Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Mon Mar 3 07:31:07 PST 1997 (168 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary March 3, 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 ****************************************************** "Medical Marijuana, Distinctively Speaking" "Doctors Withhold H.I.V. Pill Regimen From Some" "AIDS Cases, Deaths Drop in France for First Time" "Clean Needle Programs Face Legal Hurdles" "U.S. Aides Say Doctors May Discuss Marijuana" "New Virus Found in Blood Donor" "Red Cross Using Public Cash to Fight Hepatitis C Lawsuits" "5,000 HIV/AIDS Cases Detected in Vietnam" "High-Powered Support for AIDS Vaccine" "Kaposi's Sarcoma in Patients With the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: The Hong Kong Experience" ****************************************************** "Medical Marijuana, Distinctively Speaking" Washington Post (03/03/97) P. A18; London, William M. The medicinal use of marijuana should not be compared to the use of laetrile as a cancer treatment, as did Joseph Califano Jr. in a recent Washington Post commentary, contends William M. London of the American Council of Science and Health. In a Post letter to the editor, London notes that while the therapeutic claims made for laetrile have never been scientifically shown, the National Academy of Sciences suggested in 1982 that marijuana has "shown promise in the treatment of a variety of disorders." He also points out that laetrile never received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, while the main active ingredient in marijuana, THC, has been approved in capsule form. London concludes that the medical efficacy of marijuana should not have to be proven since it is already known to provide relief to seriously ill patients. "Doctors Withhold H.I.V. Pill Regimen From Some" New York Times (03/02/97) P. 1; Sontag, Deborah; Richardson, Lynda While New York State has made powerful new AIDS drugs financially available to everyone through a comprehensive drug assistance program, many doctors will not prescribe the drugs for patients who seem incapable of taking the medications according to the strict regimen required. The doctors point out that patients who do not comply with the regimen, which is difficult even for those with the most stable lives, threaten both their own health and the public health by allowing the virus to develop resistance. Patient advocates claim that doctors are denying the treatment to some patients, especially at clinics, because they are drug users. While some doctors point to their ethical responsibility to withhold the drugs from patients they judge as noncompliant, others say that no patient should be denied the opportunity to receive treatment. Dr. Charles Carpenter, chairman of the National Institutes of Health panel developing guidelines for the use of AIDS drugs, says, "I don't think we have a right or a scientific background to exclude anyone as a general rule." "AIDS Cases, Deaths Drop in France for First Time" New York Times (03/02/97) The number of AIDS-related deaths in France decreased for the first time in 1996, as did the number of new AIDS cases, health officials reported Saturday. The Health Ministry said that 2,285 deaths were attributed to AIDS in 1996, 25 percent fewer than in 1995. An estimated 1,000 new AIDS cases were reported in the second half of 1996, compared to 1,228 in the first six months. The trend was attributed to advances in drug treatment and the success of prevention programs. Health official Herve Gaymard warned that the positive trends "must not allow us to forget the need to be careful." "Clean Needle Programs Face Legal Hurdles" New York Times (03/01/97) P. 24; Gostin, Lawrence In a letter to the editor of the New York Times, Georgetown University law professor Lawrence O. Gostin points out that a Times editorial calling for the ban against federal funding for needle exchanges to be lifted failed to consider the legal challenges to needle exchange that exist in most states. He reports that a study supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many regulations make it a criminal offense to distribute syringes to drug users. "U.S. Aides Say Doctors May Discuss Marijuana" New York Times (03/01/97) P. 9 Federal officials have told the California Medical Association that the government would not restrict discussion between doctors and patients about the potential benefits of marijuana. In response to a lawsuit filed by supporters of medical marijuana, the officials said they hoped to clarify a White House plan to prosecute doctors who prescribe or recommend the drug to patients. "New Virus Found in Blood Donor" United Press International (03/03/97); Wasowicz, Lidia Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have detected human herpesvirus-8, which has been associated with the AIDS-related tumor Kaposi's sarcoma, in blood donated by a healthy young man who had never had sexual intercourse with men and had never received a blood transfusion. Jay Levy and colleagues say that although the virus appears to occur in healthy people, new research indicates that HHV-8 has been isolated from the donor's blood, indicating that it may also be transmitted via blood transfusions. "Red Cross Using Public Cash to Fight Hepatitis C Lawsuits" Toronto Globe and Mail (02/28/97) P. A4; McIlroy, Anne; Immen, Wallace Canada's Red Cross Society reports that it is using public funds to pay for the legal challenge that forced a British Columbia woman to drop a lawsuit against the organization, rather than lose the doctor who was caring for her hepatitis C-infected son. Eight-year-old Jarad Gibbenhuck contracted the virus from a blood transfusion he received shortly after birth. He is among the 12,000 Canadians thought to be infected with the potentially fatal liver disease following the use of contaminated blood products in the late 1980s. Leslie Gibbenhuck was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit hoping to get compensation from the Red Cross and federal and provincial governments. She dropped the suit, however, when the family's doctor said he could no longer treat Jarad because the Red Cross has named the doctor as a third party in the case. "5,000 HIV/AIDS Cases Detected in Vietnam" Xinhua News Agency (02/28/97) A total of 5,113 cases of HIV infection or AIDS has been reported in Vietnam, including, for the first time, cases reported in the country's northern provinces. The highest number of cases was reported for Ho Chi Minh City, which had 1,853 cases, followed by the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa with 402, and the southern province of An Giang which had 306. Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh has called for improved treatment and care for people with HIV and AIDS. "High-Powered Support for AIDS Vaccine" Science (02/21/97) Vol. 275, No. 5303, P. 1055 The National Institutes of Health's new vaccine committee, chaired by Nobel laureate David Baltimore, met for the first time on Feb. 17 to discuss topics ranging from the 1998 budget to the possibility of creating an AIDS vaccine institute. The 11-member committee was joined by NIH director Harold Varmus; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Richard Klausner, who heads the National Cancer Institute. Baltimore noted that by appearing at the meeting, the directors demonstrated "great interest in seeing the vaccines move to a very prominent position in the AIDS program." "Kaposi's Sarcoma in Patients With the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: The Hong Kong Experience" Journal of the American Medical Association (02/26/97) Vol. 277, No. 8, P. 607; Chan, L.Y. Kaposi's sarcoma, which has become a common AIDS-defining illness, was the primary or subsequent defining illness for 13 percent of the 130 AIDS cases reported in Hong Kong between February 1985 and December 1994. L.Y. Chan and colleagues in the Department of Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong reported in the Hong Kong Medical Journal that HIV was contracted sexually in every case. In 88 percent of the infections, HIV was transmitted via homosexual or bisexual contact. The mean survival after Kaposi's sarcoma diagnosis was 14.4 months.