From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: AID Epidemic **UPDATES**
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:22:07 GMT


[See bottom for address for health mailing-list]

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			  C O N T E N T S :
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"High HIV Rate Found in Women in Florida District" Wall Street Journal
(12/10/92), P. B6  (Chase, Marilyn)
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"TB's Return" Time (12/21/92) Vol. 140, No. 25, P. 25
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"BOMBAY--EPICENTER OF DISASTER" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition
(12/08/92), P. A4 (Drogin, Bob)
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"In the Nation: Experts Put AIDS Cost at $15 Billion by '95" Baltimore Sun
(12/15/92), P. 8A
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 "Program in Africa Curbs Spread of AIDS" Baltimore Sun (12/16/92), P.  8A
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"HETEROSEXUALLY TRANSMITTED Human Immunodeficiency Virus  Infection Among
Pregnant Women in a Rural Florida Community" New England Journal of Medicine
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"Patient's Failure to Tell of AIDS Is Going on Trial as Fraud  Suit" Wall
Street Journal (12/07/92), P. B6  (Lambert, Wade)
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"Potassium Hazard Seen in AIDS Drug" Science News (12/05/92) Vol. 142, No. 23,
P. 398
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"Britain--AIDS Virus" Associated Press (12/11/92)  (Epstein, Randi Hutter)
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 "Simian Tests Raise AIDS-Vaccine Hope" New York Times (12/18/92), P.  A30
(Altman, Lawrence K.)
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Health InfoCom Network News                                            Page 34
Volume  5, Number  6                                         December 20, 1992
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                         AIDS Daily Summary

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

******************************************************************

"High HIV Rate Found in Women in Florida District" Wall Street Journal
(12/10/92), P. B6  (Chase, Marilyn)

     A total of one out of every 20 pregnant women in a prenatal  clinic in
rural Florida tested positive for HIV, producing an  alarmingly high infection
rate that researchers believed stemmed  from heterosexual transmission.  The
study is published in this  week's issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine and was  conducted by Ted Ellerbrock of the  Centers for Disease
Control,  John Witte of the Florida State Department of Health, and their
colleagues.  The report emphasizes that growing numbers of AIDS  patients are
women, especially young minority women.
******************************************************************

"TB's Return" Time (12/21/92) Vol. 140, No. 25, P. 25

     Due to the combination of the AIDS epidemic and breakdowns in public
health services, the rate of tuberculosis has escalated 25 percent since 1984,
when 22,000 cases were reported in the United States.  Physicians from the
American Lung Association and the  Centers for Disease Control now suggest a
series of more  aggressive countermeasures to thwart a general outbreak of TB,
some new strains of which are particularly virulent.  They advise more
extensive screening for TB infection among high-risk groups, including
children, hospital patients, and the homeless.  Since  people with depleted
immune systems are especially vulnerable to  TB, the physicians also recommend
that anyone who lives in close  contact with a TB patient should also be
tested for HIV  infection.  And as a last resort, the health experts recommend
mandatory quarantine for those TB patients who neglect to  routinely take
their treatment and, consequently, are a threat to their fellow citizens.

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"Bombay--Epicenter of Disaster" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition
(12/08/92), P. A4 (Drogin, Bob)

     The AIDS case rate in India is rapidly increasing dramatically, and could
establish Bombay as the worldwide epicenter for the deadly disease.  Due to
widespread prostitution, IV-drug use, and contaminated blood supplies, India
has developed an AIDS epidemic that is virtually out of control, according to
Dr. I.S. Gilada of the Indian Health Organization.  At least 35 percent of
Bombay's prostitutes are HIV-positive, said the World Health Organization.
That is up from 3 percent in 1988.  Currently, India has confirmed 10,730 HIV
infections and 238 full-blown cases of AIDS. However, experts say that a far
greater number of cases are misdiagnosed and unreported.  WHO and Indian
officials publicly predict that 500,000 to 1 million Indians are HIV-positive
and some experts put the figure much higher.

Also, the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific
reported last month that at least 3 million Indians will be
HIV-positive and 179,000 will have AIDS by 1996.  By the end of the
decade the number will more than double.  In India, the first AIDS
case was not reported until 1986, whereas in Africa the disease was
found in the early 1980s.  But an ambitious $100 million, five-year
effort to fight AIDS in the country is just starting.  The plan is to
develop a network of 1,000 centers across the country over five years
to detect and treat AIDS patients, and to thwart the spread of the
disease through coordinated public education, health care, and blood
screening programs.

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"In the Nation: Experts Put AIDS Cost at $15 Billion by '95" Baltimore Sun
(12/15/92), P. 8A

     The cost of treating HIV-positive Americans could increase about  48
percent, to $15.2 billion a year, by 1995, health experts told a Senate panel
yesterday.  Fred Hellinger, a financing specialist with the U.S. Public Health
Service, said, "The widespread use of expensive drugs has contributed to the
high costs of treating  persons with HIV."  Approximately a million Americans
are  infected with HIV and 250,000 have been diagnosed with AIDS.   Among
those AIDS patients, 160,000 have died.  Hellinger said  that the number of
newly diagnosed AIDS patients could reach  97,000 by 1995.

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 "Program in Africa Curbs Spread of AIDS" Baltimore Sun (12/16/92), P.  8A

     Health-care workers in Rwanda are controlling the heterosexual  spread of
HIV by targeting young women with education and testing programs.  The effort
could serve as a model for U.S. inner  cities.  Rwanda has one of the world's
highest rates of AIDS.   According to researchers from the University of
California--San  Francisco, nine out of ten deaths are caused by AIDS, and
almost  one third of urban adults are HIV-positive.  In the study  published
in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers
examined 1,458 women ages 20 to 40 who enrolled  in  a prevention program in
1988 in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.  The program offered confidential HIV
testing, viewing of a  35-minute educational video, and group discussions
afterward.   All of the subjects received regular physician examinations,
condoms and spermicides, and invitations for male partners to be  tested and
counseled.  As a result, condom use rose from 7  percent to 22 percent in one
year among all of the women's  partners.

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"Heterosexually Transmitted Human Immunodeficiency Virus  Infection Among
Pregnant Women in a Rural Florida Community" New England Journal of Medicine
(12/10/92) Vol. 327, No. 24,  P. 1704  (Ellerbrock, Tedd V.  et al.)

     An alarmingly high rate of HIV that most likely resulted from
heterosexual transmission was found among several pregnant women  in a rural
Florida community, write Tedd V. Ellerbrock et al. of  the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta, Ga.  The researchers  interviewed and tested 1,082 of
1,084 consecutive pregnant women  who registered for prenatal care at a public
health clinic in  western Palm Beach County, Fla.  The rate of HIV infection
was  5.1 percent (52 of 1,011 women).  Black women who were neither  Haitian
nor Hispanic had the highest rate of infection.  Only 4  of 1,009 women (0.4
percent) reported ever injecting drugs, and  all 4 were HIV-negative.  But 14
of 43 users of "crack" cocaine  (33 percent) had HIV infection.  A total of
131 of 983 women (13  percent) tested positive for gonorrhea, chlamydial
infection, or  syphilis at prenatal registration.  Mulivariate  logistic-
regression analysis found HIV infection to be  independently associated with
having used crack cocaine, having  had more than two sexual partners, being
black but neither  Hispanic nor Haitian, having had sexual intercourse with a
high-risk partner, and testing positive for syphilis.  But 11 of  the 52 HIV-
positive women (21 percent) reported a total of only  two to five sexual
partners and no known high-risk partners, had  never used crack cocaine, and
had no positive tests for sexually  transmitted diseases.  The increasing rate
of HIV and the  increasing prevalence of syphilis and use of crack cocaine
indicate that other women may be at similar risk of contracting
heterosexually transmitted HIV, the researchers conclude.

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"Patient's Failure to Tell of AIDS Is Going on Trial as Fraud  Suit" Wall
Street Journal (12/07/92), P. B6  (Lambert, Wade)

     A lawsuit that could change the way health-care workers care for  AIDS
patients is scheduled to begin today in state court in Los  Angeles, Calif.
The lawsuit involves a surgical technician who  has accused a patient of fraud
for not revealing that she had  AIDS before the technician was nicked by a
scalpel that had been  exposed to the patient's HIV-positive blood.  While in
recent  years public attention has focused on whether health-care workers must
disclose their HIV-status to patients, this case is  apparently the first to
argue that patients have a duty to inform their doctors and nurses.

******************************************************************

"Potassium Hazard Seen in AIDS Drug" Science News (12/05/92) Vol. 142, No. 23,
P. 398

     A certain AIDS drug used to treat pneumocystis carinii pneumonia  can
also elevate potassium in the blood, creating a condition  called
hyperkalemia.  The drug trimethoprim (TMP) has caused as  many as 53 percent
of hospitalized AIDS patients to develop mild  to moderate hyperkalemia.
Michael J. Choi, Thomas R. Kleyman,  and Pedro C.  Fernandez of the Veterans
Administration Medical  Center in Philadelphia report that they have
discovered the  cellular mechanism that causes this side effect.  In addition,
they have observed an AIDS patient treated with TMP whose  hyperkalemia
reached the point of "medical emergency," said Choi. He suggests that this
case should make physicians aware of the  possible life-threatening
consequences of using massive doses of  TMP to treat pneumocystis carinii
pneumonia.  In general, TMP  does not elevate potassium concentrations to
harmful levels.   However, a large number of AIDS patients already experience
hyperkalemia caused by kidney failure or hormone deficiencies.   For such
patients, treatment with TMP could increase the  potassium in their blood to
dangerous levels, causing heart cells to fire erratically and even bringing on
cardiac arrhythmia, said Choi.

******************************************************************

"Britain--AIDS Virus" Associated Press (12/11/92)  (Epstein, Randi Hutter)

     London--HIV can hide inside pre-ejaculatory fluid in men, as  well as
infecting semen, according to two studies of HIV-positive men  published in
the Dec. 12 Lancet.  Dr. Peter Schlegel, co-author  of one of the studies and
associate professor of urology at New  York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center,
said, "Many men believe  oral sex without ejaculation is completely safe.
That is clearly not the case based on the potential infectivity of this
fluid."   The second study was conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical
School and Boston University's School of Public Health.  Both  studies do not
suggest the risk of contracting HIV by contact  with pre-ejaculatory fluid.
But author of the second study Dr.  Jeffrey Pudney of Harvard urged additional
research.   Pre-ejaculatory fluid "is produced during sexual stimulation
before intercourse, so placing a condom on the penis earlier may  be important

Health InfoCom Network News                                            Page 39
Volume  5, Number  6                                         December 20, 1992

to prevent contact with this fluid, not just at the  time of intercourse,"
said Schlegel.  He added, "We're not  talking about a lot of fluid, but a
small amount of it may be  important."  The Cornell researchers investigated
pre-ejaculatory fluid from 14 men with AIDS and two men without the virus.
They  discovered HIV and white blood cells in the fluid of six of the  14 men
with AIDS.  Neither was present in the two HIV-negative  men.  Pudney examined
12 samples of pre-ejaculatory fluid from  nine men with HIV and 11 samples
from six uninfected men.  His  team discovered HIV in pre-ejaculatory fluid
from six of nine  infected men but not in any samples from the uninfected men
used  as controls.


******************************************************************

 "Simian Tests Raise AIDS-Vaccine Hope" New York Times (12/18/92), P.  A30
(Altman, Lawrence K.)

     An experimental vaccine has completely protected six rhesus monkeys
against the simian form of HIV infection for more than three years, making it
the strongest and longest lasting of any AIDS-related vaccine, according to a
report published in today's issue of Science.  The research was led by Dr.
Ronald C. Desrosiers of the New England Regional Primate Research Center in
Southborough, Mass.  Federal health officials who funded the experiments
considered the finding "a significant advance" in the search for a human
vaccine to protect against HIV.  The monkey vaccine contains live simian
immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the virus that causes an AIDS-like disease in
monkeys, from which a key gene was removed.  The research involved the
deletion of a gene known as nef from SIV and then injecting the virus in the
monkeys.  The function of the nef gene is unknown.  When nef-deleted SIV is
used in test tube experiments, the virus reproduces and harms cells.  But
Desrosiers said he was surprised to find that injection of the nef-deleted SIV
did not harm the monkeys.  The research led him to question whether nef-
deleted SIV could be used as a vaccine.  He began the research by injecting
nef-deleted SIV into six monkeys who stayed healthy after two and a quarter
years.  Dr. Desrosiers said that the new findings could lead to the first
safety tests of such a vaccine on human volunteers in two years.  Dr. Anthony
S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, said scientists at his institute are "extremely enthusiastic about
the possibilities" of Dr. Desrosiers' findings.  Related Stories: Washington
Post (12/18) P. A1; USA Today (12/18) P. 1A; Philadelphia Inquirer (12/18) P.
A1; Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (12/18) P. A1; Baltimore Sun (12/18)
P. 1A; Washington Times (12/18) P. A8

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