From: bigoldberg@igc.apc.org (Billi Goldberg)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: CDC Summary 1/27/93
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:08:37 GMT
Organization: unspecified
Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed.
Archive-Number: 44


                       AIDS Daily Summary
                        January 27, 1993 
 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (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 
======================================================================= 
 "Japan Plans Gene Therapy Research for AIDS" Reuters (01/26/93)
     Tokyo--Japan will launch a long-term research effort into gene  
therapy as part of its anti-AIDS campaign, according to a health  
ministry official.  Shigeki Shiiba of the ministry's health  science 
division said the group will allot 150 million yen ($1.2  million) this 
year to begin basic research on gene therapy.   "Gene therapy is a 
highly promising area ... but it will take a  long time, say more than 
10 years, before it becomes practical,"  said Shiiba.  The therapy is a 
controlled experimental treatment  which involves the introduction of 
new genes into the body to  correct an inherited or acquired condition.  
In a separate  announcement, the ministry's AIDS Surveillance Committee 
said  Tuesday that Japan reported 10 newly diagnosed AIDS cases and 59  
new HIV-positive individuals in the November-December period.   The 
committee said that Japan's reported cases of full-blown AIDS totaled 
543, in addition to 2,551 people infected with HIV during the period 
that ended on Dec. 31, 1992.  Japan's cumulative death toll from AIDS is 
298.  Among the 69 new cases diagnosed in  November-December, more than 
40 were women from Southeast Asia  working in the entertainment 
industry, said a committee  spokesman.  Previously, most Japanese viewed 
AIDS as a disease  that primarily affected foreigners, especially 
homosexuals and  IV-drug users.  Now, most of the Japanese that contract 
HIV do so through heterosexual contact. 
======================================================================= 
"BRF--AIDS-Watches" Associated Press (01/25/93)
     Washington--AIDS activists gave members of Congress broken  
wristwatches on Monday to signify that time is running out for  
aggressive action against the disease.  A letter delivered to the 540 
members of Congress by ACT-UP said, "For the past 12 years,  Congress 
has collaborated with the Reagan-Bush administrations in their criminal 
neglect of the AIDS crisis."  In addition to the  letter, about two 
dozen ACT-UP members who had driven from New  York delivered broken 
wristwatches to the congressional offices.  The organization is 
requesting that Congress form a "Manhattan  Project" for AIDS research 
and spend another $500 million for  prevention and education, said Scott 
Sawyer, an ACT-UP spokesman. 
======================================================================= 
"Iran Says 219 Infected With HIV, 45 Died of AIDS" Reuters (01/25/93)
     Nicosia--Iran revealed Monday that there have been 219 reported  
cases of HIV infection, and 45 AIDS patients have already died of the 
disease.  The Iranian news agency (IRNA) cited an official  from an 
anti-AIDS group who told a seminar in Tehran that if the  Iranians were 
not educated about the risks of the disease, the  "problem would be much 
greater in the future."  Deputy Health  Minister Saeed Namaki said in 
December that 42 people had already died of AIDS, and 169 others had the 
disease.  The official said, "Restricting sex to its religiously 
established forms would offer the surest way for harnessing the epidemic 
in Iran."  Previously, Iranian officials said AIDS was not a severe 
problem in the  country, which has a population of 60 million people.  
Clerical  leaders said Islamic ethics helped control the spread of HIV 
in  Iran.  In December, Iran said it was introducing mandatory HIV  
testing for foreigners wishing to stay in the Islamic republic  for more 
than three months. 
======================================================================= 
"HemaCare Begins Construction of Plasma ..." HealthWire (01/25/93)
     Los Angeles--HemaCare Corp. announced Monday that it has taken a  
significant step in furthering its efforts to develop a series of 
hyperimmune, gamma globulin, pharmaceutical products to treat  AIDS and 
other conditions.  The company has leased a building in  Valencia, 
Calif., which will house a plasma fractionation  facility.  The first 
application of the facility will be to  transform the human plasma being 
used in the company's Passive  Hyperimmune Therapy (PHT) AIDS 
therapeutic research project into  intravenous gamma globulin or 
antibody concentrate.  Dr. Joshua  Levy, HemaCare's medical director and 
principal investigator of  its PHT clinical research, said, "The 
construction of the  fractionation facility is a major step in 
HemaCare's development  of a safe and effective AIDS therapy.  The gamma 
globulin  concentrate obtained by fractionation will have greater drug  
purity and stability and be more widely accepted by the medical  
community than the current whole plasma product."  He added, "We  expect 
that the pilot plasma fractionation facility will be  completed in six 
months and that intravenous gamma globulin may  be produced by the end 
of 1993.  By utilizing self-contained,  modular, independent, 
manufacturing units, other plasma products  in addition to the initial 
HIV antibody plasma product may be  produced in this facility." 
======================================================================= 
"Israel-AIDS" Associated Press (01/26/93)
     Jerusalem--The Israeli government will require immigrants from  
Western nations and all foreign workers to be tested for HIV  before 
entering Israel, the Health Ministry announced Tuesday.  A ministry 
statement indicated that HIV-positive immigrants would  have their cases 
reviewed but did not say whether they would be  rejected.  The new 
policy, developed by the health and interior  ministers, will be 
instituted Monday.  Critics claim that the  mandatory tests are unfair 
because they single out groups from  certain countries when Israel is 
supposed to be a haven for all  Jews around the world.  However, Yehuda 
Weinraub, a spokesman for the Jewish agency that deals with immigration, 
said the country's policy of citizenship to Jews can exclude those who 
are a threat  to public health.  The statement by the ministry did not 
list the countries included in the category "Western nations."  It said  
immigrants from the former Soviet Union and developing countries, in 
addition to tourists, foreign embassy staff, and journalists,  are 
exempt from the mandatory tests.  Those individuals account  for most of 
Israel's immigrants.  Since 1989, more than 400,000  Jews have come from 
the former Soviet Union, and about 50,000  have come from Ethiopia since 
the mid-1980s.  Weinraub said about 1,500 Jews a year immigrate from 
France and England, but did not  have any figures for other Western 
European nations.  Ira Cohen,  a spokesman for the Association for 
Americans and Canadians in  Israel, said about 3,000 immigrants come to 
Israel from North  America every year. 
======================================================================= 
"Ohio Officials Fear TB Increase" United Press International (01/26/93)
     Cleveland--Ohio health officials are monitoring a nationwide rise 
in tuberculosis cases and believe the state might be on the brink of a 
similar increase.  For the third consecutive year, Ohio has  reported a 
constant rate of TB cases.  There were 378 identified  TB cases in Ohio 
during 1991, the most recent statistics  available.  Dr. Frits van der 
Kuyp, director of the Cuyahoga  County tuberculosis control service at 
MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, said that Ohio doctors may also 
be increasingly  confronted with multi-drug-resistant TB.  Eight cases 
of  drug-resistant TB transpired statewide in 1991.  However, state  
public health officials said the number could be higher because  only 
half of the total tuberculosis cases were examined for  resistance.  As 
many as 500,000 Ohioans may be infected with TB  bacteria, but for most, 
the disease remains dormant.  Dr. George  Hurst, assistant chief of the 
Ohio Department of Health's  division of preventive medicine, said, 
"There is a direct link to declining resources and increases in TB 
cases.  In Ohio, we have  the opportunity to avoid the epidemic increase 
the others are  experiencing."  Ohio uses a $350,000 federal grant for 
TB  tracking, education, and for four nurse outreach workers who  manage 
all the TB patients and guarantee that those patients take their 
medications, said Hurst.  However, he projects that it will cost as much 
as $1.5 million to attack Ohio's TB problem. 
======================================================================= 
"Senate Committee Approves Family Leave, NIH Reauthorization" United 
Press International (01/27/93)
     Washington--The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee has  
approved the National Institutes of Health reauthorization bill.  The 
legislation was vetoed by former President Bush because it  allowed the 
use of fetal tissue in medical research.  But  President Clinton, by 
executive order, has already approved the  use of fetal tissue for such 
research.  The bill supports women's health research, funds cancer and 
heart research, provides  support for fighting AIDS, and guarantees 
freedom of medical  research. 
======================================================================= 
"Data, Doubts Emerge From D.C. TB Tests" Washington Post (01/26/93), P. 
D1  (Goldstein, Amy)
     One homeless resident out of four in Washington, D.C., is  believed 
to have been exposed to tuberculosis, according to  District health 
officials.  However, advocates for the homeless  claim that the 
aggressive testing of more than 1,200 residents at homeless shelters 
does not accurately portray the dimensions of  the public health threat.  
D.C. Public Health Commissioner  Mohammad Akhter said that two weeks 
after the campaign began,  which is the first systematic attempt by any 
large American city  to detect and treat TB among the homeless, only 
half of the 248  people who have tested positive for exposure to the 
disease have  gotten the chest X-rays necessary to confirm whether they 
have  active cases.  Operators of the 15 shelters and other advocates  
for the homeless said they are unsure how the city expects to  track 
down those exposed people, or how it plans to find more  than 200 other 
homeless people who were given TB skin tests but  never returned to a 
shelter to learn the results.  Akhter  conceded that the health-care 
workers, in planning the effort,  had not been sensitive enough to 
clients.  They failed to plan  ahead for some people who would be 
afraid--and refuse--to board  vans to get X-rays at hospitals.  City 
health officials plan to  reach as many as 5,000 men and women in all 43 
shelters.  New  statistics show that 25 percent of the 983 shelter 
residents  whose test results have been read so far are infected with 
TB.   Among those who tested positive, 129 have gotten X-rays, which  
show only three men have active cases and thus are contagious.   Janelle 
Goetcheus, medical director of Health Care for the  Homeless, a 
nonprofit group, said that the low infection rate  reported may reflect 
problems in the tests. 
======================================================================= 
"AIDS Czar Issue: Report to President or Report to HHS?" AIDS Treatment 
News (01/15/93) No. 167, P. 6
     ACT-UP/New York started a letter writing effort after reports  
revealed that Donna Shalala, the new Secretary of Health and  Human 
Services (HHS) wants the new "AIDS czar" promised by  Clinton to report 
to her, rather than directly to the president.  Many believe that such a 
position should report directly to the  president because there are many 
facets involved in the AIDS  epidemic other than just those of the HHS.  
A quote from the  ACT-UP/New York letter read, "The rationale for the 
position  requires the immediate attention and direct access to the  
president, with special powers to coordinate, across all  governmental 
agencies and branches, the federal government's  response to AIDS.  It 
also requires the full commitment of the  president to use his office as 
a 'bully pulpit,' to ensure a  timely response to AIDS."  United for 
AIDS Action has also joined the campaign to have an AIDS czar in the 
Clinton administration. 
======================================================================= 
"National Institutes of Health: Top AIDS Official to Leave" Science 
(01/15/93) Vol. 259, No. 5093, P. 303  (Cohen, Jon)
     Daniel Hoth, head of the AIDS unit at the National Institutes of  
Health (NIH), has announced that he will soon resign after  serving 5 
years with the unit.  Hoth told his staff and superiors at the Division 
of AIDS (DAIDS), a branch of the National  Institute of Allergy and 
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), that he  feels he has achieved what he set 
out to do at NIH.  Hoth, an  oncologist, came to DAIDS from the National 
Cancer Institute in  1987.  Since his arrival, the DAIDS staff has 
increased from 24  to 135 and the budget has tripled to $325 million.  
Moreover,  Hoth's unit monitors more than 35 percent of the entire NIH 
AIDS  budget.  Many fellow researchers commend Hoth for expanding the  
AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), a nationwide network of  researchers 
who test new treatments.  Hoth has also held a  primary role in the 
decision to enhance the NIH's AIDS vaccine  effort, both in the United 
States and abroad.  However, Hoth has  been widely criticized by AIDS 
activists.  They say he allowed  the ACTG to concentrate too much 
attention on AZT while ignoring  other encouraging treatments.  
Activists have also accused DAIDS  of footdragging, of not involving 
women and children in trials,  and of ignoring the regions hardest hit 
by the epidemic.  Derek  Hodel of the Washington-based AIDS Action 
Council said, "Hoth  presided over a tremendous and very painful growth 
period in  DAIDS.  Now we have the chance to solidify and address the  
problems with the organization we've identified." 
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids