From: Billi Goldberg <bigoldberg@igc.apc.org>
Subject: CDC Summary 7/21/92
Note: non-commercial reproduction.
Archive-Number: 5743
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 08:59:11 PDT

                         AIDS Daily Summary
                           July 21, 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 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization.  Reproduction of this text is 
encouraged; however, copies may not be sold.  Copyright 1992, 
Information, Inc., Washington, DC 
************************************************************************
 "AIDS Seeks a Forum at Another Convention" New York Times (07/19/92), 
P. 4
     An HIV-positive woman from a prominent Republican family has  
requested to speak about AIDS at the Republican National  Convention in 
Houston next month.  Mary D. Fisher, daughter of  Max Fisher--the 
honorary chairman of the Bush-Quayle '92 National Finance Committee, 
would follow the initiative of Bob Hattoy and  Elizabeth Glaser, who 
spoke about AIDS last week at the  Democratic National Convention.  A. 
James Heynen, a spokesman for Fisher, said, "There have been discussions 
held since Mary gave  testimony at the Republican platform hearings" in 
Salt Lake City  in May.  He added, "These have been informal 
conversations back  and forth with people at the [Republican National] 
Committee or  with people who have specific responsibilities for the  
convention."  Fisher, a mother of two, said in her testimony in  May, 
"Today I am asking you to help us, as Republicans and as  Americans, to 
lift our shroud of silence and speak with the voice of compassion."  
Fisher learned she tested HIV-positive in July  1991, but she did not 
disclose her status until the following  February.  She is a consultant 
to the National Commission on AIDS and has lobbied Republican 
legislators on behalf of AIDS-related  causes.  Joseph Fleming, a 
spokesman for the GOP convention, said the selection of speakers was not 
finalized. 

"The Call for an Aggressive New AIDS Strategy" Washington Post (Health) 
(07/21/92), P. 7  (Garrett, Laurie)
     Due to the rampant spread of the AIDS epidemic worldwide, health  
officials are disputing the leadership of the World Health  Organization 
at the Eighth International Conference on AIDS in  Amsterdam this week.  
Since there has not been any progress in  developing a cure or a vaccine 
in the near future, AIDS  health-care workers and legislators are 
looking for a more  aggressive strategy to fight the spread of the 
disease.  The  Harvard University-based Global AIDS Policy Coalition, 
led by  Jonathan Mann, is lobbying for change.  While WHO predicts that  
30 to 40 million people will be HIV-positive by the year 2000,  the 
Global AIDS Policy Coalition has developed a computer model  that shows 
as many as 110 million people infected by the year  2000.  The WHO 
program has received criticism from a U.S.  Congress subcommittee 
seeking performance evaluation, the General Accounting Office, a U.N.-
designated external scientific review  panel, and leading government 
officials in countries with high  rates of infection.  WHO responded to 
the increased criticism by  reorganizing its AIDS strategy in May and 
releasing a summary of  five local anti-AIDS efforts the agency deems 
effective.   However, the U.S. and leading European donors, still not  
satisfied, requested in June that WHO develop a worldwide  coordinating 
body to monitor global efforts. 

"Women Worldwide Nearing Higher Rate for AIDS Than Men" New York Times 
(07/21/92), P. C3  (Altman, Lawrence K.)
     Women worldwide are contracting HIV about as frequently as men,  
and by the year 2000 most new infections will be among women,  reported 
the World Health Organization yesterday at an  international conference 
on AIDS in Amsterdam.  Dr. Michael H.  Merson, who heads WHO's global 
program on AIDS, said that since  January 1 nearly half of the one 
million recently infected adults have been women.  He added, "Women's 
rising infection rates have  been accompanied by a corresponding rise in 
the number of  children born to them infected with HIV."  While millions 
of  infants may escape infection, they will become AIDS orphans when  
their mothers die.  WHO predicts that about 10-12 million adults  and 1 
million children are HIV-positive.  Dr. Merson and others  say that 
women have to be empowered to have more control over  their health.  
Women at the conference have requested quick  licensing of female 
condoms and the establishment of greater  research efforts to develop 
germicides that kill HIV and other  sexually transmitted microbes.  Dr. 
Jonathan Mann, chairman of  the conference, said that the AIDS epidemic 
has shown that  "male-dominated societies are a threat to public health" 
because  women have less control over protecting themselves from 
disease.  Related Stories: Philadelphia Inquirer (07/21) P. A2; Los 
Angeles Times--Washington Edition (07/21) P. A1; Financial Times (07/21)  
P. 2; Wall Street Journal (07/21) P. B5 

"Jonas Salk Offers AIDS Researchers Another Approach" Wall Street 
Journal (07/21/92), P. B5  (Chase, Marilyn)
     The creator of the polio vaccine, who is also working on one to  
fight AIDS, dared AIDS experts to rethink their vaccine  strategies at 
the international AIDS conference in Amsterdam  yesterday.  Dr. Jonas 
Salk believes that most researchers and  companies that are working on 
AIDS vaccines which boost high  levels of protective antibodies are 
going about it the wrong way. Dr. Salk says that instead of antibodies, 
patients need a large  number of immune cells to kill the HIV inside 
HIV-positive human  blood cells.  Thus, researchers should be working on  
strengthening the body's immune cells, says Salk.  He bases his  view on 
research of several groups of people who successfully  evaded HIV after 
exposure.  These individuals, including babies  of infected mothers and 
health-care workers who were accidentally study with contaminated 
needles, had no antibodies to HIV in  their blood--but they did have 
many immune cells.  Several other  AIDS researchers yesterday questioned 
Dr. Salk's absence of  first-hand data to back his new technique.  Dr. 
Salk still  expects to achieve this purely cell-based immunity by using  
"exceptionally small" doses of vaccine.  In addition, he said he  will 
continue work on his current AIDS vaccine, which is made  from a strain 
of HIV that has been killed. 

"Virus may be Weaker Strain of AIDS, Researcher Says" Washington Post 
(07/21/92), P. A3
     A potential new strain of HIV, which some researchers suspect has 
infected several people, could be a variant or a weakened form of the 
known virus, according to the top U.S. AIDS researcher.   Anthony Fauci, 
head of the National Institutes of Health's  research on the disease, 
said yesterday in Amsterdam at the  international AIDS conference that 
nothing concrete could be said regarding the suspect virus until more 
research is performed.   "The only thing we can say at this point in 
time is that we need  to carefully look at these people to try and 
decipher out this  problem and stay heads up if there are any other 
individuals in  the same category as these," he said.  The Centers for 
Disease  Control's researchers previously disclosed that they are  
examining a possible new strain of HIV.  Fauci said six to 12  people 
exhibit AIDS-related symptoms but do not test positive for the virus for 
some unexplained reason.  He said his best  hypothesis is that the 
people were infected with the virus a  while ago when it began to 
eradicate the body's immune system.   Since then, the virus may have 
become isolated in another part of the body, where it is unable to 
replicate any further.  Fauci  said, "The other possibility, a little 
bit more way out, is that  we're dealing with a variant...that the 
standard diagnostic tests can't isolate."

"Criticizing U.S. Policies, Actress Taylor Urges Fight on AIDS" 
Baltimore Sun (07/21/92), P. 2A
     Actress and longtime AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor criticized  
American AIDS prevention efforts at the international AIDS  conference 
in Amsterdam yesterday.  She said, "I don't think  President Bush is 
doing anything about AIDS...I'm not sure he  even knows how to spell 
AIDS."  The conference was moved from its original Boston location to 
Amsterdam because of U.S. travel  restrictions that prohibit entrance 
into the country if one is  HIV-positive.  "The fight against AIDS is 
not and must never be,  a fight against other people.  It is a fight of 
human beings  against a virus," Taylor said.  "Only when we recognize 
this can  we join hands as a global community and work effectively to  
vanquish this terrible epidemic."  Taylor said she was in favor  of the 
liberal Dutch strategy of distributing free needles to  drug users and 
promoting condom use to help curb the spread of  HIV.

"AIDS Epidemic Grows by Region, Sex, Race" Washington Post (Health) 
(07/21/92), P. 5  (Colburn, Don)
     HIV infection was found to be spreading most rapidly last year in 
the South and among women, blacks, Hispanics, and heterosexual  IV-drug 
using men, reported the Centers for Disease Control.  The total number 
of AIDS cases reported in 1991 was 45,506, a 5  percent increase from 
1990.  The CDC estimates, however, that  because of delays in reporting 
cases the actual increase was 10  percent.  About half--53 percent--of 
the cases were among gay and bisexual men.  This is a slightly smaller 
proportion than was  reported in 1990.  Another 25 percent of the cases 
involved women and heterosexual men who used IV-drugs.  This group's 
percentage  increased last year, as did cases involving transmission 
through  heterosexual sex.  Although the majority of new AIDS cases--87  
percent--still is found among men, the gender gap in AIDS is  closing.  
The rate of increase last year was more than four times as high in women 
as in men.  The highest number of new AIDS cases and the most rapid 
increase in total cases, which accounts for 10 percent, transpired in 
the South.  The Northeast was the only  region where the number of new 
AIDS cases was reduced--by less  than 1 percent--from the previous year.  
The Midwest and the West had increases of 9 percent and 4 percent, 
respectively. 

"Doctors on Trial in Deaths Due to AIDS-Tainted Transfusions" Los 
Angeles Times--Washington Edition (07/21/92), P. A3  (Tempest, Rone)
     Four officials with the French National Blood Transfusion Center  
and Ministry of Health have been charged with knowingly giving  patients 
AIDS-infected blood products, causing the deaths of 250  hemophiliacs 
and the infection of 1,000 more.  Opposition  political leaders have 
accused senior officials in the governing  Socialist party of covering 
up the transfusion case.  More than  six months after the United States, 
Canada, and several other  countries had stopped distributing unscreened 
blood, the French  National Blood Transfusion Center continued to allow 
such  distribution--until October 1985.  In testimony last week, the  
center's director, Dr. Michael Garretta, conceded that he made a  
serious error by failing to immediately purchase American blood  
products that had undergone a heat-treatment process to  inactivate the 
AIDS virus.  Garretta also contended that the  French government was 
well aware of the problem of contaminated  blood.  Some evidence 
indicates that officials wanted to wait for the French versions of a 
screening system and heat-treatment  process, rather than use ones made 
in America.  Garretta and  colleagues are being charged under fraud 
laws, and have been  accused of deliberately misrepresenting the quality 
of the blood  products to patients. 

"Thalidomide to Treat Esophageal Ulcer in AIDS" New England Journal of 
Medicine (07/16/92) 327, No. 3, P. 208  (Ryan, Jeremy et al.)
     Thalidomide may be an effective nontoxic treatment for AIDS  
patients who experience polyclonal T-cell lymphoid infiltrate,  write 
Jeremy Ryan et al. of the Alfred Hospital in Prahran,  Victoria, 
Australia.  A man was found to be HIV-positive in 1989  after 
experiencing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.  In April  1990, he 
complained of increasing dysphagia when ingesting  solids, with a 
feeling that food was "sticking" behind the lower  sternum.  A linerar 
underrun, 5-cm midesophageal ulcer was found  by endoscopy and a biopsy 
specimen was obtained.  Histologic  examination revealed ulceration with 
lymphoid aggregates initially indicating lymphoma.  Thalidomide (100 mg 
twice a day) was begun, and symptomatic relief emerged within seven 
days.  Endoscopy  performed eight weeks after the beginning of therapy 
showed that  the ulcer was healing, and follow-up endoscopy four months 
later  confirmed that the healing was complete.  The man died in January 
1991 and no esophageal ulceration was found at postmortem  examination.  
Therefore, thalidomide treatment yielded complete  healing of a large 
chronic ulcerating pseudolymphomatous  esophageal lesion that interfered 
with swallowing both  mechanically and by causing pain.

"Los Angeles ACT UP Storms State" Gay Community News (07/17/92), P. 2  
(Wofford, Carrie)
     In an effort to protest California's planned 15 percent reduction 
of the AIDS budget, members of ACT-UP were arrested after  blocking the 
lobby of the Reagan State Office Building.  The  reduction in funds 
would lead to the loss of $15 million in  federal matching funds.  In 
addition, several hundred ACT-UP  members also disturbed the County 
Board of Supervisors to demand  a reinstatement of funds to the County 
Hospital AIDS ward.  Mark  Kostopolous, who recently died of AIDS, led 
ACT-UP in forcing the county to provide an AIDS ward.  But ward nurses 
have recently  been quitting as a result of poor conditions.  One ACT-UP 
member, Tony Arn, said, "We're going to be back every Tuesday until  
[they] fix this."  Demonstrations were held in Kostopolous' honor on 
June 28.  "We've [been] push[ing] the envelope a little, which Mark 
would have liked," said Arn. 

"Boston Gears Up for AIDS Demos" Gay Community News (07/17/92) Vol. 19, 
No. 48, P. 2  (Wofford, Carrie)
     ACT-UP/Boston next week plans to conduct its first protest in  
almost a year.  It will be demonstrating against Bush's  immigration law 
prohibiting entrance to the country by  HIV-infected visitors, which 
resulted in the International AIDS  Conference's move from its original 
Boston location to Amsterdam. A press conference will be held by the 
activists, in addition to  a rally at Logan Airport July 18, a 24-hour 
vigil at Hynes  Convention Center--where the conference was expected to 
occur  before Bush refused to abandon his ban--and a march and rally  
July 19 from Hynes to the Immigration and Naturalization office  at 
Government Center.  Other issues that the protesters will  address 
include legalized needle exchange programs, a stop to  profiteering of 
pharmaceutical companies, and universal health  care. 

"Sex and Death in Thailand" Newsweek (07/20/92) Vol. 20, No. 3, P. 50  
(Moreau, Ron)
     AIDS is spreading rampantly through Thailand as a result of its  
booming tourist sex industry.  According to government figures,   
between 200,000 and 400,000 Thais are now HIV-positive; several  private 
groups say the statistics are nearer to 500,000--or about 1 percent of 
the population.  The World Health Organization  predicts that between 2 
million and 4 million Thais will be  infected with HIV by the year 2000, 
over half of them women.   Some research indicates that 15 to 20 percent 
of the country's  prostitutes are already infected with HIV.  Though a 
zealous  nationwide anti-AIDS effort has drastically increased AIDS  
awareness and condom use, many Thai men don't like condoms or  don't 
believe they work, and prostitutes are often too  intimidated to ask 
clients to wear them.  Before an effective  safe-sex campaign can be 
launched, Thai men must change their  view of women as either sexual 
objects or obedient homemakers,  and stop visiting brothels while they 
are married and  transmitting the virus to their monogamous wives.  On 
the bright  side, as increasing numbers of women become infected, many 
more  are talking openly about sex with their husbands. 

Newsgroups: sci.med.aids