Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary for Date: Mon Jun 26 07:01:00 PDT 2000 (207 lines) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 2000, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update Monday, June 26, 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 "Origins of HIV" GENERAL MEDIA "Sick Immigrants a Risk to Canadians: Report Says Monitoring 'Fragmented'" "Group to Pay Addicts to Take Birth Control" "Activists Get AIDS Drugs to Poor Lands" "City Faces Cut in Federal Funds to Fight AIDS" "[Australian] Government to Target AIDS Apathy" "AIDS Devastates Africa, Destroys Human Dignity" "One in Four South African Men Admit Rape" "Behind the Magic" *************************************************************** PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS *************************************************************** "Origins of HIV" Science (www.sciencemag.org) (06/09/00) Vol. 288, No. 5472, P. 1757; Hillis, David M. The origins of HIV, and the date when simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) crossed over to humans are still being studied. A recent study by B. Korber et al. used phylogenetic analysis to estimate the year of HIV's origin. David M. Hillis of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas writes that by the 1980s, when HIV was identified, widespread epidemics were already taking place. It was known that HIV-1 came from chimpanzees and viruses transmitted from sooty mangabeys were called HIV-2. Korber calculated that the best estimate for placing the common ancestry of HIV-1 M group is 1931. The designation of the early 1930s reveals that the virus must have been transmitted to humans before then, possibly in the 1800s or early 1900s. It is also possible that the virus infected humans around 1930 and rapidly began to spread. Another theory is that multiple strains of HIV jumped from chimpanzees to humans around the same time in the 1940s or 1950s. Korber's data seems to best support the Transmission Early theory, Hillis writes. Under this concept, the spread of the virus was slow, since HIV was present in the 1930s but did AIDS did not become widespread until the 1970s. Hillis also notes, "The epidemic exploded in the 1950s and 1960s, coincident with the end of colonial rule in Africa, several wars, the introduction of widespread vaccination programs (with the deliberate or inadvertent reuse of needles), the growth of large African cities, the sexual revolution, and increased travel by humans to and from Africa." **************************************************************** GENERAL MEDIA **************************************************************** "Sick Immigrants a Risk to Canadians: Report Says Monitoring 'Fragmented'" Calgary Herald (www.canoe.ca/calgarysun) (06/26/00) P. A6; Moore, Dene Canada's system of monitoring immigrants for contagious diseases may be ineffective and pose health risks to Canadians, an internal immigration report claims. Tuberculosis (TB), the most common infection in immigrants, is "the one posing the greatest potential health risk since transmission is airborne," the report said. Although immigrants with active TB are not allowed entry into Canada, those with inactive TB can enter the country as long as they undergo medical surveillance. The report said that "portions of the migrant population are not complying with medical surveillance requirements, thereby increasing the risk of TB to the migrant and society." The report also questioned the quality of the medical exams in the individuals' home countries and noted that many migrants do not understand the system, as communication is in French or English only. "Group to Pay Addicts to Take Birth Control" Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (06/26/00) P. B1; Goldstein, Avram A national children's welfare group wants to offer Washington, D.C.'s drug addicts $200 in cash for undergoing long-term birth control. The group known as CRACK, or Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, will advertise the plan in July on 500 of the city's buses. Many health officials have denounced the plan as unethical and also racist, because it will target African Americans disproportionately, according to Larry Siegel, the D.C. health department deputy director in charge of substance abuse services. However, Barbara Harris, the founder of CRACK, notes that the offer is intended to help drug addicts prevent having more pregnancies, keeping children out of foster care. Some of the children are born with HIV or with symptoms of drug addiction, and they require constant healthcare. Harris believes the plan will help prevent the number of abandoned children. The $200 is paid for long-term birth control methods, such as Norplant, which is inserted under the skin and can last up to five years; Depo-Provera shots, which must be repeated every few months; or tubal ligation surgery. "Activists Get AIDS Drugs to Poor Lands" San Francisco Examiner Online (www.examiner.com) (06/25/00); Torassa, Ulysses Activists from San Francisco are working to give leftover supplies of AIDS drugs to HIV-infected individuals around the world. Unused drugs may be left to expire or thrown out, so activists like Lisa Carver decided to ship Crixivan and Combivir to needy patients in other countries. Homer Hobi runs the AIDS Medicine Recycling Project in San Francisco. This informal effort collects medicines from offices, patients, and survivors of those who die, sending the drugs to Cuba or Latin America. It is illegal to ship the drugs without prescriptions, but the groups have had no trouble with authorities and they avoid sending drugs with street values in this country. Hobi sends the medication to patients seeing a doctor, and requires that they become activists in their countries. "City Faces Cut in Federal Funds to Fight AIDS" San Francisco Examiner (www.examiner.com) (06/23/00); Holland, Judy Some members of the House have decided to reduce San Francisco's amount of federal AIDS funding by millions over the next five years and increase funding for 50 other cities. On Thursday, Rep. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the amount of Ryan White program funds San Francisco receives would gradually be lowered until it has the same funding levels as other cities with similar AIDS rates. One House member opposing the proposal is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who wants no less than 98 percent of the city's current $35.3 million per year. Congress gives funding based on the number of people with AIDS per city, and with advances in drug therapy, San Francisco has fewer people with AIDS but more with HIV. While Rep. Pelosi did not know the specific amount of funding to be cut, she asserted, "The fact is, we can never agree to a funding level that stands in the way of meeting the needs of people with HIV/AIDS." "[Australian] Government to Target AIDS Apathy" Australian Broadcasting Corp. News (abc.com.au) (06/25/00) Australia's government has established a five-year plan to fight HIV, as many young people have grown complacent about the disease. An estimated 700 Australians are infected with HIV each year. Chris Puplick of the Australian National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis, and Related Diseases said safe sex messages do not appear to be as effective on younger people as they did with the previous generation, possibly due to a sense of invulnerability. New statistics also show that the rate of HIV among indigenous Australians remains steady. Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge said there is concern about HIV spreading to indigenous groups through heterosexual contact, so more specific HIV prevention efforts are needed in the indigenous communities. "AIDS Devastates Africa, Destroys Human Dignity" Reuters (www.reuters.com) (06/26/00); Swindells, Steven AIDS has ruined 50 years of development in Africa, and Malawi is one of many nations dealing with overcrowded hospital rooms and a lack of medicine. AIDS has taken the lives of 12 million Africans so far, and over 23 million in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV. United Nations officials have called for a Marshall plan to change sexual behavior and increase the use of anti-AIDS drugs. According to some AIDS workers, a lack of political leadership is also hurting Africa, as funding is often spent on seminars and does not reach the ill. "One in Four South African Men Admit Rape" Reuters (www.reuters.com) (06/25/00) A survey reported in South Africa's Sunday Times found that one in four South African men questioned said they had committed rape before age 18, while eight in 10 said they believed women were responsible for sexual violence. Concern over South Africa's high rate of rapes is warranted, as the number of rapes has risen over five years. Police statistics show that the number of reported rapes in the country increased from 109.8 per 100,000 people in 1994 to 119.1 in 100,000 last year. Of particular concern with the high levels of rape is South Africa's AIDS epidemic, as more than 4 million residents of the country are thought to be infected with HIV. "Behind the Magic" New Scientist (www.newscientist.com) (05/27/00) Vol. 166, No. 2240, P. 17; Day, Michael Some HIV researchers have expressed surprise about how little scientists know about how vaccines like polio and measles actually work to protect against disease. Philippe Kourilsky, director of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, noted: "We've had many successful vaccines over the past decades but we've missed a chance to see how these vaccines work." Learning more about these vaccines, Kourilsky said, could help in the search for an AIDS vaccine. Neal Nathanson, head of the U.S. Office of AIDS Research, points out that not all vaccines work by simply producing antibodies. The hepatitis B vaccine, for example, is effective against a persistent infection, but researchers are not quite sure how it works. However, some researchers point out that it is hard to obtain funding to research vaccines already in use.