Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 09:31:08 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary April 12, 1995 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 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "NIH Drops Its Policy on Drug Prices" "AIDS Overwhelming Zimbabwe's Advanced Defenses" "2 United Pilots File 1st AIDS-Related Suit against an Airline" "Fourth Women Reveals She Had an Affair with HIV-Infected Man" "Brazilian Found Guilty of Trying to Pass on Virus" "Chirac Backs Condom Instruction for Children" "Healthy U.S. Lifespan is 64 Years" "AIDS Cases Among Hispanic Americans" "Emergency Grants Offered to Help with AIDS Care Costs" "SmithKline Readies HIV Test" ************************************************************ "NIH Drops Its Policy on Drug Prices" Washington Post (04/12/95) P. F1; Hilzenrath, David S. On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dropped its requirement that drug companies charge a "reasonable" price for products developed using government research. NIH Director Harold Varmus said the agency found that "the pricing clause has driven industry away from potentially beneficial scientific collaborations" with government scientists "without providing an offsetting benefit to the public." Under the clause, which was adopted in 1989 amid protests over the price of the AIDS drug AZT, the public was supposed to benefit from drugs that were produced with the advantage of taxpayer-funded research. Once the policy was implemented, however, companies refrained from using NIH research because they could not guarantee that they would regain an investment in product development, said Carl Feldbaum, president of Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents biotech companies. Related Stories: Investor's Business Daily (04/12) P. A1; Washington Times (04/12) P. B6; Wall Street Journal (04/12) P. B4; Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (04/12) P. B5; New York Times (04/12) P. A23 "AIDS Overwhelming Zimbabwe's Advanced Defenses" Washington Post (04/12/95) P. A1; Taylor, Paul Medical experts in Zimbabwe believe that their country is the most economically advanced nation in which HIV and AIDS are occurring in epidemic proportions. They estimate that 20 to 25 percent of the sexually active population is infected with HIV. Although fewer than 2 percent of the world's population live in sub-Saharan Africa, 60 percent of the world's HIV-infected adults can be found there. The majority are in Zimbabwe's poorer neighbors to the north. Zimbabwe may have been slow to react to the epidemic, in part because President Robert Mugabe is Catholic--and therefore uncomfortable with the issue of condom use--and polygamous. During the 1990s, however, Zimbabwean Health Minister Timothy Stamps began publicly dealing with the disease, and now there are extensive public education campaigns and widespread condom distribution. Stamps believes the incidence of new infections may have peaked. "2 United Pilots File 1st AIDS-Related Suit against an Airline" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (04/12/95) P. B5; Peltz, James F.; Silverstein, Stuart Two pilots have filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against United Airlines, claiming that the airline prohibited them from flying because they are infected with HIV. This case appears to be the first of its kind filed by commercial airline pilots under the Americans With Disabilities Act, said the pilots' lawyers and some AIDS organizations. United insists that, in the interest of public safety, it acted correctly in grounding the pilots under regulations set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The suit contends that the pilots were grounded after the airline learned they were HIV-positive, despite the fact that they passed physicals given by United and the FAA earlier in 1994. United, the largest airline in the country, is a division of UAL Corp. in Chicago. UAL's medical director, Dr. Gary Kohn, said the airline received information from the pilots' doctors last year "that led us to believe they had a disqualifying condition" under FAA standards. Although he declined to comment on the case, FAA spokesman Hank Price said that being HIV-positive does not preclude a pilot for being approved for flying. "Fourth Women Reveals She Had an Affair with HIV-Infected Man" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (04/11/95) P. 2B On Monday, another woman informed St. Louis police that she had sexual intercourse with Robert Warren, who officials believe has infected three other women with HIV. Warren was charged on Friday with risking infection of another with HIV, and is being held in the City Jail in lieu of $30,000 bond. The latest woman came forward after recognizing Warren from his photo. The results of her HIV tests will not be known for about a week, authorities said. "Brazilian Found Guilty of Trying to Pass on Virus" Reuters (04/11/95) A Brazilian judge found an HIV-infected woman who had unprotected sex with men guilty of attempting to infect her partners. The woman's one-year-and-a-month sentence, however, was made a suspended sentence on appeal, Celma de Jesus' lawyer said. The attorney said that no one who had sex with his client has tested HIV-positive and that he intends to appeal the ruling. De Jesus was arrested at her mother's nightclub after two men claimed that she intentionally tried to infect them with HIV by having unprotected sex. "She wasn't arrested because she had the virus but because she was transmitting or practicing acts to transmit it to other people," said police inspector Telma Tulian. De Jesus' mother was found not guilty of knowingly allowing her daughter to commit a crime. "Chirac Backs Condom Instruction for Children" Reuters (04/11/95) Mayor of Paris and French presidential frontrunner Jacques Chirac on Tuesday supported teaching children "at a fairly early age" how to use condoms to prevent AIDS. "AIDS is a dramatic reality and is getting worse," he explained. France has the highest rate of AIDS infections in Europe. Presidential candidates, however, have only dealt with the issue since activists accused them of ignoring the epidemic. "Healthy U.S. Lifespan is 64 Years" Reuters (04/11/95) A report released on Tuesday by the U.S. Public Health Service says people in the United States can expect to enjoy an average 64 years of healthy life out of a lifespan of 75.8 years. The healthy life figure--which measures the quality of life and not just how many years lived, has basically remained the same or possibly even slightly declined in the last several years--due in part to disparities among racial and ethnic groups, according to the report. The high incidence of AIDS, asthma, teenage pregnancies, and homicides among blacks is moving the nation away from goals set by the health service in 1990 when it issued its goals for the year 2000. The study also said that AIDS, homicides, and tuberculosis are significant problems for Hispanics. Recent surveys suggest young people are using more tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. "AIDS Cases Among Hispanic Americans" Focus (03/95) Vol. 10, No. 4, P. 7; Buehler, Diaz T. et al. Epidemiological information reveals that the rate of AIDS infection in Hispanics is 2.5 times greater than that of non-Hispanic whites. However, specific studies reveal that incidence and route of infection vary among Hispanic groups. For example, according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1988 and 1991, Hispanics born in the United States who were found to be in the primary exposure categories included men who engaged in male-to-male sex (51 percent) and women who engaged in drug use (56 percent). However, variations in such patterns were found to exist along specific subpopulations. First, injection drug use was the primary exposure category for Puerto Rican-born men and women, but was a less significant factor for other Hispanic women--although over a third of infected Dominican Republic and South American female natives had contracted the disease through heterosexual sex with an injection drug user. Meanwhile, male-to-male sex was the main exposure category for native South American, Cuban, Mexican, and Central American men. "Emergency Grants Offered to Help with AIDS Care Costs" Nation's Health (04/95) Vol. 25, No. 4, P. 10 In early March, the federal government announced an additional $174.7 million in supplementary 1995 Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Grants. With the addition of the new grants, the total Ryan White funding for the year is $349.4 million, which is distributed in 42 metropolitan areas. "Eight more areas became eligible for grants this fiscal year, which indicates the continuing growth of the AIDS epidemic and its costs," said Donna Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. "SmithKline Readies HIV Test" Advertising Age (04/03/95) Vol. 66, No. 14, P. 30; Wilke, Michael SmithKline Beecham will soon begin marketing OraSure, an HIV-1 test to be initially distributed only by physicians. OraSure, which was developed and manufactured by Epitope Corp., last December became the first HIV home test kit to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The product collects oral fluid specimens with a toothbrush-like device that is placed along the gum line for two minutes. The pad is then sent to a lab to determine whether antibodies to HIV are present. Concerning false results, the FDA said that studies have found that one or two positives could be missed in 100 tests and that OraSure "is not as accurate as the approved HIV antibody tests used on blood." Johnson & Johnson is still waiting for FDA approval of its blood-based HIV home-test kit, Confide.