From: bigoldberg@igc.apc.org (Billi Goldberg)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: CDC Summary 10/15/92
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:56:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Oct15.172525.26763
Organization: unspecified
Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed.
Archive-Number: 6321


                         AIDS Daily Summary
                          October 15, 1992 
 The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes 
available the following information as a public service only.  Providing 
this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization.  Reproduction  of this text is 
encouraged; however, copies may not be sold.  Copyright 1992, 
Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD 
************************************************************************
 "Beyond HIV: The Legacies of Health Activism" Washington Post 
(10/15/92), P. A29  (Gladwell, Malcolm)
     AIDS activism has affected nearly every aspect of the  relationship 
between the law and health, according to experts.   Lawmakers passed 
legislation last week that would allow the Food  and Drug Administration 
to charge pharmaceutical companies for  reviewing drug applications.  
Under the legislation, drug  companies will agree to pay the agency 
millions of dollars for  various regulatory services, and the FDA, in 
exchange, would  devote all the new money to expanding and computerizing 
its drug  review operation.  The legislation results from continuous  
efforts by AIDS activists that began close to a decade ago.  FDA  
officials say that it was the agency's experience in reviewing  AIDS 
drugs quickly and devoting extra attention to that disease  that 
resulted in the realization that administration could hasten the review 
of all drugs if given the necessary resources.  AIDS  activism has also 
had a significant impact on the way medical  science is conducted, the 
relationship between doctor and  patient, the way Americans discuss sex, 
the way drugs are  regulated and the way civil rights law is written.  
Activists are also increasingly involved in drug design and testing, and 
have  been included in both National Institutes of Health and FDA  
committees.  Deborah Cotton, an AIDS physician and researcher at  Beth 
Israel Hospital in Boston, said, "People with AIDS were the  first to 
say that we're not victims and to demand a full  partnership with their 
physicians.  To me that is the biggest  change, and it is spillto other patients.  Paternalism  in medicine was on the way out, but 
with AIDS it's dead." 

"Billboard Protesters Win AIDS Ad Fight" Boston Globe (10/14/92), P. 26  
(Chow, Cheong)
     An AIDS awareness billboard erected in Roxbury, Mass., last  
Thursday was replaced Tuesday after two days of protests from  area 
residents.  The billboard portrayed a woman holding a  condom, young child about the deadly danger of AIDS.   The woman in the ad asked 
the child, "Poopala, what happens if  you don't use a condom?"  The 
child replied, "You die."  "That's  right," said the woman.  "God will 
bless you and Johnson's will  dress you," she said, referring to a 
nearby funeral home.  Louis  Nickinello, president of Ackerley 
Communications Inc., said the  replacement "was strictly a business 
decision," after a crew from the ad agency covered the billboard with an 
anti-gang message.   Various religious leaders led a protest on Sunday 
against the  billboard, arguing that it was condoning premarital sex and  
giving an adverse impression of Roxbury residents.  The  management of 
Ma Dixon's Diner, which occupies the building where the protests 
occurred, complained to Ackerley  that demonstrators marching outside 
were disrupting its business, said Nickinello.   The ad was one of two 
AIDS awareness billboards developed by two  local artists with the input 
of three Roxbury women who are  recovering drug addicts.  Renee 
Hamilton, who helped create the  ad and was featured in it speaking to 
her son, Shon, said she was bothered by the protest and the replacement 
of the ad.  "The ad  wasn't about kids and sex, it was about education," 
she said.   Dr. Duane Smith of the Roxbury Comprehensive Community 
Health  Center said, "Look at the statistics.  People of color are disproportionately affected by HIV.  Ignoring the problem won't  make it 
go away." 

"In the World: France Rejects Bid to Try Ex-Premier in AIDS CasBaltimore Sun (10/15/92), P. 22A
     An opposition bid to impeach and try former Premier Laurent  Fabius 
and two other former Cabinet ministers for their roles in  the scandal 
over HIV-positive transfused blood was rejected  yesterday.  The 
National Assembly's bureau voted 10-9 to reject  as legally inamotions for the Supreme Court to try the  three for their participation 
in the incident.  Following their  trial for fraud or criminal 
negligence for the infection of  hundreds of people with HIV from 
tainted blood transfusions, four top health officials are awaiting a 
verdict, due next week,  related to the same incident. 

"Poll: Californians Support Higher Taxes for Health Care" United Press 
International (10/13/92)
     Los Angeles--The sixth annual poll conducted for California's  four 
major hospital associations found that nearly nine out of 10 residents 
agree that the state's health care system needs  reforming and change, 
but are unsure about what form it should  take.  The Gallup poll of 
1,000 Californians found that three out of four residents believe the 
state government should institute a program to provide health coverage 
for all residents without  health insurance.  Approximately 6 million 
Californians--about  one in four residents--currently lack insurance.  
The poll also  found that a record 41 percent of Californians say they 
have been tested for HIV--up 10 points from last year.  HIV testing was  
particularly widespread among people under the age of 35; 57  percent of 
males and 49 percent of females have been tested.  The number of survey 
participants who are "very concerned" about  becoming infected rose from 16 percent last year to 22  percent this year.  In addition, 
those who said they were "not at all concerned" dropped from 40 percent 
to 31 percent.  Results  form the poll will be used by the hospital 
associations to create a statewide health care reform plan. 

"Stymied by Resurgence of TB, Doctors Reconsider a Decades-Old Vaccine" 
New York Times (10/15/92), P. B4  (Altman, Lawrence K.)
     Federal health officials are considering an old prevention to  
treat complications that accompany the resurgence of tuberculosis that 
is sometimes drug-resistant.  Known as BCG, it is the most  widely used 
vaccine in the world, but has long been disregarded  in the United 
States.  American physicians are now reconsidering  BCG to see if the 
renewed threat of TB makes the case for the  vaccine any more 
compelling.  BCG does not protect a person from  infection with TB, but 
it is used to avert the life-threatening  complications of the 
infection.  Health officials in the United  States believe the vaccine 
does lower the risk of such  complications in children, but they 
consider its effectiveness in adults to be unproven.  Also, the vaccine 
would make the standard skin test for assessing infection with the TB 
bacterium useless.  But even if there is reason for resuming BCG 
vaccinations of  doctors and nurses in the U.S., the benefits for 
patients raise  other problems.  A new group of people infected with TB 
are AIDS  patients.  The U.S. Public Health Service's Advisory Committee 
on Immunization Practice has cautioned that BCG should not be given  to 
HIV-positive patients because their weakened immune systems  might not 
be able to handle a live-virus vaccine.  However, other experts believe 
there is no clear evidence of danger, and cite  studies of HIV-children in Africa and Asia who received  BCG vaccine without any 
apparent ill effect.  Since a blood test  would be needed to identify 
HIV-positive individuals, BCG  treatments might prompt renewed protests 
over the potential loss  of confidentiality resulting from screening 
programs for HIV. 

"Three Named in AIDS Hoaxes" United Press International (10/14/92)
     New York--The city's Department of Consumer Affairs has accused  
three men of advertising allegedly bogus AIDS cures, one  involving a 
Mexican clinic and another promoting a "Scandinavian" treatment.  
Consumer Commissioner Mark Green said notices of  violation had been 
issued on Carl Vollmer, a real estate broker  from Brooklyn, and Rick 
Nappi and Jia-En Wang of Manhattan.   Green said that Vollmer had 
approached Larry Koontz, executive  director of the Manhattan Center for 
Living, a large AIDS service group, and asked him to direct patients to 
his naturopathic  clinic.  Koontz notified Consumer Affairs and 
cooperated with its investigation by taping discussions with Vollmer.  
In one  conversation, Vollmer told Koontz he thought there was "a  
sufficient number of the 3 million people in the United States  with the 
HIV virus who would go to mortgage their house and put  up $100,000 (for 
treatment)."  According to Green, Vollmer was  quoted as saying, "Those 
are the ones we're after."  Vollmer told Koontz he would have a "big 
salary" if he worked as the "front  man" for the clinic, which provided 
month-long treatments  involving a vegetable juice fast, ozone therapy 
administered  rectally, intramuscular injection, "transcutaneous  
electromagnetic healing frequencies," and exercises devised by  
"legendary sages of ancient pre-Buddhist Tibet," said Green.   Nappi and 
Wang promoted their "basic nature" therapy in the  Manhattan South TV 
News, a local TV guide, proclaiming  "Scandinavian Science AIDS New York 
Residents," said Green.  The  three men cited were given a deadline of 
Oct. 23 to contact the  department and settle the charges. 

"Long-Term Symptomless HIV-1 Infection in Recipients of Blood  Products 
From a Single Donor" Lancet (10/10/92) Vol. 340, No. 8824, P. 863  
(Learmont, Jennifer et al.)
     It is possible that people may become infected with a less  
virulent strain of HIV-1, which could yield no symptoms of  infection 
for up to 10 years, write Jennifer Learmont et al. of  the St. Vincent's 
Hospital in Sydney, Australia.  During  follow-up of subjects with 
transfusion-acquired HIV-1 infection  in New South Wales, Australia, the 
researchers found a group of  six subjects who had contracted HIV 
through a single common  donor.  Throughout the follow-up (range 6.8-
10.1 years after  infection), five of the recipients and the donor (last 
follow-up  10.2 years after infection of the first recipient) remained  
clinically free of symptoms, with normal CD4 cell counts and no  p24 
antigenaemia.  HIV was isolated from only one recipient--the  idid not induce syncytia in a SUPT1 co-culture assay and  had a limited 
in-vitro host range.  One HIV-positive recipient  developed Pneumocystis 
carinii pneumonia and died 4.3 years after infection.  Among the six 
subjects with a common donor, the  frequency of progression to AIDS or a 
CD4 cell count below 500  was significantly lower compared to the 101 
other HIV-positive  transfusion recipients for whom data from seven 
years of  follow-up were available.  The results indicate that the 
subjects were infected by a less virulent strain of HIV-1.  The 
detection  of this group of subjects should prompt a search for other  
similar groups, which will provide important information on the  
immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 disease, the researchers conclude.

"AIDS on the Islands" American Medical News (10/05/92) Vol. 35, No. 37, 
P. 19
     Health officials in St. Vincent and the Grenadines report that 40 
residents of the country have died of AIDS in the last five  years, 
warning that the rate of HIV infection is steadily  increasing.  
According to a Ministry of Health report, the number of HIV-positive 
Vincentians has risen to 108, with 30 new cases  reported in 1992.  The 
territory is estimated to have a  population of 108,000.

"Drug Developed" American Medical News (10/05/92) Vol. 35, No. 37, P. 19
     A compound intended to treat AIDS-related diarrhea has been  
developed by researchers at a biotechnology firm that markets a  product 
to prevent diarrhea in cattle.  ImmuCell Inc. is  implementing clinical 
trials of its new drug for treating  crytosporidiosis, one of the 
leading five AIDS-related illnesses. The trials are being underwritten 
by Univax Biologics Inc., a  Rockville, Md., company that will market 
the drug.  Research  locations will include Tufts New England Medical 
Center in Boston and the University of California--San Francisc
"More Seek Tests" American Medical News (10/05/92) Vol. 35, No. 37, P. 
19
     More Iowa residents are undergoing HIV testing.  A total of 5,276 
people were tested in the first three months of this year at 13  
locations offering free, anonymous testing, an increase of 46  percent 
over the same three months last year, said health  officials.  There 
were 356 reported AIDS cases at the end of May  in Iowa. 
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids