Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:43:31 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary August 1, 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 ************************************************************ "Flu Shots Can Stimulate AIDS Virus, Study Says" "Confusion over Russia AIDS Law" "Therapies Outside the Mainstream" "Across the USA: North Dakota" "Red Cross Cited Cost in Refusing Virus Test" "Judge Shuts Florida Company for AIDS-Life Insurance Sale Scam" "Gay British Men Still Spurning Condoms--Study" "FDA Announces Public Workshop and Advisory Subcommittee Meeting on Current Issues in AIDS Clinical Trials" "Interleukin-2 as Therapy for HIV Disease" "Reducing the Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Patients with HIV Infection" "HIV+ and Traveling" ************************************************************ "Flu Shots Can Stimulate AIDS Virus, Study Says" Washington Times (08/01/95) P. A6 Scientists have found that even minimal stimulation of the immune system, such as a flu vaccination, appears to stimulate HIV growth. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles AIDS Institute report in the journal Blood that their findings should help doctors determine which HIV patients should be vaccinated against the flu. They warn, however, that although the shot increases the production of HIV cells, the cell growth is even greater when those patients actually get the flu. Related Story: USA Today (08/01) P. 6D "Confusion over Russia AIDS Law" Financial Times (08/01/95) P. 2; Thornhill, John On Monday, Russian ministries failed to clarify confusion about rules effective today that require persons planning extended visits to the country to prove that they do not have HIV. Both AIDS activists and foreign diplomats have assailed the rules as cumbersome and discriminatory. According to the health ministry, visitors would need to obtain a certificate from their local health authority prior to applying for a visa. Testing services would not be provided by the ministry. The foreign ministry, however, said Monday it may have to delay the implementation of the law until the requisite documentation had been prepared. "Nothing is going to change on August 1 or until the certificates have been prepared," a foreign ministry official said. "Therapies Outside the Mainstream" Washington Post (Health) (08/01/95) P. 10; Herman, Robin Increasingly, Americans frustrated with their standard medicine are discovering "alternative" or "unconventional" treatments that have been shunned by the higher-tech medical world. As methods that involve massage therapists, homeopaths, herbalists spread, so has the concern that some treatments may not have been sufficiently tested, and thus may be ineffective or even harmful. But most people who use alternative therapies are adding them to their usual health care. According to James Gordon of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, the two major groups of people who seek such treatments are those who just do not feel good and those "people who have come to the limits of traditional Western medicine for chronic illness or life-threatening conditions." Studies, for example, have found that as many as 50 percent of HIV-infected people are using unconventional treatments. Some of the more problematic therapies involve the ingestion of pills and potions that supposedly prevent disease or boost the immune system. These remedies are largely unregulated and are outside the control of the Food and Drug Administration because they are described as supplements and do not claim to cure disease. "Across the USA: North Dakota" USA Today (08/01/95) P. 9A Cody Rogahn, president of the Dakota AIDS Project, claims that the AIDS disclosure law in North Dakota discriminates against AIDS patients and has no effect on the spread of the disease. Under the law, it is a felony for a person with HIV or AIDS to expose another individual without revealing his condition. "Red Cross Cited Cost in Refusing Virus Test" Toronto Globe and Mail (07/31/95) P. A4; Picard, Andre According to documents introduced as evidence in a public inquiry, the Canadian Red Cross did not use blood tests that could have prevented thousands of individuals from becoming infected with the hepatitis C virus because it was afraid of possibly having to throw out too many donations. At a meeting in April 1986, Dr. Roger Perrault--head of the Canadian Red Cross Transfusion Service--said that U.S. blood bankers had rejected the concept of surrogate testing because it was unproven. But the documents show that Perrault had known since late 1985 that the United States would conduct testing after a study showed that tests eliminated more than 40 percent of hepatitis C-infected units. His concern was that the tests could reduce the available blood supply by 4 percent. The Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada is trying to determine the causes of the contaminated-blood disaster that infected more than 1,000 hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients with HIV and thousands more with hepatitis C. "Judge Shuts Florida Company for AIDS-Life Insurance Sale Scam" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (08/01/95); Reed, Ted Following charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that most of the life insurance policies sold by United Benefits Group were worthless, a federal judge has granted a temporary injunction against the Boca Raton company and frozen its assets. United Benefits allegedly cheated investors out of millions of dollars by claiming to sell policies held by people with AIDS. Company president Zane Balsam testified that the company reported selling between $3.5 million and $4.5 million worth of policies, he had no reason to believe the policies existed. Balsam said that on multiple occasions he gave former president Nicholas DeAngelis briefcases full of cash to buy life insurance policies, but he had no proof that DeAngelis actually did so. U.S. District Court Judge Shelby Highsmith ruled that United Benefits engage in an interstate plan to defraud investors, and barred Balsam, DeAngelis, and company secretary Frederick Hollander from violating securities law. "Gay British Men Still Spurning Condoms--Study" Reuters (07/31/95) A new study of gay men in Britain reveals that seven out of 10 are still not using a condom when they have penetrative sex. The University of Essex asked 400 men to record details of their sex lives in diaries. The seven-year survey found that in more than 70 percent of the cases, the men did not practice safe sex. Prominent AIDS activist Nick Partridge of the Terrence Higgins Trust said that people who have unprotected sex and risk spreading HIV should be "cast into an abyss of condemnation." "FDA Announces Public Workshop and Advisory Subcommittee Meeting on Current Issues in AIDS Clinical Trials" U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding a public workshop on current issues in HIV clinical trials on Sept. 6 and 7, 1995. At the workshop--to which registration is required--members of the industry and the public will be able to discuss issues regarding the design and conduct of clinical trials of drugs for the treatment of HIV, as well as propose strategies for overcoming known obstacles. A major challenge to developers of HIV treatments is the successful design and conduct of clinical confirmatory trials, which are needed to provide the data used to confirm the clinical benefit of drugs that have received accelerated approval. The workshop will be followed by a joint meeting on Sept. 9 of subcommittees of the Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee and the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development. The subcommittees will hear summary presentations from the workshop, and will discuss recommendations on the scientific design of future HIV clinical trials. For more information, call the AIDS Clinical Trial Information Service at (800) 243-7012. "Interleukin-2 as Therapy for HIV Disease" New England Journal of Medicine (07/20/95) Vol. 333, No. 3, P. 192; Lane, H. Clifford; Kovacs, Joseph A. There is a complex association between activation of the immune system and levels of viral replication, write Lane and Kovacs in response to letters to the editor published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For example, activation of CD4 T lymphocytes by interleukin-2 (IL-2) can bring about cell division and an increased number of cells. Activation of CD8 cells by IL-2 can lead to increased immunity against viral infections. The overall effect of IL-2 in a given patient, therefore, is a function of many variables. The authors, however, state that the main point of their March 2 article was that it is possible to induce and maintain a polyclonal expansion of CD4 T lymphocytes in some HIV-infected individuals using intermittent courses of IL-2. "Reducing the Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Patients with HIV Infection" Journal of the American Medical Association (07/26/95) Vol. 274, No. 4, P. 347; Kaplan, Jonathan E.; Masur, Henry; Jaffe, Harold W. et al. With new knowledge of the environmental sources of opportunistic pathogens, ways to reduce exposure, and the role of chemoprophylaxis, a practical strategy for preventing opportunistic infections in HIV-infected people has become particularly important. The U.S. Public Health Service, with the Infectious Diseases Society of America, is now publishing comprehensive guidelines to prevent such infections. Previous efforts dealt with Pneumocystis carinii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex, and focused on chemoprophylaxis. The new patient- and pathogen-oriented guidelines provide background information and recommendations for clinicians and patients on the behavioral shifts, drug therapies, and immunizations that are most likely to be effective, safe, and cost-effective. The guidelines also discuss the relative importance of several prevention measures and attempts to integrate them. "HIV+ and Traveling" Out (07/95-08/95) No. 24, P. 101; Downton, Joseph Although being HIV-positive should not mean sacrificing vacations, it is necessary to plan trips carefully and choose a destination with special needs and concerns in mind. It is important, for example, to check the destination for HIV restrictions if traveling outside of the country. Russia requires anyone staying longer than 90 days to be tested for HIV, and will presumably deny entry to anyone found infected. In addition, it is useful to take a few extra days' supply of medicine, a backup prescription, and a physician's note authorizing them, in case anything happens. Physicians also suggest taking diarrhea medication even for travel within the United States, because even small changes in tap water can cause problems for immunocompromised individuals. Finally, it is important to take sunscreen and sunglasses. Studies show that people infected with HIV who are taking Bactrim or other antibiotics are especially prone to sunburn. Sunglasses are also critical because the eyes are more sensitive to the sun.