Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 09:23:23 -0500 From: "JOHN FANNING, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary December 29, 1994 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, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "AIDS Pulls Together the Young and Old in Ugandan Villages" "Famed Scientist Considering UM" "Methadone Recommendations" "When Hope Falters, Balm for the Soul" "Models Put 'New Face' on HIV" "Dwayne Brown, Active in AIDS Work, Dies at 31" "Protein Design Labs Names Jon Saxe President; Laurence Korn Will Remain CEO and Chairperson" "Haven Returns Smiles to Small Victims" "Patient-to-Patient HIV Transmission Trial" "Untold History: Activism and Growth Hormone" ************************************************************ "AIDS Pulls Together the Young and Old in Ugandan Villages" Wall Street Journal (12/29/94) P. A1; Carrington, Tim In Uganda, AIDS is causing a massive shift in parenting duties to grandmothers. Many grandmothers are left to care for their grandchildren who are orphaned by AIDS. One 83-year-old woman, for example, cares for three children under the age of 16 and looks out for another four grandchildren who live nearby. The Christian Children's Fund has helped her expand her house and pays school fees for the children living there. In the Rakai district, approximately one-third of all orphans are being raised by grandparents. Many of the orphans end up on the streets and some turn to prostitution to survive. "Their parents having died because of AIDS, these children will also likely die of AIDS," said Wafutseyoh El-Wambi, who works with orphans in Kampala through the local Friends of Children Association. One in five adult Ugandans is affected by HIV or AIDS. "Famed Scientist Considering UM" Baltimore Sun (12/29/94) P. 1B; Bor, Jonathan Considered one of the world's leading AIDS researchers, Dr. Robert C. Gallo said Wednesday that he is exploring the possibility of leaving the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md., and setting up a virology laboratory at a university, possibly at the University of Maryland (UM). Gallo, who has been at the NCI for 30 years, said he has not entered into formal negotiations with any institution, but is talking with academic leaders in several cities, including Baltimore. UM is rapidly expanding its physical plant and research scope in a bid to move into the forefront of biotechnology and the life sciences. The university is also developing a $50 million Medical Biotechnology Center where researchers and "biotech" companies will try to translate scientific discoveries into new treatments. If Gallo decided to move to UM, he would probably set up a laboratory at the new center, which will contain 70 laboratories. Gallo said he wanted to devote more time to teaching and patient care while at the same time continuing his AIDS research. "Methadone Recommendations" Washington Post (12/29/94) P. A23 A panel of experts from the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has recommended that the government relax restrictions on the heroin substitute methadone because it reduces drug abuse, AIDS, and crime. The FDA-approved chemical is used to wean addicts from heroin. The government, however, has restricted methadone's use to specially licensed doctors in special clinics out of fear that methadone, also an opiate, would be abused. Individual states have added their own restrictions--some have even banned the chemical. In a report released last week, the panel concluded that methadone significantly reduced heroin use and related crime and HIV infection caused by infected needles. The panel urged the Department of Health and Human Services to relax methadone restrictions and require states to follow the same rules. "When Hope Falters, Balm for the Soul" New York Times (12/29/94) P. C1; Raver, Anne There is an increasing movement among landscape architects, nurses, environmental psychologists, patients, and families to return nature to the lives of patients. Gardens are appearing in hospitals, hospices, and residences for the elderly throughout the country. "Wherever medicine has no magic--for AIDS or cancer or mental illness--gardens reappear. When we think science can do it all, they disappear," says Dr. Sam Bass Warner, an urban historian at Brandeis University. While no one claims that gardens can cure cancer or AIDS, social scientists in the past decade have begun to try to measure the effects of nature on an anxious mind. One study, in which half of the patients looked out on trees and sky and half faced bricks, found that those with views of nature had shorter stays, took fewer painkillers, and complained less to nurses. The Tamarand Foundation, a nonprofit group in New York dedicated to making life better for AIDS patients, built a garden on a terrace off an AIDS unit at Terence Cardinal Cook Hospital. The designer of the garden, David Kamp, emphasized the sound of trickling water and wind chimes as well as the fragrance of herbs because hearing and smell are the two senses least affected by AIDS. "Models Put 'New Face' on HIV" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (12/29/94) P. B11; Howlett, Susan Rebekka Armstrong is one of 40 models with HIV or AIDS working in the Proof Positive Division of the Morgan Agency in Costa Mesa, Calif. They hope their healthy appearance will spread a message about HIV. "There are so many people out there living with the disease and they don't fill a certain stereotype," says Morgan Agency president Keith Lewis. Proof Positive, which began searching for HIV-infected models one year ago, is now the fastest growing division of the agency. Proof Positive was started in response to an increasing demand for HIV-positive models to promote products such as the nutritional supplement, Advera. A recent national ad for Advera using a Proof Positive model, however, has met with controversy. Critics say it exploits and incites fear among HIV-infected patients. "The advertising gives the impression that every HIV-positive person needs to be taking supplements...But most patients don't need Advera if they eat balanced meals," says Dr. John Stansell, medical director of San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS Clinic. Proof Positive generates 10 percent of the 466-client talent and modeling agency's business. "Dwayne Brown, Active in AIDS Work, Dies at 31" Washington Post (12/29/94) P. B4 Dwayne Stewart Brown, an AIDS activist who was coordinated volunteer services for Spectrum Inc., a Washington, D.C., HIV/AIDS educational organization, died on Tuesday from AIDS at age 31. Brown's other AIDS-related work included service as a board member of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, work as a peer counselor with the Inner City AIDS Network, and service as a member of the People With AIDS Committee of the Ryan White Planning Council. He is survived by his mother, stepfather, and a sister. "Protein Design Labs Names Jon Saxe President; Laurence Korn Will Remain CEO and Chairperson" PR Newswire (12/28/94) Jon S. Saxe has been named President of Protein Design Labs, Inc. (PDL), whose Human Anti-CMV Antibody has completed Phase I or Phase I/II trials for CMV retinitis in AIDS patients and for other CMV infections. Saxe will report to Dr. Laurence Jay Korn, who is currently President, CEO, and Chairperson of the Board of Directors. Korn will remain CEO and Chairperson. "Jon has made numerous contributions to PDL as a director and consultant to the Company, particularly in developing productive relationships with our Japanese and European pharmaceutical partners," said Korn. While directing licensing and corporate development at Hoffmann-La Roche, Saxe helped create relationships between Roche and many other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Glaxo Inc. "Haven Returns Smiles to Small Victims" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/27/94) P. 1B; Todd, Cynthia In March 1993, Scott and Kathleen Hummel opened Our Little Haven in St. Louis to care for drug-exposed and HIV-infected babies. It is the only local agency that is specifically devoted to HIV-infected and drug-exposed children. The Hummels were inspired by the work of Clara Hale, who started caring for babies of drug-addicted mothers in 1969. With a staff of 21, 130 volunteers, and a $400,000 budget, Our Little Haven cares for 12 children who range in age from infancy to 5. While a portion of the money comes from the state of Missouri, the rest comes from contributions. Children can remain at the home until the state returns them to their families or places them with foster parents or adoptive families. "Patient-to-Patient HIV Transmission Trial" Lancet (12/17/94) Vol. 344, No. 8938, P. 1695; Ragg, Mark A surgeon in Sydney, Australia, was recently found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct after the apparent HIV infection of four people who attended his surgery in November 1989. The New South Wales Medical Tribunal said that Dr. Todd Davis was responsible for the infection of four women who had minor procedures performed in his surgery on the same day as a man who later died of AIDS. The man was not known to be HIV-infected at the time. Despite its finding, the tribunal--which has the power to deregister doctors--took no action against the doctor. "The very fact that these proceedings were taken constitute severe punishment. We would propose that [Dr. Davis] be reprimanded," said Judge Hubert Bell, chairman of the tribunal. Another unusual feature of the case is that the nature of Davis' violation of professional conduct was not determined. While the prosecution favored the theory that he had used multiple-dose vials of local anesthetic, they found no evidence that Davis had used anything but single-dose vials. Davis faces civil proceedings from at least one of the infected women. "Untold History: Activism and Growth Hormone" AIDS Treatment News (12/02/94) No. 212, P. 5; James, John S. A largely untold story, "Activists Zap FDA Over Growth Hormones," by Jeff Getty of ACT UP/Golden Gate, examines recombinant human growth hormone as a treatment for wasting syndrome. The larger story it illustrates, however, is the real determinants of whether critical medicines ever get studied and whether they are ever made available to the doctors and patients who want them--even when studies have shown that they work. A major trial of human growth hormone was failing until activists determined that the exclusion criteria eliminated the people in need of the treatment. Once the criteria was relaxed, the trial filled with participants and was able to proceed. Located in Switzerland, the plant to manufacture the drug is currently under construction to increase capacity. Due to international politics, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) no longer accepts Swiss inspections and must inspect the plant itself. Because the United States does not inspect plants under construction, however, U.S. access to this drug source is on hold. Although they happen frequently, there is still no established system to deal with such problems and no one is responsible.