Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary for Date: Fri May 19 07:01:00 PDT 2000 (241 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 2000, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update Friday, May 19, 2000 The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention provides the following information as a public service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis does not constitute CDC endorsement. This daily update also includes information from CDC and other government agencies, such as background on Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) articles, fact sheets, press releases, and announcements. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update should be cited as the source of the information. Contact the sources of the articles abstracted below for full texts of the articles. HEADLINES PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS "Mortality of HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Abusers as a Function of Duration of Injecting Drug Use" GENERAL MEDIA "Researcher Launches Unique AIDS Effort for Botswana Youths" "Presidential Candidates Urged to Commit to AIDS Vaccine" "Local Doctors Say HIV/AIDS Vaccine Progressing" "Black Churches Set AIDS Conference at Tuskegee, Site of Infamous Study" "Nurses Launch Safe Needles Campaign" "Late-Stage Cervical Cancer Risk Factors Identified" "Sexual Starvation" INFORMATION FROM THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION "Misdiagnoses of Tuberculosis Resulting From Laboratory Cross-Contamination of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Cultures--New Jersey, 1998" NEWS FROM OTHER AGENCIES "National HIV Vaccine Day" *************************************************************** PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS *************************************************************** "Mortality of HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Abusers as a Function of Duration of Injecting Drug Use" Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (www.jaids.com) (04/01/00) Vol. 23, No. 4, P. 332; Muga, Roberto; Roca, Josep; Egea, Jose Manuel; et al. Researchers in Spain evaluated 376 heroin addicts who were referred from outpatient clinics in metropolitan Barcelona. The authors sought to determine whether morality was a function of the length of drug use and HIV status. At the start of the study, 70.2 percent of the participants were HIV positive, and the mean age was 26. After a mean 5.6 years of follow-up, 21.8 percent of the patients had died, including 70 who were HIV-positive and 12 who were initially seronegative. AIDS was the cause of death for two-thirds of the HIV-infected participants. Both the men and women showed similar death rates. Older age when starting injection of drugs was associated with death among the HIV patients. The length of intravenous drug use was also a significant factor concerning HIV infection. Those who started using intravenous heroin earlier were at greater risk of dying prematurely. However, delaying the use of drug injection was not shown to reduce the risk of death among these subjects. The study took place in the 1980s, before the use of antiretrovirals, and it should be noted the participants were a selective sample taken from detoxification recommendations. **************************************************************** GENERAL MEDIA **************************************************************** "Researcher Launches Unique AIDS Effort for Botswana Youths" Houston Chronicle Online (www.chron.com) (05/19/00); Ackerman, Todd Dr. Mark Kline of Baylor College of Medicine has received funding for a trial in Botswana that will test AIDS drugs on children. According to Kline, "This is the largest trial of AIDS treatment for children ever undertaken on the African continent, and it is being funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb as part of its $100 million Secure the Future initiative. For the project, researchers will administer two antiviral drugs--stavudine and didanosine--along with hydroxyurea, which costs 78 cents a day. This combination of AIDS drugs has never been tested in children. Kline stated the trial will last two years, and if successful, could become standard treatment for children in developing nations. "Presidential Candidates Urged to Commit to AIDS Vaccine" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (05/18/00) The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition's (AVAC's) fourth annual report on the state of AIDS vaccine research calls for U.S. presidential candidates and Congress to help further the development of an AIDS vaccine. The report, titled "7 Years and Counting ... How Can We Overcome Obstacles to an AIDS Vaccine?," describes advances and obstacles in AIDS vaccine development. AVAC urged this year's presidential candidates to support a measure now in Congress that would offer incentives for vaccine research, and it called on Congress to pass the Vaccines for the New Millennium Act. AVAC also said that it supports increased funding for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the National Institutes of Health. "Local Doctors Say HIV/AIDS Vaccine Progressing" Boston Globe Online (www.boston.com/globe) (05/19/00); Goodman, Julie HIV researchers in Rhode Island report that studies on a two-part vaccine indicate that the experimental vaccines are safe. Dr. Kenneth Mayer, lead investigator of vaccine studies at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, explained that the two-part vaccine has helped people form antibodies and active cells. However, it will be several years before doctors know if the vaccine is actually effective against HIV. Mayer discussed his findings at a forum marking HIV/AIDS Vaccine Awareness Day on Thursday. "Black Churches Set AIDS Conference at Tuskegee, Site of Infamous Study" Mobile Register Online (www.al.com/mobile) (05/19/00); Helms, Jean Lakeman Next week, African-American church leaders and HIV researchers will meet in Tuskegee, Alabama, to discuss how to fight AIDS among African Americans. Pernessa Seele, founder of The Balm in Gilead, sponsor of the conference, said Tuskegee was chosen specifically to help raise the issue of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study and how its effects have impacted African-American community views about health care. "I look at this as an opportunity to talk about what really happened at Tuskegee, and how it affects how we fight HIV," Seele said. Other issues to be discussed at the four-day meeting include African-American men who have sex with men, many of whom are bisexual in their behavior. The conference's honorary chairman is U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dr. Helene Gayle, head of the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, is also slated to attend. "Nurses Launch Safe Needles Campaign" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (05/18/00); Bussey, Eliza The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the University of Vermont are sponsoring a safe needles campaign to help prevent healthcare workers from contracting HIV or hepatitis through accidental needle sticks. Karen Daley, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, contracted HIV via a needle injury in 1998. She believes that a safer needle device could have prevented her infection, and she notes that the safer devices cost about 28 cents more for each needle. The ANA notes that five states have adopted needle stick prevention laws, including Maryland and California. "Late-Stage Cervical Cancer Risk Factors Identified" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (05/18/00) A report by Dr. Jeanne M. Ferrante and colleagues from the University of South Florida shows that elderly, single, and uninsured women are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer. If the women are diagnosed early, women have over a 90 percent chance of surviving five years; however, once the disease has reached a late stage or metastasized, the likelihood of survival for at least five years ranges from 8 percent to 50 percent. According to the researchers, women over the age of 65 were most at risk for a late-stage diagnosis, possibly because older women may consider themselves less at risk for cervical cancer. The authors report their findings in the May issue of the Archives of Family Medicine (2000;9:439-445). "Sexual Starvation" Fox News Online (www.foxnews.com) (05/18/00); Pasick, Adam About 40 percent of people with sexual dysfunction also have sexual anorexia, which involves obsessing about sidestepping sexual situations and finding joy in avoiding sexual contact. Sexual anorexia is especially prevalent in people who were reared in strict or emotionally withdrawn families and among those who have experienced sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. The fact that refraining from sex can cause an endorphin rush is evidence that sexual anorexia may have a biochemical basis in some individuals. People who refrain from sex because of moral, religious, or personal reasons are probably not suffering from sexual anorexia. Dr. Douglas Weiss of the Heart to Heart Counseling Center believes that sexual anorexics, 60 percent of whom are women, may also not fully share themselves emotionally with their partners. One danger of sexual anorexics fear of having emotions linked to sex is that they may be put themselves at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases by having sex with strangers. **************************************************************** INFORMATION FROM THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION **************************************************************** "Misdiagnoses of Tuberculosis Resulting From Laboratory Cross-Contamination of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Cultures--New Jersey, 1998" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (www2.cdc.gov/mmwr) (05/19/00) Vol. 49, No. 19, P. 413 Eleven people in New Jersey received unnecessary drug treatment for tuberculosis, when their TB test results were positive as a result of laboratory cross-contamination. Through DNA fingerprinting of the TB specimens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Tuberculosis Genotyping and Surveillance Network found that samples from 11 previously reported TB cases were caused by a strain of TB that does not cause the disease in humans. This strain, called H37Ra, is often used as a control or standard strain for testing the proficiency of laboratory operations. Four New Jersey laboratories (three hospital labs and one commercial lab) processed the 11 contaminated specimens between February 1996 and October 1998. To avoid this type of misdiagnosis, healthcare providers should supplement lab findings with clinical symptoms and risk factors for TB. Further, DNA fingerprinting can confirm laboratory cross-contamination. **************************************************************** NEWS FROM OTHER AGENCIES **************************************************************** The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Announces that the Third Annual HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, May 18th, will honor thousands of volunteers in 53 cities who have literally rolled up their sleeves to receive one of 28 different experimental vaccines to prevent HIV, http://www.actis.org/resources/AVDNIAID.pdf. The activities are also designed to help people understand why a vaccine would be the best way to stop the spread of HIV, what it will take to develop an effective vaccine, and how ordinary people can be part of the international effort to find a way to prevent HIV from ravaging their communities. HIV Vaccine Awareness Day activities will be held throughout the United States. This year's events emphasize the education and outreach efforts at various vaccine research sites supported by NIAID. For a list of the activities, visit http://www.niaid.nih.gov/newsroom/mayday00.htm. For additional information about HIV vaccine research, visit http://www.actis.org/actis.asp?URL=vaccine&VIEW=general.