Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Tue Mar 11 10:31:05 PST 1997 (185 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary Tuesday, March 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 ****************************************************** "For Besieged Scientist, New Start in New Lab" "AIDS-Death Drop Bypassed Blacks" "Tracking Down the Role of Kaposi's Sarcoma in AIDS Patients" "Marijuana Is the Wrong Medicine" "To the Point" "Japanese HIV Expert Pleads Not Guilty" "French AIDS Prosecutor Urges Clearing Fabius" "Africa-Health: Ray of Hope in Uganda in War [Against AIDS]" "Exploiting the HIV-Chemokine Nexus" "The Inhibition of Pro-Apoptotic ICE-Like Proteases Enhances HIV Replication" ****************************************************** "For Besieged Scientist, New Start in New Lab" New York Times (03/11/97) P. C1; Clines, Francis X. Dr. Robert C. Gallo, once the subject of controversy over his claim as co-discoverer of HIV, is now director of the new Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore. Research at the center, which is incorporated with the University of Maryland at Baltimore, will focus on AIDS, but will also undertake other viral diseases. The institute will conduct both basic research and epidemiological and clinical studies, and it also has its own drug marketing company to reap the financial benefits of new findings. According to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the new institute "is already a very important component of the AIDS effort in this country because Bob Gallo, a brilliant scientist, is the main driving force there." "AIDS-Death Drop Bypassed Blacks" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/11/97) P. B1; Collins, Huntly AIDS-related deaths among whites in Philadelphia fell 41 percent last year but only declined 13 percent among African Americans, the city's Health Department reported Monday. Overall, AIDS deaths were down 23.5 percent in the city, and a 35 percent drop was reported for Latino AIDS patients. Among men who were infected through homosexual contact, AIDS-related deaths fell 41 percent, while AIDS deaths among intravenous drug users decreased 9 percent. For gay men who also inject drugs, a 51 percent decline was reported. AIDS-related deaths among people who were infected through heterosexual sex were up 9 percent, meanwhile. Health department official Jeff Moran said the higher death rates among African Americans were attributed to inadequate access to health care and other factors. AIDS activists criticized the city for not spending enough of its $13 million federal AIDS allowance on programs for African Americans. "Tracking Down the Role of Kaposi's Sarcoma in AIDS Patients" Houston Chronicle (03/10/97) P. 6D; SoRelle, Ruth Kaposi's sarcoma, one of the earliest AIDS-defining conditions named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has remained an elusive target for researchers and doctors. A form of herpesvirus, called KSHV, has recently been linked to the disease, but doctors are not certain that the virus alone can cause the rare cancer. Dr. Patrick Moore of Columbia University, however, stated at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections that "KSHV is likely the infectious cause of Kaposi's sarcoma (the cancer). It is necessary but not sufficient for the development of KS." The disease is much more harmful in AIDS patients than in others and rarely caused patients to die before it was associated with AIDS. Among AIDS patients, KS is far more likely to affect gay men, suggesting to scientists that it may be transmitted sexually. The disease is treated with anti-cancer drugs, but may be delayed or prevented with drugs for herpes viruses. "Marijuana Is the Wrong Medicine" Wall Street Journal (03/11/97) P. A22; Nahas, Gabriel G.; Sutin, Kenneth; Manger, William M.; et al. Smoked marijuana is not more medically beneficial than the synthetic form of THC, its active ingredient or other alternative treatments, contend a group of doctors from New York University and Columbia University. In a letter to the editors of the New York Times, Dr. Gabriel G. Nahas and colleagues claim that the editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine supporting the medical use of marijuana falsely represented some important facts. They say it misrepresented the toxic properties of marijuana smoke; falsely implied that smoking marijuana relieves pain; and made unreasonable claims about the benefits of the smoked drug over Marinol, the pill form of THC. The doctors argue that marijuana should not be considered a treatment for terminally ill patients but one of several practices to ease pain. "To the Point" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/11/97) P. A10 Philadelphia's needle-exchange program should be continued, contends a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, as long as injection drug users are at risk for contracting HIV. The writers, moreover, applaud the city council members who rejected an attempt to suspend the program last month. Although the editors concede that needle exchanges go against initial moral objections, they note in conclusion that studies have shown that HIV infections decrease when drug users seek clean needles. They also point out that there is no evidence as of yet that needle-exchange programs have increased drug abuse. "Japanese HIV Expert Pleads Not Guilty" United Press International (03/11/97) The former leader of a Japanese government AIDS study group has reportedly pleaded innocent to charges of professional negligence in relation to the death of a hemophiliac who died of AIDS. Takeshi Abe is the first doctor in the country to face charges in the tainted blood scandal that caused 1,800 Japanese hemophiliacs to contract HIV from unheated blood products. "French AIDS Prosecutor Urges Clearing Fabius" Reuters (03/11/97) Former French prime minister Laurent Fabius should be cleared from responsibility for the scandal over HIV-tainted blood, said a special prosecutor investigating the case. The prosecutor also found no case against former health minister Edmond Herve and former social affairs minister Georgina Dufoix. "Africa-Health: Ray of Hope in Uganda in War [Against AIDS]" IPS Wire (03/09/97) Uganda's health officials report that the rate of HIV infection is declining in parts of the country and that Ugandans have dramatically changed their sexual behaviors to protect themselves from infection. Researchers with the health ministry's STD/AIDS Control Program report that the average rates of HIV infection among pregnant women at two hospitals decreased from 27.8 percent and 22 percent in 1991-1992 to 16.8 percent and 13 percent in 1993-1995, respectively. Overall, Uganda's and Africa's AIDS statistics are not encouraging, however. Uganda estimates that 1.5 million people have HIV, and the World Health Organization says about 14 million Africans are infected--more than 60 percent of the cases worldwide. "Exploiting the HIV-Chemokine Nexus" Science (02/28/97) Vol. 275, No. 5304, P. 1261; Cohen, Jon Last year's revelation of the link between HIV and chemokines has spurred further research which has helped scientists understand how HIV infects cells. Public and private researchers are now racing to develop therapies to apply the new information. The study of chemokines is also being applied to AIDS vaccines and the effort to genetically engineer a small animal model to study HIV infection. Most chemokine research, however, is aiming to develop new treatments for people who are already infected with HIV. Following the discovery that a defect in the CCR5 receptor appears to confer HIV resistant to those who carry it, drug companies began searching for a molecule that would block the receptor. However, researchers warn that HIV could mutate to resist drugs based on this strategy. Vaccine research is likely to proceed slower than drug development, but some scientists say it may be accelerated if chemokine research helps explain the mechanism behind some effective animal vaccines. Other research is aiming to genetically engineer a small animal that could develop AIDS. "The Inhibition of Pro-Apoptotic ICE-Like Proteases Enhances HIV Replication" Nature Medicine (03/97) Vol. 3, No. 3, P. 333; Chinnaiyan, Arul M.; Woffendin, Clive; Dixit, Vishva M.; et al. The depletion of CD4 T-cells resulting from HIV infection is partly attributed to accelerated programmed cell death, or apoptosis. One proposed avenue for HIV therapy is to limit apoptosis. Many compounds have been shown to stop apoptosis in laboratory studies, but it is unknown whether halting the process would be beneficial to individuals with HIV. Researchers at the University of Michigan tested the impact of apoptosis-inhibiting proteases on HIV-1 replication. They report that T leukemia cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) underwent enhanced viral replication when they were exposed to the cell death inhibitor. The inhibiting protease was also found to stimulate endogenous virus production in activated PBMCs derived from HIV-1-infected asymptomatic individuals. The authors conclude that programmed cell death may serve as a beneficial host mechanism to limit the spread of HIV and that attempts to obstruct it may have damaging consequences for the infected individual.