Date: Wed, 23 Feb 1994 09:33:14 -0500 (EST) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" Subject: CDC AIDS DAILY SUMMARY 02/23/94 AIDS Daily Summary February 23, 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 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD "City: AIDS Task Force Not in Danger of Closing" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/23/94) P. B3 (Collins, Huntly) Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel announced yesterday that the city was not on the verge of shutting down the AIDS Task Force of Philadelphia, despite the non-profit agency's financial straits. "I don't want people to feel that the task force is in imminent danger of closing," he said. "They do a great service to the community, and it is incumbent on the city to help them." Saidel said he was, however, still enforcing the city's ultimatum that the task force present an audit of its $1 million budget within the next four weeks. If the task force fails to do so, Saidel said he will cease payments of city and federal funding to the agency. Both Saidel and Francis J. Stoffa Jr., executive director of the task force, are confident that the organization will meet the deadline for the audit and maintain government contracts. "We have not contemplated going out of business--nor even cutting back," said Stoffa. He speculated that his agency's budget problems stem from "too many clients and not enough money." The AIDS Task Force of Philadelphia, the city's oldest AIDS organization, provides HIV testing and counseling, AIDS education, social services, and a food bank. "Dr. B. Voeller, AIDS Researcher" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/23/94) P. D10 Dr. Bruce Voeller, a leading AIDS researcher who is credited with coining the acronym for the disease, died of AIDS on Feb. 13 at age 59. Dr. Voeller decided on the term AIDS because he felt it more accurately reflected the deadly disease. He condemned the term being commonly used at the time-- GRID, for gay related immune disorder--because it stigmatized AIDS as a disease that affected only homosexuals. As a researcher, Voeller was a pioneer in the testing of spermicides for their ability to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV. "Growth of New AIDS Cases Appears to Be Slowing" Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (02/22/94) P. A9 (Immen, Wallace) Growth of new AIDS cases in Canada seems to be on the decline, according to the most recent figures from the federal Department of Health. As reported in the AIDS in Canada update published by the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, the total number of new cases in 1993 is expected to equal 2,379--an increase of 112 from the 1992 total. By contrast, the comparable increase from 1991 to 1992 was 361. "Hopefully, we're heading for a leveling off," says Dr. Donald Sutherland, chief epidemiologist at the department's health-protection branch. He credits the improvement to modified behavior in high-risk groups. "Much depends on whether young gay men continue to protect themselves," explains Sutherland. "We're starting to see a small increase among the young and a lowering among older gay men." He adds that 512 of the 716 new AIDS cases reported for 1993 so far have been attributed to homosexual and bisexual behavior. The biggest increase, however, is expected to be the incidence of AIDS among intravenous drug users. The only category that has seen a decline in the number of new cases since the late 1980s is people who were infected by contaminated blood or clotting factor. "Doctors in Peru Study Jungle Shrub as AIDS Drug" Reuters (02/22/94) (Craig, James) Lima, Peru--Doctors think the Andean jungle shrub known as una de gato has promise as an AIDS drug, but studies of the plant are being hampered by a shoestring budget of only about $925. "We use that budget basically to buy plants," says Eduardo Gotuzzo, a doctor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Cayetano Heredia University. "The rest we are doing with our own resources." In double-blind tests, Gotuzzo and colleagues are administering a purified extract of the una root to 20 HIV patients who show no symptoms of full-blown disease and are not taking any other drugs. Because patients with AIDS symptoms who take the herb die anyway, una de gato is not likely to result in a cure for the disease. However, Gotuzzo feels it may lead to a drug to fight the onset of AIDS. "I don't think this is a miracle plant," Gotuzzo concedes, "but it deserves to be studied." "Anger, Tears as Victims Tell of Blood Horror" Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (02/22/94) P. A1 (Mickleburgh, Rod) For the first time during Justice Horace Krever's investigation into Canada's blood scandal, the federal inquiry heard from people directly affected by the tragedy, in which more than a thousand Canadians were infected with HIV through the country's blood supply. Their testimony included angry and tearful tales of disbelief and discrimination. Those speaking also criticized health authorities for failing to track down and notify people who received potentially infected blood transfusions during the critical time between 1978 to 1985. All of the witnesses also criticized provincial March 15 deadlines placed on those infected by tainted blood to accept compensation packages. They wondered how they could make informed decisions about whether to accept the packages when the Krever inquiry has just begun. "Police Search for AIDS-Contaminated Blood" United Press International (02/22/94) Chicago--Chicago police are searching for a stolen car containing AIDS-contaminated blood and syringes. Police say the car's owner, a nurse, believes the vehicle was taken between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. from a parking lot across the street from EHS Home Health Care Services Inc. Locked in the trunk of the 1984 Buick was a red biohazard container holding several used syringes, as well as at least three vials of blood taken from two HIV-positive patients and one patient with full-blown AIDS. The nurse left her car to pick up some supplies. When she returned, the car was gone. "AIDS Digest: Shalala Names Members of AIDS Task Force" Washington Blade (02/11/94) Vol. 25, No. 6, P. 31 Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala, who in November announced the formation of the new National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development, recently announced the names of those appointed to the panel. The 18-member panel is headed by Assistant Secretary for Health Philip Lee, and also includes Drs. Harold Varmus and David Kessler, directors of the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, respectively. The remaining members of the task force include senior officials of several AIDS pharmaceutical companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck; prominent AIDS researchers, including Dr. Deborah Cotton and Dr. David Ho; and well-known treatment advocates like Peter Staley of the Treatment Action Group and Moises Agosto of the National Minority AIDS Council. "Resolution Urges Changes in HIV Reporting" Washington Blade (02/11/94) Vol. 25, No. 6, P. 10 (Corey, Matthew) The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments passed on resolution on Jan. 12 recommending changes in the Maryland and D.C. laws concerning HIV reporting and partner notification. Resolution R3-94 recommends that area governments pass laws requiring confidential HIV case reporting, including the names of the people tested. The proposal also suggests that health departments develop systems that would guarantee confidentiality and rights of HIV/AIDS patients and their partners. Finally, the resolution recommends continued community-based efforts to conduct anonymous HIV tests as an alternative to confidential testing. The changes are suggested for Maryland and the District, but not Virginia, which already has named HIV reporting and partner notification programs in place at confidential and anonymous testing locations. "Compromise on Condoms" Lancet (02/12/94) Vol. 343, No. 8894, P. 412 (Lewis, Sara) The planned European condom standard is back on the drawing board after several countries on the 18-member European Standardization Committee (CEN) rejected the original draft in a vote. France led the opposition to the original plan because it would have required either an electronic or water method for testing porosity, while France insists on both tests. The revised draft will tighten test requirements and increase the sampling plan. It will also raise the acceptable quality levels in the sampling plan, albeit not to the level that the French want, which CEN sources say is a costly action that is also out of line with practices in other nations. The vote revealed that besides France, national standard bodies from Portugal, Austria, Spain, and Switzerland also rejected the original draft. "Diarrheal Morbidity During the First 2 Years of Life Among HIV-Infected Infants" Journal of the American Medical Association (02/09/94) Vol. 271, No. 6, P. 448 (Kotloff, Karen) Diarrhea is accepted as an AIDS-defining condition in children; however, there is little data describing the clinical and epidemiologic features. Kotloff et al. studied 58 infants born to HIV-positive mothers to determine the incidence, cause, and patterns of diarrhea during the first two years of life among infants who were infected perinatally with HIV. The overall incidence of diarrhea in HIV-infected babies was 3.2 episodes per 12 child-months, compared to only 1.5 episodes for uninfected infants. Episodes that lasted for two weeks or more were significantly more common among the HIV-infected babies. The peak incidence of diarrhea occurred at 0 to 5 months of age for HIV infants, compared to 6 to 11 months for healthy babies. Onset of diarrhea before six months of age in HIV-infected babies was linked to later development of persistent episodes of diarrhea. Those babies suffering from persistent episodes had more severe HIV infection, which was identified by significantly higher frequency of opportunistic infections and lower CD4 T-cell counts by 1 year of age. Kotloff et al. conclude that both acute and persistent episodes of diarrhea are major causes of morbidity among HIV-infected infants. In addition, they say, persistent diarrhea is a marker for rapid progression of HIV disease.