From: Billi Goldberg <bigoldberg@igc.apc.org>
Subject: CDC Summary 8/17/92
Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed.
Archive-Number: 5932
Organization: unspecified
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 23:25:21 PDT

                         AIDS Daily Summary
                           August 17, 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 
************************************************************************
 "Review of Mystery Syndrome Leaves AIDS Experts Skeptical" Washington 
Post (08/15/92), P. A2  (Gladwell, Malcolm)
     A group of top AIDS experts who gathered at the Centers for  
Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday expressed skepticism  over 
recent reports of a virus that causes AIDS-like symptoms  with no 
detectable trace of HIV infection.  At the CDC  conference, two panels 
of the nation's leading AIDS researchers  analyzed scientific data from 
four laboratories alleging to have  proof of a new virus, in addition to 
case histories of dozens of  patients who experienced the same immune 
system depletion as AIDS patients, but who are not HIV-positive.  The 
panel members stated that the reports showed the existence of a non-HIV 
AIDS-like  condition.  However, few members felt there was any proof 
that  the syndrome was anything new, that it was growing, infectious, a 
threat to public health, caused by a virus, or even that there  was a 
single explanation for the cases.   Anthony Fauci, head of  the National 
Institutes of Health's AIDS effort, said, "There's  nothing definitive 
about what we've heard today.  We need to  repeat the work done before.  
We've got to find new patients,  we've got to look for new viruses, and 
we've got to keep an open  mind."  Other panel members said the media's 
representation of  the AIDS-like condition led to undue public fear.  
Related  Stories: Wall Street Journal (08/17) P. B6; New York Times  
(08/15) P. 5; Los Angeles Times (08/16) P. A1; Los Angeles  Times--
Washington Edition (08/17) P. A9 

"Around the Nation: Deadly Tainted Blood" Washington Post (08/17/92), P. 
A6
     A member of the Mafia has contracted HIV from an infected fellow  
gangster.  Gregory Scarpa Sr., a leader of the Colombo crime  family, 
became infected with HIV after receiving a blood  transfusion from a 
member of his crime group.  The transfusion  occurred when Scarpa was 
hospitalized for an emergency hernia  operation in 1986 at Victory 
Memorial Hospital in New York.   Inside sources claim that Scarpa 
contracted the virus after he  and his family rejected pre-screened 
blood from the hospital  blood bank.  Instead, he took blood from 
friends and relatives.   Of those who donated blood was Paul Mele, a 
Scarpa associate who  was already infected but probably was unaware of 
it, the sources  said.  The sources added that Mele has died of AIDS.  
Scarpa is  suing Victory Memorial Hospital for negligence and 
malpractice.   In addition, Scarpa charged the surgeon with botching the  
operation and neglecting to prevent the use of contaminated blood.

"French Insurer Drops its Decision to Suspend Policies in AIDS Case" 
Wall Street Journal (08/17/92), P. B4B
     Reversing an earlier decision, Union des Assurances de Paris  (UAP) 
threw out plans to suspend until further study the policies of 25 
regional French blood transfusion centers accused of  knowingly allowing 
the use of AIDS-tainted blood.  Last Friday,  the country's largest 
insurer said its previous decision to  suspend the centers' policies 
"had neither the purpose nor the  consequence of impeding the 
compensation of the victims."  In the related case, former director of 
France's National Blood  Transfusion Center, Michel Garretta, and three 
of his associates, allegedly permitted the sale of AIDS-contaminated 
blood in 1985,  after becoming aware of the contamination.  The trial 
unearthed a letter sent to the blood transfusion centers by Garretta in 
June  1985, warning the centers to review their insurance policies "to  
adapt them to the greater risks linked to the transfusions."   According 
to a UAP spokesman, the letter was concealed from UAP  and "therefore 
the contracts are null and void, in our opinion."  Coverage to the 
transfusions centers in the event that a customer sued for receiving 
contaminated or inappropriate blood is  normally supplied by UAP and 
other insurers. 

"Ashe Getting Support for AIDS Foundation" New York Times (08/17/92), P. 
C2  (Wallace, William N.)
     The Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, founded by Arthur Ashe, is 
gaining increased support from a variety of tennis players and  
organizations.  The foundation pledges to raise $15 million in 15 
months, starting Aug. 30 with a one-day tournament at the  National 
Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.  Andre Agassi, Jim  Courier, John 
McEnroe, Pete Sempras, Mary Joe Fernandez, Steffi  Graf, and Aranxta 
Sanchez Vicario, are among those participating. Supporting Ashe's 
foundation are the United States Tennis  Association, the ATP Tour, the 
International Tennis Federation,  the Grand Slam Committee, the Women's 
Tennis Association, and the Women's International Professional Tennis 
Council.  "I have  pledged my efforts to help find a way to end the AIDS 
epidemic.   I applaud the world of professional tennis for doing the 
same," said Ashe. 

"TV Stars Bringing HIV Facts to Teen-Agers" Los Angeles Times--
Washington Edition (08/17/92), P.B8 (Bernstein, Sharon)
     A syndicated program called "Understanding HIV: Does Teen America 
Know the Facts?" will air Aug. 29 and will feature many of  television's 
most renowned teenagers.  The program will include  Chad Lowe, who plays 
an HIV-positive teenager on the ABC series  "Life Goes On," Ian Ziering 
and Gabrielle Careris of Fox's  "Beverly Hills 90210," and Tempestt 
Bledsoe from NBC's "The Cosby Show."  The program will be shown on 170 
stations affiliated with all four broadcast networks, in addition to  
independents--preempting network shows to air in prime time in  many 
cities.  The show will involve music and fast-paced editing, with the 
idea that teens will listen most to other young people,  said the show's 
director Richard Saiz.  "Understanding HIV" will  show interviews with 
four HIV-infected teenagers, who encourage  teen viewers to use safe sex 
practices.  It also involves  questions from teens nationwide, who were 
interviewed by local  stations participating in the program.  Saiz said, 
"What's  important is not just getting the message out, but changing  
[teens'] lifestyle."  Many advertising companies who have  rejected 
sponsoring the program have said that they do not want  to be associated 
with encouraging promiscuity or homosexuality,  said Bob Horowitz, vice 
president and general manager of the  special's production company, GGP. 

"AIDS Test" New York Times (08/16/92), P. 9-1  (Schmalz, Jeffrey)
     Mary Fisher, the HIV-positive daughter of a well-known  Republican, 
will address the Republican National Convention on  Wednesday, and is 
expected to speak about AIDS and how she is  infected with HIV.  Fisher 
founded the Family AIDS Network, which serves as a referral service that 
channels volunteers to where  they might work best or contribute money.  
However, it has not  been easy for Fisher to serve in AIDS groups or in 
Republican  politics, because neither group is totally comfortable with 
her.  She saw Bob Hattoy and Elizabeth Glaser speak at the Democratic  
National Convention last month and said, "It's something I feel I have 
to do.  It's my mission, my contribution to the fight  against AIDS."  
Republican officials were more or less compelled  to allow her to speak 
at the convention, partly because of the  political clout her father, 
Max Fisher, carries as a Detroit  real-estate investor and top 
contributor and fund-raiser for the  party.  A draft of Fisher's speech, 
however, had to faxed back  and forth to the convention site in Houston 
for review changes  and counterchanges.  Fisher contracted the virus 
from her former  husband who had reportedly abused drugs.  She revealed 
her  condition in February. 

"Council Condom Plan Ruled Illegal" United Press International 
(08/17/92)
     Boston--A proposed law by the City Council to mandate that bars  
and restaurants install condom vending machines as a means to  curb the 
spread of HIV has been ruled illegal by a legal advisor  to Mayor 
Raymond Flynn.  City corporation counsel Albert Wallis  recommended to 
Flynn in a letter dated Aug. 14 that the proposed  law was illegal 
because there was no association shown between  AIDS and activities at 
the approximately 800 establishments that  would be involved.  The 
ordinance, approved 8-4 by the council on Aug. 5, would call for the 
installation of the machines in  businesses licensed through the Mayor's 
Office of Consumer  Affairs and Licensing.  AIDS activists said they 
were  disappointed by the illegal ruling and contended that the mayor  
had the authority to circumvent the law.  They said that Flynn  could 
issue an executive order that would have the same effect as the proposed 
ordinance.  The proposed statute is similar to one  approved by the City 
of Cambridge, Mass., where machines provide  condoms in bars, 
restaurants, hotels, theaters, and all public  buildings.  Businesses 
are allowed to request exemption from the  ordinance.  Wallis, however, 
said that such an ordinance would be an illegal intrusion on the 
authority of the mayor's office. 

"Increase Incidence of Hodgkin's Disease in HIV-Infected Men" United 
Press International (08/15/92)
     San Francisco--While Hodgkin's disease has been linked with  immune 
system depletion for years, recent research has found for  the first 
time that HIV-positive individuals run a much higher  risk of developing 
the condition.  The study, conducted at San  Francisco's Public Health 
Department, was part of an ongoing  health survey of 6,704 homosexual 
men.  It found that  HIV-positive homosexuals are five times more likely 
to develop  Hodgkin's disease than those who are HIV-negative.  "To be  
cautious one would want other studies done on the connection  between 
being HIV-positive and Hodgkin's disease, but hopefully  this study will 
make the CDC (Centers for Disease Control)  re-think its policy 
regarding cancer and HIV," said Nancy Hessol, a public health 
epidemiologist who heads the study.  Although  Hessol and her colleagues 
thought they might find a connection  between the two conditions, they 
were unprepared for the size of  the risk.  The excess risk attributed 
to HIV-infection was 19.3  cases per 100,000 person-years and 224.9 
cases of non-Hodgkin  lymphoma per 100,000 person-years.  Hessol said, 
"Hodgkin's is a  relatively rare disease so we expected to see one or 
two cases,  not eight cases.  That is alarming." 

"The Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Infection" New England Journal of 
Medicine (08/06/92) Vol. 327, No. 6,  P. 419  (Dodd, Roger Y.)
     The safety of the blood supply is ensured through four key  
measures, writes Roger Y. Dodd of the American Red Cross.  First, blood 
transfusions should be done only when physiologically  necessary and 
should be limited through the use of autologous  transfusion, 
interoperative blood salvage, and other methods.   Second, safe donors 
must be selected.  Third, laboratory testing  should be, as it is, 
sufficiently thorough to identify virtually  all infected donations.  
And fourth, plasma should be regularly  subjected to viral-inactivation 
procedures.  there are few  estimates of the risk of transfusion-
transmitted infection, but  estimates of the risk of HIV infection range 
from 1 infection per 40,000 units to 1 per 225,000 units.  The estimates 
of infection  from other agents vary similarly.  However, very few 
infections  from transfused agents other than HIV result in death or 
disease. Factoring in all transfusion-transmitted infections, Dodd  
estimates that 3 in 10,000 blood recipients contract a serious or fatal 
transfusion-transmitted disease.  A recent study of  hospitalized 
patients, by contrast, found that 6 in 1,000 die  from accidental or 
preventable causes unrelated to the disease  that caused 
hospitalization.  Completely safe blood may never be  possible, and work 
toward this end may be better focused  elsewhere.  The medical 
community, Dodd concludes, must accept  this fact and communicate it to 
the public. 

"Advance Directives" Focus (08/92) Vol. 7, No. 8, P. 5  (Hunt, Susan)
     The Patient Self-Determination Act allows patients at hospitals  
and nursing homes to refuse medical care and to establish  advanced 
directives which patients can use to establish  beforehand what kinds of 
medical treatment they are willing to  accept.  The law also requires 
hospitals to inform patients of  these rights.  The advanced directive, 
known as the living will,  can be broad or precise in scope, either 
delineating a range of  general medical procedures to be accepted or 
refused, or  establishing an exact list of specific procedures that are 
either allowed or not allowed.  Living wills also allow patients to  
designate other people to make health care decisions for them  should 
they become too incapacitated to do so.  AIDs patients  should discuss 
living wills with their doctors before they begin  showing serious 
symptoms.  Patients may establish in living wills the extent to which 
they want to be sustained on life support  systems.  Living wills can 
also help ensure the wishes of  patients who wish to die at home or who 
desire adequate amounts  of pain medication.  Many of the decisions 
expressed in living  wills are troubling and difficult and patients 
should allow  themselves sufficient time to consult with doctors on 
these issues. 
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