemophiliacs who became HIV-infected through tainted blood products, Japan's Green Cross will be acquired by another pharmaceutical company and will lose its name. Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries will acquire Green Cross in a stock-exchange worth about $900 million. Some 1,800 Japanese hemophiliacs were infected with HIV from tainted blood products, and more than 400 have died. In their lawsuits, they charged that the Health and Welfare Ministry had allowed Green Cross to continue selling unsafe blood products even after heat-treating technology was made available. "Program's Focus on Sexual Abstinence Questioned" USA Today (02/25/97) P. 1D; Painter, Kim Funding for a new five-year, $88 million federal program to advocate abstinence for teens is about to be released, but some AIDS and pregnancy prevention experts predict that the program will fail. Abstinence programs "have not worked (and) will not work" to reduce pregnancy and the spread of disease, claims Debra Haffner, director of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. Critics of the new program point out that studies have shown that the most effective teen sex education programs offer information on how to practice safe sex. If states accept funds for the abstinence program they will be required to provide matching grants and to only use the money for programs that exclusively promote abstinence. Moreover, according to a report from experts evaluating AIDS prevention strategies for the National Institutes of Health, the proposal "ignores overwhelming evidence that other programs would be effective." "Hands Together Against AIDS" Boston Globe (02/24/97) P. B1; Ribadeneira, Diego In an attempt to invigorate the anti-AIDS effort among black churches, a group of more than 24 black ministers from across the Boston area met on Saturday at the Columbus Avenue AME Zion Church in Roxbury. AIDS is the leading cause of death among blacks aged 25 to 44, and the ministers met to recognize the church's responsibility to serve as community leaders in the fight against the epidemic. Many African-American congregations have not addressed the AIDS epidemic because sexual issues are considered taboo, but Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, of Union Baptist Church, noted that "folks have to start realizing that it is criminal, sinful to be out of the fray." "Equipment Operator Fired Over Medical Marijuana Use" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/24/97) P. A2 In one of the first work-related disputes over medical marijuana use, a county worker in California who drives heavy construction equipment has been fired from his job after testing positive for the drug. The worker, 38-year-old Rob Dunaway of Mission Viejo, called the firing unfair, saying that he only uses marijuana after work to treat his glaucoma. "I love my work. It's what I've done all my life," said Dunaway. "I feel I'm being discriminated against because of the medicine I use." In November, California voters approved a referendum that allows patients with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, and other ailments to use marijuana for treatment. Advocates for the medical use of the drug said that Dunaway is the first employee to lose their job over the issue since the vote last fall. "Star Power Pumps up AIDS Walk" Miami Herald (02/24/97) P. 4B; Gehrke, Donna AIDS Walk Miami, which took place Sunday and benefitted the Health Crisis Network, received a boost with the participation of actor Antonio Sabato Jr. Sabato, a Calvin Klein spokesmodel and teen heartthrob, was joined on the 4.2 mile walk by many adoring teenage girls. The Health Crisis Network hopes the money generated by this year's walk will meet last year's contributions of $550,000. Other celebrities attended the walk, including crime show host John Walsh, and ER cast members Ellen Crawford and Mike Genovese, who recently appeared in a PBS movie about the impact of AIDS on a rural South Dakota community. "Court: Insurer Must Cover AIDS Patient" United Press International (02/24/97) A life insurance company has been ordered by the California Supreme Court to pay benefits on the policy of an HIV-infected man, even though he had an impostor take his medical exam for him. The court ruled that Amex Life Assurance had waited too long to claim fraud. Justice Ming Chin wrote that the company could have detected the fraud with "minimal effort" but continued to collect premiums for two years until the policy-holder died. The policy-holder, Jose Morales, died of AIDS-related causes in June, 1993, shortly after selling his policy to Slome Capital. "AIDS Boy Fights to Go to South African School" Reuters (02/24/97) An eight-year-old South African boy with AIDS is fighting discrimination at his school, as parents of other students at the primary school in Johannesburg try to keep the boy from attending. Christopher Payne of the National Association of People with HIV and AIDS called the attempt "the result of fear and ignorance." The boy's mother and AIDS activists note that risks of other students contracting HIV are small and that the school has no legal right to bar the boy. An estimated 4 percent of the population in South Africa is infected with HIV, and Payne noted, "There are thousands of HIV-positive kids at school, but I don't know of any cases where they are open about it." "ABCs of AIDS Education Slow in Reaching Workplaces" American Medical News (02/17/97) Vol. 40, No. 7, P. 17 Only one in six U.S. businesses have initiated programs to educate employees about AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though the disease is the leading killer of more than half of the U.S. workforce. Four years ago, the agency launched "Business Responds to AIDS," a program designed to help companies increase AIDS awareness among employees. Besides promoting education, the program also encourages businesses to develop an AIDS policy, support AIDS education for employees' families, and promote AIDS volunteerism and philanthropy. A CDC survey in 1995 showed that of 2,252 businesses, 43 percent had a written AIDS policy and 46 percent encouraged employees to participate in AIDS/HIV service organizations. AIDS educator Mark King notes that education efforts require more time and openness with employees than policy-making. As part of the CDC program, companies receive, for a fee of $25, a kit with posters and instruction guides on how to start an education program as well as assistance in finding an AIDS instructor. Moral and religious concerns may cause some resistance to AIDS education in the workplace, but New York lawyer Mark Barnes asserts that "there's no reason that anyone should have a moral objection to simply knowing the facts." "The HIV Melting Pot" Village Voice (02/18/97) Vol. 42, No. 7, P. 43; Schoofs, Mark Researchers studying the mutability of HIV warn that the development of drug-resistant strains or more infectious strains of HIV could have a serious impact on the epidemic. Ten major subtypes of HIV have been identified so far, but researchers "know very little" about the implications of the virus' diversity, notes HIV expert Francine McCutchan. The variation is advantageous for the virus, she says, because it allows the mixing of different subtypes to create new and potentially stronger strains. While many subtypes have been found in countries like Uganda and Asia, where the epidemic is running rampant, new evidence from New York HIV patients reveals the emergence of strains never before found in the United States. In a study of 43 HIV-positive Bronx residents, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Kathleen Irwin found that at least two, and up to eight, patients were infected with HIV subtypes previously found almost exclusively in Asia, Africa, and South America. HIV easily invaded the South Bronx, where poverty, drugs, and homelessness give the virus several routes of transmission. Research suggests that injection drug users are especially susceptible to reinfection and recombination. The failure among HIV patients to stick to an anti-HIV drug regimen or to practice safer sex or safer drug use can also contribute to drug resistance and increased variation. The CDC Daily Summary is sent to you from the AIDS Info BBS, http://aidsinfobbs.org through QueerNet.ORG.