Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary for Date: Fri Jun 9 07:01:01 PDT 2000 (179 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 2000, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update Friday, June 9, 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 "Minimization of Chronic Plasma Viremia in Rhesus Macaques Immunized With Synthetic HIV-1 Tat Peptides and Infected With a Chimeric Simian/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV33)" GENERAL MEDIA "Student Drug Use Rose During 1990s" "Evolution of Deadly AIDS Virus Began in Early 1930s, Study Says" "Death Toll in Congo's 2-Year War Is at Least 1.7 Million, Study Says" "Circumcision Cuts HIV Risk" "Virucides Block HIV Infection of Subepithelial Cells in the Female Genital Tract" "Tyrosine-Conjugated Bile Salts Are Active Anti-HIV-1 Virucides" "42 Million AIDS Orphans Predicted for 2010" *************************************************************** PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS *************************************************************** "Minimization of Chronic Plasma Viremia in Rhesus Macaques Immunized With Synthetic HIV-1 Tat Peptides and Infected With a Chimeric Simian/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SHIV33)" Vaccine Online (www.elsevier.com:80/inca/publications/store/3/0/5/2/1) (06/15/00) Vol. 18, No. 25, P. 2789; Goldstein, G.; Manson, K.; Tribbick, G.; et al. HIV-1 Tat protein acts by reactivating resting cells, leaving them permissive for viral replication. Australian and American researchers measured Tat dependence of HIV-1 replication in vivo during three states of infection by comparing plasma viremia in Tat-immunized or control rhesus macaques that were challenged with SHIV33 or SHIV33A. The study revealed that while chronic plasma viremia fell to low or undetectable levels in Tat-immunized asymptomatic SHIV33-infected animals, Tat immunization did not affect the high viral loads of acute infection or simian AIDS caused by SHIV33A. **************************************************************** GENERAL MEDIA **************************************************************** "Student Drug Use Rose During 1990s" Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (06/09/00) P. A8 A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www2.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwrss.html) shows that drug use among high school students increased during the 1990s, and fewer teenagers are having sex. The survey of more than 15,000 students in grades nine through 12 found that 49.9 percent of high school students reported having sex in 1999, compared to 54.1 percent in 1991. In addition, more students said they were using condoms last year, reaching 58 percent overall. The report noted that use of cocaine, marijuana, and cigarettes increased among high school students over the past decade; however, the CDC also found that more students are wearing seat belts and fewer have weapons or are considering suicide. "Evolution of Deadly AIDS Virus Began in Early 1930s, Study Says" Washington Times (www.washtimes.com) (06/09/00) P. A12 A new study in the journal Science (2000;288:1789-1796) suggests that HIV evolved from a harmless simian infection into a deadly human disease in the 1930s, and stayed in Africa until travel, large cities, and the sexual revolution helped to move it worldwide. Researchers have found that the genetic change in HIV originated in a simian virus first found between 1915 and 1941 in southwest Africa. Tanmoy Bhattachary, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said the most common type of HIV developed out of simian immunodeficiency (SIV) in chimpanzees that genetically converted either while in the chimp or after a human became infected with SIV. Bhattachary said it is highly unlikely that HIV evolved from the polio vaccination campaign of the 1950s, as some researchers have suggested. According to Bhattachary, HIV type 2 may have begun in sooty mangabeys, or African monkeys, but HIV-1 Group M--which has infected about 50 million people--"had a single origin. It could have come from one animal or one human." He said that the most common form of HIV in the United States, subgroup B, most likely evolved in 1967. "Death Toll in Congo's 2-Year War Is at Least 1.7 Million, Study Says" New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (06/09/00) P. A1; Crossette, Barbara Over 1.7 million people in eastern Congo have died during two years of war, mostly due to acts of violence. The survey, released Thursday by the International Rescue Committee in New York, noted that residents who were able to escape the fighting then were often felled by hunger or malaria while hiding. According to the study, eastern Congo has developed into "an unchecked incubation zone for disease." Les Roberts, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, who supervised the research, said that malaria and diarrheal diseases appear to be the primary causes of death, but meningitis and possible cases of polio have also been detected. Roberts added that because malaria patients often need blood transfusions, his "strong gut feeling is that the prevalence of HIV has increased." Blood has not been tested in Eastern Congo for two years, he said. "Circumcision Cuts HIV Risk" BBC News Online (www.bbc.co.uk) (06/09/00) Australian scientists have found that uncircumcised men have up to an eight times greater risk of HIV infection from heterosexual sex than circumcised men. Data from over 40 studies shows that HIV targets cells on the inner surface of the foreskin, but circumcision protects against infection by removing many of the HIV receptors. The surgery can also reduce the risk of infection with other sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea and syphilis. Some countries oppose circumcision for religious reasons, but the scientists, led by Prof. Roger Short of the University of Melbourne Royal Women's Hospital, noted that "in light of the evidence presented here, circumcising males seems highly desirable, especially in countries with a high prevalence of HIV infection." Possible alternatives they suggest include the development of HIV receptor blockers in the penis and the vagina. The researchers report their findings in the British Medical Journal (2000;320:1592-1594). "Virucides Block HIV Infection of Subepithelial Cells in the Female Genital Tract" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (06/08/00) Dr. Robin Shattock of St. George's Hospital Medical School in London has found that HIV infects macrophages below the female epithelium, which suggests that vaginal virucides may be able guard against HIV infection in women. Dr. Shattock and colleagues evaluated cervical and vaginal tissue from women undergoing hysterectomies and found that epithelial cells appear to play no role in the transfer of HIV across the epithelium. In terms of blocking HIV, nonoxynol-9 was 30 percent effective, gramicidin was 71 percent effective, and PRO 2000 was 97 percent effective. The study is reported in the June issue of the Journal of Virology (2000;74:5577-5586). "Tyrosine-Conjugated Bile Salts Are Active Anti-HIV-1 Virucides" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (06/08/00) British researchers, led by Dr. J.S. Oxford of St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, have found that bile salt derivatives could be important agents in HIV-1 prevention. The scientists found virucidal activity among three bile salts at non-cytotoxic concentrations, according to a reported in the May issue of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2000;45:617-621). The bile salt derivatives may be better than nonoxynol-9, which is cytotoxic at concentrations that are virucidal, the researchers noted. "42 Million AIDS Orphans Predicted for 2010" Agence France Presse (www.afp.com) (06/09/00) At the annual conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNAIDS head Dr. Peter Piot said there are now 12 million AIDS orphans and that number will likely reach 42 million within a decade. Piot said that ILO programs should factor in AIDS and its effects on labor, calling for help for children who are orphaned and must quit school or become prostitutes to help the household survive. Piot said 20 percent more women than men have HIV in Africa, "and girls and young women are particularly vulnerable for both biological and socio-cultural reasons."