Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 13:06:47 +0500 From: awilson@smtpinet.aspensys.com (Wilson, Anne) Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 11/30/94 AIDS Daily Summary November 30, 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 ************************************************************ "Ex-Boss Defends AIDS Review" "AIDS Spread in Africa Is Focus of Meeting" "Shalala Seeks to Heal Rift with Paris over AIDS Test" "Across the USA: Florida" "Ritualizing Grief, Love and Politics" "Red Cross Official Faces Hostility" "Shelter Will Open Doors to Homeless with HIV" "Gay Writer Looks Back on Progress" "Medical Briefs: False Positives from Vaccine" "CRA Sees the Need and Acts" ************************************************************ "Ex-Boss Defends AIDS Review" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/30/94) P. B1; Slobodzian, Joseph A. Judith Pierce, a former SEPTA administrator, on Tuesday defended her decision to review the health costs of workers infected with HIV. Before a federal court jury, Pierce claimed the review was legal and necessary for her job of controlling health costs for the transit authority's workers. Her decision caused a SEPTA management employee to sue the authority for invasion of privacy. Pierce admitted that Louis Van de Beek, a SEPTA medical official, warned her: "I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing" when he learned about her prescription review. She also admitted that she had asked Van de Beek not to discuss their conversation. Pierce said that she was not trying to hide her actions, but "I told him not to discuss it...because he had no right to speculate about what I was doing." SEPTA officials claim that the disclosure of "John Doe's" HIV-positive status was accidental and that the defendant has not been harmed by it; in fact, he continues to work at SEPTA and received a significant raise when most of the employees were under a wage freeze. "AIDS Spread in Africa Is Focus of Meeting" New York Times (11/30/94) P. A8 One of the major topics at the 42-nation conference on AIDS that opens Thursday will be the spread of AIDS in Africa. Researchers said Tuesday that in order to slow the spread of AIDS in Africa, it is necessary to determine why efforts to change people's high-risk sexual behavior have failed. Luc Montagnier, the French AIDS researcher, as well as researchers from at least 12 African countries gathered to announce a fund to finance AIDS research by African scientists in their home countries. The World Health Organization says that at least 10 million of the 15 million people in the world who are HIV-positive live in Africa. "Shalala Seeks to Heal Rift with Paris over AIDS Test" Baltimore Sun (11/30/94) P. 4A In an attempt to end a fierce years-long dispute between the United States and France over royalties for an AIDS test, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala on Tuesday called for a new era of research cooperation. Relations between scientists at the Pasteur Institute and the U.S. National Institutes of Health have been tense because the French claim that the Americans appropriated a strain of HIV from the them to create a test for AIDS. A revised agreement between the two countries awards the French additional shares of profits from the sale of the U.S. test. "Across the USA: Florida" USA Today (11/30/94) P. 8A Memorial services will be held Thursday in Venice, Fla., for Gary Kangesier, age 40. Kangesier died of a heart attack on Saturday. In an attempt to force him out of his job as town plumber, the city sued Kangesier in 1989 because he had AIDS. City officials worried that he would contaminate the water. Kangesier was awarded $300,000 after agreeing to quit his job. "Ritualizing Grief, Love and Politics" New York Times (11/30/94) P. B1; Navarro, Mireya Over the past decade, memorial services have become a distinct ritual for the gay population. In addition to grieving and crying, participants rail against the government and advocate more medical research. James A. Baggett, an organizer of political funerals, said that the funerals "have allowed people to see the face of AIDS." Memorial funds are frequently created for an AIDS-related cause. Some services have performances, as in the service for Bruce Mailman. In between speeches, musical numbers from shows produced by Mailman were played on the piano. Memorials can have a positive effect on those who attend them, said Jeff Richardson, executive director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis. They serve as "a reminder that we still need to continue our work" and that "you can live with AIDS and have a quality of life," he added. "Red Cross Official Faces Hostility" Toronto Globe and Mail (11/29/94) P. A3; Platiel, Rudy Doug Lindores, secretary-general of the Canadian Red Cross (CRC), declared that Canada's blood supply "has never been safer" and that he would not hesitate to authorize its use for his family in a life-threatening situation. Instead of alleviating the public's fears about the blood supply, Lindores faced criticism from some who remain unassured. Durhane Wong-Rieger, president of the Canadian Hemophilia Society, said that Lindores' speech only reinforced "that the same kind of decision-making processes" that caused 1,000 hemophiliacs to become infected with HIV from transfusions are still in place. Jerry Friese of the HIV Transfused Group questioned why he and the rest of the public should trust the CRC. "We have ample evidence that we shouldn't," he said. Lindores cited a recent poll finding that because of safety fears, 26 percent of Canadians would refuse a blood transfusion. He also said the CRC will proceed with the construction of a new $150 million plasma-fractionation plant in Nova Scotia with Miles Canada and Bayer AG of Germany, its parent company. "Shelter Will Open Doors to Homeless with HIV" Boston Globe (11/24/94) P. 74; Dowdy, Zachary R. Officials at the Pine Street Inn in Dorchester, Mass., announced plans last week to provide a home for 10 HIV-infected people. Scheduled to open in June, Rockwell House will offer case management and other services for those with special needs. Dorchester's Public Facilities Department will fund renovation of the house, but the Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development will provide long-term financing for the project, which will cost $700,000. "Gay Writer Looks Back on Progress" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/24/94) P. G8; Grossmann, Mary Ann Edmund White, an HIV-positive writer living in Paris, has written a short-story collection to be published in May. Six of the eight stories in "Skinned Alive" are about AIDS. Currently, he is writing a novel titled "The Farewell Symphony" because it is "like that Haydn symphony when all the musicians get up and leave except one. That's the way it makes me feel to write in this time of AIDS," he says. White helped found the Gay Men's Health Crisis in 1981 to raise funds for research, disseminate information about AIDS, and create programs to help the ill. Thousands of people, both gay and straight, now volunteer for the organization. "Medical Briefs: False Positives from Vaccine" Advocate (11/15/94) No. 668, P. 44 A person who has previously had a rabies vaccination could falsely test HIV-positive, reported researchers in the August issue of Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. A 32-year-old woman, who worked in an animal care facility, had received a series of three rabies vaccinations. While the ELISA was reactive and the Western blot was indeterminate, the polymerase chain reaction assay was negative. "CRA Sees the Need and Acts" United States Conference of Mayors: AIDS Information Exchange (10/94) Vol. 11, No. 3, P. 7 The Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA) was founded in 1991 to address the issues of HIV and recovery from drug problems. Although Illinois has both a prescription and a paraphernalia law, there is a provision that exempts research activities, thus carrying out needle exchange programs as "research projects" would be legal. From its inception, CRA has worked with the police to educate them about the program and the legal exemptions that apply to participants. CRA also relies heavily on the input of Community Advisory Groups, which are composed of exchangers. For example, CRA found that while participants did not feel safe going to sites that were too close to areas controlled by gangs, sites close to public transportation tended to be successful because exchangers can come from throughout the city. CRA research shows that proximity and convenience are significant factors in drug users' use of the exchange. Eighty percent of non-users said that because syringes could be obtained from other sources, some users may not be motivated to go out of their way to obtain clean needles from the exchange. The CRA now exchanges more than 20,000 syringes at seven different sites a week.