Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary for Date: Mon Jun 12 07:01:00 PDT 2000 (194 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 2000, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update Monday, June 12, 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 "Radical Steps Urged to Help Underserved" GENERAL MEDIA "New Look at Longevity Offers Disease Insight" "Rights Gains Are Preserved at U.N. Forum on Women" "Vermont to Get Federal Grant to Fight AIDS" "Enrollment in AIDS Vaccine Study Is Halted" "Wake Battles Spread of STD" "AIDS Rate Rising Among Minorities [in Arizona]" "HIV-1 Entry Inhibitor Well Tolerated in Healthy Patients" "Donors Pledge $1 Billion to Mozambique for 2000/2001" *************************************************************** PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS *************************************************************** "Radical Steps Urged to Help Underserved" Science (www.sciencemag.org) (06/02/00) Vol. 288, No. 5471, P. 1563; Enserink, Martin Pharmaceutical executives, public health experts, and Researchers recently met at the request of President Clinton to discuss roadblocks in the development of HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria vaccines. The participants came up with proposals for budget increases and more funding for vaccine initiatives. Vaccines are needed to cut AIDS deaths, and reduce tuberculosis and malaria cases, especially in Africa. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends about $6.5 million annually to find a new TB vaccine and $25 million for malaria; AIDS vaccine research will receive about $250 million this year. Low returns and patent violations have kept companies from funding vaccines. While no recommendations were developed at the meeting, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said his group will send a summary to Donna Shalala, the secretary of Health and Human Services. Some participants were disappointed at the lack of more definite conclusions; however, most were optimistic that results would be seen soon, and Malegapuru Makgoba of the Medical Research Council of South Africa noted, "I'm confident that we'll see an AIDS vaccine in the next five or six years." **************************************************************** GENERAL MEDIA **************************************************************** "New Look at Longevity Offers Disease Insight" Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (06/12/00) P. A9; Brown, David The World Health Organization (WHO) is evaluating the health of people worldwide, redefining life expectancy as a death rate given at a specific point in time, which may change when middle-age is reached. Researchers also factor in diseases like AIDS, diabetes, and hepatitis and the problems related to them. Christopher Murray and Alan Lopez of the WHO, authors of "The Global Burden of Disease" in 1996, are now calculating life expectancy by finding the number of years expected to be spent in ill health and subtracting them from actual life expectancy, for a result known as "disability-adjusted life expectancy," or DALE. With a total of 74.5 years, Japan was ranked first. The United States ranked No. 24, due to high rates of heart disease, homicide, lung cancer, and AIDS. AIDS is also a key factor in sub-Saharan Africa's poor showing, with Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Niger, and Sierra Leone coming in last. "Rights Gains Are Preserved at U.N. Forum on Women" New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (06/11/00) P. 4; Crossette, Barbara A follow-up meeting to the women's conference in Beijing five years ago maintained women's rights on sexual-related decisions, ending fears that progress made in 1995 would be reversed. At last week's United Nations meeting, issues such as the trafficking of women and domestic violence were discussed and advanced. The final declaration of the meeting called for increased attention to HIV and AIDS. Women's groups noted that sexual rights are imperative for African women, because some traditions may force them into sexual situations with men they know are infected with HIV. Some Islamic and Roman Catholic nations drew lines separating more secular nations, as Algeria, Iran, Libya and Pakistan were hesitant to further women's rights. "Vermont to Get Federal Grant to Fight AIDS" Boston Globe Online (www.boston.com/globe) (06/12/00) Vermont may receive another $250,000 in federal funds to help AIDS patients and pay for HIV prevention education. The money would come from the Ryan White CARE Act, which was recently reauthorized by the U.S. Senate and helps support services like driving for AIDS patients. Vermont has 163 AIDS cases, and the state Health Department says there are about 340 to 430 people living with HIV in Vermont. Life-prolonging drugs are expensive, and advocates say the funding could help transport people from rural areas to medical centers. "Enrollment in AIDS Vaccine Study Is Halted" Reuters (www.reuters.com) (06/09/00) The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) has halted enrollment for new patients in a trial of REMUNE, a potential AIDS vaccine. According to Immune Response Corp. and Agouron Pharmaceuticals, enrollment is being stopped while ACTG considers protocol changes. A total of 131 patients have already been enrolled in the 96-week study of the safety and efficacy of REMUNE, and these individuals will continue to be followed until a new protocol is established, the drug companies said. "Wake Battles Spread of STD" Raleigh News and Observer (www.nando.net) (06/10/00) P. B1; Perez, Lorenzo In Raleigh, North Carolina, small groups of health educators went door-to-door on Friday to offer free syphilis tests to residents in the Walnut Terrace public housing neighborhood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wake County--which includes Raleigh--and four other counties in North Carolina were among 28 in the United States that made up half of the syphilis cases reported nationwide. Signs of improvement include the fact that last year 40 cases of syphilis were reported in Wake County, compared to 204 one decade ago. As part of an effort launched last year to eradicate syphilis nationwide, federal and state agencies promised Wake more than $500,000 to help fight the disease. The campaign is starting in mostly African-American neighborhoods, and county officials also plan to visit Hispanic communities. The health educators in Wake are carrying graphic pictures of the effects of the sexually transmitted disease to help convince residents of the need to be tested, and they are also passing out information and free condoms. Those who agreed to the test received $2 in McDonald's gift certificates. In March, the first campaign reached 165 people, with about 30 immediately agreeing to testing, and three of those individuals testing positive. "AIDS Rate Rising Among Minorities [in Arizona]" Arizona Republic (www.azcentral.com) (06/10/00) P. A1; Gonzalez, Daniel Minorities make up a growing number of the HIV and AIDS patients in Arizona. Resistance to condoms and confusion over HIV risk factors may contribute to the problem. The state's new AIDS cases peaked in 1992 at 708, and fell to 255 last year; however, minorities account for 49 percent of the cases in 1999, up from 18 percent one decade ago. HIV prevention workers believe that the stigma found with homosexuality among men in minorities is hurting efforts to stop the disease. Federico Saenz, coordinator of La Zona Hispana, an HIV prevention program geared towards Hispanics, notes that what he is seeing "with Hispanics is that they may not know they are infected, so they don't seek out treatment; or they know they are infected, but they don't know where to get treatment." Outreach workers at La Zona Hispana and TRIBE, a community-based HIV prevention program that targets African Americans, are working to spread pamphlets and condoms at bars and stores, hoping to reach new workers from Mexico as well. "HIV-1 Entry Inhibitor Well Tolerated in Healthy Patients" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (06/09/00) Researchers, led by Dr. Craig Hendrix of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland, have found that AMD-3100, which blocks the CXCR4 receptor for HIV-1, is well tolerated by healthy individuals. Dr. Hendrix and colleagues report in the June issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (2000;44:1667-1673) that they gave doses of the HIV-1 entry inhibitor to 12 HIV-negative volunteers. AMD-3100 produced mild symptoms in the patients, and all who received intravenous or subcutaneous dosing showed increased white blood cell counts. The authors concluded that subcutaneous or intravenous dosing could help HIV patients, but clinical tests with HIV-infected individuals are needed. "Donors Pledge $1 Billion to Mozambique for 2000/2001" Reuters (www.reuters.com) (06/09/00) The World Bank announced Friday that international donors have agreed to give Mozambique $530 million this year and $560 million next year to fight poverty and AIDS. Mozambique's prime minister, Pascoal Mocumbi, said $40 million will go towards HIV prevention efforts, with 700 new cases of HIV seen every day, according to health experts. Floods have killed hundreds of residents and ruined farming land in the country.