Date: Mon, 06 Jun 1994 09:19:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "ANNE WILSON, CDC NAC" AIDS Daily Summary June 06, 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 ************************************************************ "A Reprieve for AIDS Facility" "Thailand Begins AIDS Vaccine Trial" "Dead Victim, Sister Teach About Women and AIDS" "Top Thai Companies in Wasteful AIDS Discrimination" "Bishop Slams Ugandan Government's AIDS Campaign" "Critics Slam Italian Court AIDS Test Ruling" "Around the Nation" "HIV Health Workers 'Need Better Protection'" "Partners of HIV-Infected Men with Hemophilia" "Self-Reports of HIV Risk Factors by Patients at a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic: Audio vs Written Questionnaires" ************************************************************ "A Reprieve for AIDS Facility" Philadelphia Inquirer (06/06/94) P. B2; Gelles, Jeff With the threat of closure looming, Philadelphia's only nursing home for AIDS patients has been granted a reprieve. State officials say Betak must notify its patients at least 30 days prior to a shutdown. Beyond that, however, the facility's future remains uncertain, pending crucial meetings to take place today and tomorrow. Some activists--who just ended the second week of a hunger strike in protest of the possible closure--took the scheduled meetings as a sign of hope. A spokesman for Gov. Robert Casey, who is to meet with the secretaries of the departments of health and public welfare, offered another perspective. "We keep finding ourselves in a situation where we keep having to bail that facility out," he said. Betak has been plagued by financial troubles since opening two-and-a-half years ago. The management says that although the state allows up to $116 a day per Betak patient, about $250 a day is needed to do the job efficiently. "Thailand Begins AIDS Vaccine Trial" United Press International (06/06/94); Utumporn, Pichayaporn The first in a series of clinical trials in developing nations began on Monday, as the Thai Red Cross began testing a new AIDS vaccine. The 30 HIV-negative volunteers who were inoculated with United Biomedical Inc.'s UBI-1 formula will receive a second vaccination in four weeks, according to Dr. Praphan Phanuphak, director of the agency's Program on AIDS. Doctors will periodically draw blood from trial participants over the next six months, and check their immune systems after eight months, he said. At that point, researchers should know if the vaccine will help develop antibodies. The UBI-1 vaccine has already been tested on about 100 volunteers in the United States, China, and Australia, and has also been approved by the World Health Organization for Rwanda, Uganda, and Brazil, in addition to Thailand. "Dead Victim, Sister Teach About Women and AIDS" Washington Times (06/06/94) P. C8; Washington, Adrienne T. After her older sister Janice Jirau died from AIDS in September, Maxine Haliburton assumed the role of educating the public about the disease. With the aid of her employers, she helped two independent filmmakers finish "The Heart of the Matter," a thought-provoking documentary about the complex issues that face HIV-infected women. According to the filmmakers, AIDS is one of the five leading causes of death among women between the ages of 20 and 45. The Union Institute Center for Women is sponsoring a benefit preview of the film on Thursday night, with the bulk of the show's proceeds going to the D.C. Women's Council on AIDS. The film will be aired on July 12 on PBS. "Top Thai Companies in Wasteful AIDS Discrimination" Reuters (06/05/94); Birsel, Robert Some of Thailand's biggest companies are practicing AIDS discrimination--a practice AIDS experts and patients say denies a large segment of society the right to work. According to AIDS activist John Ungpakorn, some of the country's largest firms in the industrial, banking, travel, and retail sectors have compulsory HIV-testing policies. The screening policies are an instinctive, although irrational, response to the AIDS epidemic, explains Supanya Lamsam, a director of the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS. They are, however, both expensive and futile, according to Lamsam, who says that the testing programs would not halt the emergence of HIV in companies. Thailand, which houses as many as 800,000 HIV carriers, has a policy of conducting HIV testing only with the informed consent of the individual being tested. Ungpakorn, director of an AIDS action group called ACCESS, notes that while there are principles against discrimination based on a person's HIV status, there are no laws to enforce those principles. "Bishop Slams Ugandan Government's AIDS Campaign" Reuters (06/03/94); Kizito, Edmond Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Baharagate, in criticism of the Ugandan government's AIDS control program, said on Friday that promoting condom use would only encourage immoral behavior and cause more deaths. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose government has been passing out millions of free condoms, says condom use is the most inexpensive and most effective means of fighting AIDS in Uganda, which has one of the world's highest rates of the disease. The Catholic church abhors condom use, as it does anything that blocks the possible transmission of life. Instead, the church preaches abstinence before or outside of marriage--a lifestyle that is largely alien to the Ugandan culture. "Critics Slam Italian Court AIDS Test Ruling" Reuters (06/03/94) Following the Italian high court's ruling that health care workers must submit to HIV testing, critics on Friday denounced the decision as one that would create "ghettos" among AIDS patients. The ruling said that HIV tests should be viewed as a condition for employment in the health care field, but that employees must be guaranteed confidentiality. Despite the vow for privacy, opponents still condemned the ruling as discrimination. The ruling was prompted by the case of a female employee at a public home for handicapped persons who refused to be tested for the deadly virus. "Around the Nation" Advocate (05/17/94) No. 655, P. 22 On April 6 in New York, philanthropist Joan Tisch donated $1 million to NYC's Beth Israel Medical Center. Her contribution will allow the hospital to expand its services to HIV-positive women. In other news around the country, Montana Gov. Marc Racicot received a 57-page report from state health officials outlining recommendations for a comprehensive plan to deal with AIDS. In Connecticut, the state house of representatives on April 7 approved a bill to expand state needle-exchange programs, and sent it to Gov. Lowell Weicker's desk. And in Salt Lake City, Utah, a drug addict brandishing a can opener robbed a Pizza Hut by threatening to expose employees to HIV, according to police there. "HIV Health Workers 'Need Better Protection'" Nature (05/19/94) Vol. 369, No. 6477, P. 173; Butler, Declan A group of French researchers, doctors, and healthcare providers have formed Union pour la Protection des Soignants et de leurs Patients, an association seeking to reduce the risks of HIV infection to healthcare workers through hospital accidents. In particular, the association wants health authorities to require hospitals to introduce precautions against accidental HIV transmission. Self-sheathing needles, for example, could reduce needleprick accidents by two-thirds, according to Francis Cheilan, the group's president. He notes that although similar precautions were issued by the ministry of health two years ago, only a handful of hospitals have introduced safer procedures. Part of the problem, says Cheilan, is that authorities are not convinced of the risks, even though an estimated 30 French healthcare workers have contracted HIV through work accidents. The association claims that the true figure is closer to 300, and will continue to incline as more HIV-positive patients are diagnosed. The association is also campaigning for specific legislation allowing healthcare workers to claim adequate compensation. Currently, workers contaminated by HIV on the job come under legislation that covers general work accidents, which entitles them only to an invalidity pension--about one-third of salary. "Partners of HIV-Infected Men with Hemophilia" Focus (05/94) Vol. 8, No. 6, P. 8; Klimes, I.; Catalan, J.; Garrod, A. et al. No differences were observed in the psychological status of female partners of HIV-negative hemophiliac men and HIV-positive hemophiliac men, according to a study. Partners of the 17 HIV-positive and 19 HIV-negative hemophiliacs were comparable in terms of age, employment status, and social class, and all were confirmed to be HIV-negative. Despite being forced to cope with their husband's psychological state, changes in the sexual relationships, and concerns about contracting HIV, 78 percent of the partners of seropositive men said that their relationship, in general, remained unchanged since their partners first underwent HIV testing. When compared to women in the general community, however, partners of hemophiliac men--regardless of HIV status--were found to have twice the number of psychological symptoms. The heightened level of psychological distress among these women suggests that living with and managing hemophilia is more stressful and of more immediate concern than the challenge of living with asymptomatic HIV disease. "Self-Reports of HIV Risk Factors by Patients at a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic: Audio vs Written Questionnaires" American Journal of Public Health (05/94) Vol. 84, No. 5, P. 754; Boekeloo, Bradley O.; Schiavo, Laura; Rabin, David et al. Measurement error in assessing HIV risk can lead to misinterpretation of research, undetected patient risk, and weakened efforts to protect the blood supply. For most HIV risk factors, self-reporting is typically the only acceptable method of assessment, usually through written questionnaires or face-to-face interviews. Although neither method has been deemed superior, there has been some concern that there is greater measurement error in face-to-face interviews, as opposed to pencil-and-paper surveys. Written questionnaires, however, may be difficult for some subjects to read and complete. A self-administered questionnaire completed through audiocassette player and headset may overcome some of the sources of measurement error associated with the other two methods. To determine how method of assessment affects patient self-reporting about HIV, patients received either a written self-administered questionnaire, or one that was administered through the tape and headset. Boekeloo et al. found that audio questionnaires not only had fewer missed responses than written questionnaires, but they also identified more unprotected vaginal intercourse and partners known or thought to be HIV-infected. They conclude that audio questionnaires may obtain more complete data and identify more HIV risk than written questionnaires, and research needs to be done to determine whether this method overcomes barriers to completion and accuracy of HIV risk surveys.