From: bigoldberg@igc.apc.org (Billi Goldberg)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: CDC Summary 9/3/92
Date: 3 Sep 92 14:59:58 GMT
Organization: unspecified
Note: Copyright 1992, Dan R. Greening. Non-commercial reproduction allowed.
Archive-Number: 6060


                          AIDS Daily Summary
                         September 3, 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 
************************************************************************
 "More Inclusive Definition of AIDS Sought" Washington Post (09/03/92), 
P. A4
     The Centers for Disease Control was assailed yesterday by female  
AIDS activists who said that the agency has not properly defined  the 
disease to include certain conditions common to HIV-positive  women, but 
not to men.  The CDC held a public meeting to discuss  its proposed new 
definition for AIDS yesterday in Atlanta, where  the women protested.  
The new definition would include any  patient whose count of CD4 cells 
declines to 200 per cubic  millimeter.  Many of the women who addressed 
the meeting  requested that the CDC include in the definition three 
diseases  they argue are common and lethal in HIV-positive women: 
cervical  cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, and recurrent bacterial  
pneumonia.  They added that those diseases can develop in  infected 
women whose CD4 counts are above 200.  In the current  AIDS definition, 
one is considered to have the disease when they  get any of 23 listed 
opportunistic infections.  The new  definition would be essential for 
more women and others to  qualify for disability benefits.  Federal 
officials are  proceeding with the new definition after satisfying 
themselves  that most hospitals have the equipment to perform the 
necessary  tests.  In August, the CDC issued a study demonstrating that 
90  of 94 hospitals that treated HIV-positive patients in 1990  
monitored CD4 cells.  Related Stories: New York Times (09/03) P.  A16; 
Washington Times (09/03) P. A4; Baltimore Sun (09/03) P. 3A 

"Immigration Chief Lets 3 H.I.V. Haitians Into U.S." New York Times 
(09/03/92), P. A6  (Crossette, Barbara)
     The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization has permitted  
three HIV-positive Haitians held at the United States Navy base  at 
Guantanamo, Cuba, to come to American hospitals for treatment. The 
official waived the current regulations prohibiting  foreigners with HIV 
from entering the U.S.  The decision to allow the Haitians "humanitarian 
parole" is the first violation of  rules, policies, and court decisions 
that have combined to  confine about 300 Haitians at Guantanamo because 
either they or a family member is infected with HIV.  Since last 
September's coup  that overthrew the elected Government of President 
Jean-Bertrand  Aristide, more than 37,000 Haitians were intercepted at 
sea by the Coast Guard as they fled Haiti.  More than 25 percent of them  
were able to convince immigration officials that they could face  
persecution if returned to their homeland.  The 300 or more  HIV-
positive patients were initially determined to be eligible to enter the 
U.S. to apply for asylum because they had demonstrated  a plausible fear 
of persecution in immigration interviews.   However, since these 
Haitians tested HIV-positive, they were left behind when other Haitians 
were moved to Miami to seek asylum. 

"How the Student Condom Program Will Work" Washington Post (09/03/92), 
P. D.C. 6  (Horwitz, Sari)
     Washington, D.C., city high schools will begin a condom  
availability program this year for the first time.  Parents who  object 
to the program may notify the school, and their children  will not be 
eligible for condom distribution.  According to  Public Health 
Commissioner Mohammad Akhter, nurses, who will be  distributing the 
condoms, are required to comply with parents'  requests not to give 
their children condoms, but will not betray  the confidentiality of 
students.  The program requires a general  assembly to be conducted in 
every school to make students aware  that the service will be available 
for them.  At individual grade assemblies, the nurse will be more 
explicit as to what a student  needs to do to obtain the service.  
Students can be seen in  groups or individually.  Every student must be 
counseled before  condoms can be provided, while nurses will stress 
abstinence.  A  condom demonstration will also be conducted before 
making them  available to any of the students.  All city high schools 
and four junior highs later this year will begin the condom programs.   
Every nurse involved has received extensive training about the  
epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV, the issue  of 
abstinence, and the use of condoms, spermicides, and lubricants. 

"End Notes" Washington Post (09/03/92), P. D3  (Welch, Mary Alma)
     The Canadian Cirque du Soleil will assist the Elizabeth Taylor  
AIDS Foundation in fund-raising during its 1991-93 North American tour, 
announced Taylor and Jean David, Cirque du Soleil vice president.

"Activists Clash With Israel Government Over AIDS Testing" United Press 
International (08/31/92)  (Kaunfer, Elie)
     Jerusalem--The Israeli Health Ministry has introduced mandatory  
HIV tests for all visitors to Israel who stay longer than three  months.  
The ministry has already begun limited testing at  embassies abroad, and 
insists that foreigners are the main cause  of AIDS in Israel.  But the 
Israeli AIDS Task force says the  tests are discriminatory and 
ineffective.  The task force  recommends that the government spend money 
instead on an  educational campaign to teach Israelis that AIDS is not 
confined  to homosexuals.  However, health authorities state that AIDS 
is a relatively limited problem in Israel and their funds are best  
spent on the testing program.  Dr. Moshe Mashiah, the Health  Ministry's 
director general, said, "The problem of AIDS is not  such a problem as 
it is in other countries, and we want to keep  it that way."  He added, 
"The test is very important in order to  keep the number of people with 
HIV low."  However, activists say  Israelis are only looking at the 
relatively low number of AIDS  deaths and emphasize that half the 
country's AIDS patients are  heterosexuals who don't use IV-drugs. 

"Diller, Katzenberg Join AIDS Project Board" United Press International 
(09/02/92)
     Los Angeles--Two renowned film industry figures, Barry Diller and 
Jeffrey Katzenberg, have become members of the board of AIDS  Project 
Los Angeles, announced the service group Wednesday.  In  February, 
Diller resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Inc.  
Katzenberg is currently chairman of Walt Disney  Studios.  "The board 
believes that these two men are committed to improving the lives of 
people living with AIDS and to helping  APLA achieve its mission," said 
David Wexler, chairman of the  group.  APLA receives much of its support 
for fund-raising and  awareness programs from Hollywood celebrities.  
Record mogul  David Geffen donated $1 million earlier this year for new  
Hollywood offices for APLA.  Diller has served on APLA's board of 
governors since 1990 and helped create Hollywood Supports, an  
organization designed to discourage fear and discrimination  against 
AIDS patients in the entertainment industry.  In  addition, the board 
elected Stephan Korsia, Treatment Education  Program Manager for the 
agency, as staff representative to the board. 

"News in Brief: International" Advocate (08/25/92) No. 610, P. 31
     Approximately one million people contracted HIV in the first six  
months of this year, with almost half of the infections  developing 
among women, reported the World Health Organization  (WHO).   Dr. 
Michael Merson, director of WHO's Global Programme  on AIDS, announced 
at the Eighth International Conference on AIDS in Amsterdam in July that 
half of the new AIDS cases identified  this year were in sub-Saharan 
Africa and about 25 percent were in south Asia and southeast Asia.  
Merson said, "Today, up to 80  percent of the adult hospital beds in 
some African cities are  already occupied by AIDS patients."  He added 
that "this is just  the beginning of the pandemic of AIDS.  AIDS will 
threaten the  very process of development.  Early AIDS prevention is our 
only hope." 

"News in Brief: Louisiana" Advocate (08/25/92) No. 610, P. 24
     A total of $23.3 million in state money will be allotted to  
hospitals and other groups helping to fight Louisiana's growing  AIDS 
epidemic, a state official announced July 16.  The official, Patrick 
Grusenmeyer, director of the Department of Health and  Hospital's HIV 
program office, said that most of the money would  be given to hospitals 
in New Orleans and other cities, and the  rest would be provided for 
early-intervention programs and AIDS  research.  Louisiana reported 
3,413 AIDS cases as of June 1. 

"News in Brief: Colorado" Advocate (08/25/92) No. 610, P. 25
     Due to fear of a political backlash from gays, blood banks were  
negligent about screening donors at the beginning of the AIDS  epidemic, 
a prominent AIDS doctor said July 16 in Denver.  Dr.  Marcus Conant, a 
San Francisco doctor, said blood banks did not  abide by recommendations 
made by regulatory agencies to screen  out homosexual and bisexual male 
donors in order to avoid  conflict with gays.  Conant serves as an 
expert witness in the  trial of Susie Quintana, a woman who is suing 
United Blood  Services--the nation's second largest blood bank--claiming 
that  she contracted HIV from blood supplied by the bank in May 1983.

"AIDS or Chronic Fatigue?" Newsweek (09/07/92) Vol. 20, No. 10, P. 66  
(Cowley, Geoffrey)
     Some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) resemble those  
with the recently reported "AIDS-like illness" because they  experience 
a significant loss of immune system cells and have no  trace of HIV 
infection.  The AIDS-like condition called ICL (for  idiopathic CD4+ T-
lymphocytopenia) is defined by researchers as a severe and unexplainable 
loss of CD4 cells.  The illness is  defined as someone who is free of 
HIV and other known causes of  immune deficiency and who has less than 
300 CD4 cells on two  consecutive tests.  Using that measurement, CDC 
researchers have  detected 35 cases, dating back to 1985, and started 
investigating 30 of them.  Twenty-five of the 30 patients under study 
have  experienced AIDS-defining illnesses like pneumocystis carinii  
pneumonia.  Usually when someone with HIV develops AIDS, death  usually 
follows within two years, but ICL patients have been  known to show no 
symptoms for up to seven years.  Out of all of  the ICL patients 
identified, fewer than half report HIV risk  factors and 84 percent are 
white.  Among those with AIDS, 96  percent report risk factors and 53 
percent of the patients are  white.  There is still is no evidence that 
ICL is spreading like  a viral illness because it has remained at a 
relatively steady  rate--much like CFS. 

"Why America's War on AIDS is Still a Skirmish" Business Week (09/07/92) 
No. 3282, P. 93  (Port, Otis)
     AIDS has not had the expected impact on society as originally  
predicted, according to Albert R. Jonsen, chairman of the  department of 
medical history and ethics at the University of  Washington School of 
Medicine.  Jonsen conducted research for the National Academy of 
Sciences on the Social Impact of AIDS and  found, after he examined 
everything from health care and prisons  to religion and law, that "the 
social impact has not been very  great."  Jonsen attributed the lack of 
impact to the fact that  AIDS is most prevalent among gays and in 
"marginalized,  ghettoized communities" where drug addicts and poor 
minorities  live.  The NAS report, expected for release this fall, 
documents  an overloaded health care system and a surge in volunteerism 
only in such areas.   The report's findings may explain why the  country 
has neglected to follow recommendations by the National  Commission on 
AIDS for such efforts as more explicit prevention  programs and 
additional treatment programs for drug users.  "The  impact of AIDS is 
not great enough to mobilize the kinds of  energies that those 
recommendations require," said Jonsen. 
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids