Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 09:50:37 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 08/04/95 AIDS Daily Summary August 4, 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 ************************************************************ "Researchers Find AIDS Drug Combination" "AIDS-Transfer Case in N. Dakota Dropped" "HIV Home-Test Kit Might Be a Tough Sell" "Comic Side of Sex in Age of AIDS" "U.S. Urges Better Testing for Chancroid in Patients" "Across the USA: Hawaii" "More Chinese Youths Contract Venereal Disease" "Pedro Zamora HIV Clinic Opens" "Immune Factor Inhibits the Spread of HIV" "Exon Amendment: Threat to AIDS Prevention and Activism?" ************************************************************ "Researchers Find AIDS Drug Combination" Washington Times (08/04/95) P. A6 Researchers at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in England report that, when used together, the drugs AZT and 3TC appear to be the most effective combination found thus far to fight HIV. In the journal Science, the scientists note that when AZT is taken with 3TC, the "cocktail" overcomes the viral resistance that decreases the effectiveness of either drug when taken individually. The 24-week-long tests of HIV-infected individuals indicate that the combination reduced the level of viral infection and increased the number of CD4 cells. "AIDS-Transfer Case in N. Dakota Dropped" USA Today (08/04/95) P. 3A; Leavitt, Paul A judge in North Dakota has dismissed the first case under a state law that makes it a crime for people with AIDS to transfer body fluids without disclosing that they have HIV, citing lack of evidence. The accused, former prostitute and injection drug user Cyndi Potete, was arrested in April after police said they were told that she had sex with Timothy Martin. The witness, however, testified that the police misunderstood him, and that he did not see Martin and Potete having sex. Potete, who now gives lectures on how to avoid AIDS, said she was too drunk at the time to know what transpired. "HIV Home-Test Kit Might Be a Tough Sell" USA Today (08/04/95) P. 10B; Wells, Melanie Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) new HIV home-test kit could be the advertising challenge of the 1990s. The kit, called Confide, is expected to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration this fall. Although J&J's ad agency, McCann-Erickson, refused to comment on its plans for Confide, industry experts who have viewed three television commercials in development say the ads emphasize the importance of adults knowing if they are infected with HIV. The kit's selling points are convenience, confidentiality, and a relatively low price of about $30. However, some difficult issues that must be addressed include the fact that many people are afraid to find out if they have HIV, and that many are uncomfortable about drawing their own blood. Some people claim that face-to-face counseling is critical when someone is diagnosed with an infection. The primary concern is "whether someone is going to find out they are positive and freak out," says AIDS activist Mario Cooper. J&J is presently seeking "caring, compassionate" bilingual phone counselors to relay the test results to Confide users. "Comic Side of Sex in Age of AIDS" New York Times (08/04/95) P. C10; James, Caryn The movie version of Paul Rudnick's play "Jeffrey" is an erratically funny and heavy-handed tale of sex and romance in the age of AIDS. Still, the film is fairly close to the play and offers a few truly hilarious moments. The movie's message is "carpe diem," or seize the day. Actor Steven Weber plays Jeffrey, a young homosexual man who decides that AIDS has made sex too complex and unromantic. Jeffrey opts for celibacy--until he meets his ideal partner, who turns out to be infected with HIV. Weber convincingly captures his character's warmth and skittishness, even when the movie follows Jeffrey's life as an actor and waiter into his fantasies. More than ever, the film version of "Jeffrey" is a series of vignettes as opposed to a coherent story. "Jeffrey" is a perfect example of Rudnick's own incredible comic taste. "U.S. Urges Better Testing for Chancroid in Patients" Reuters (08/03/95) On Thursday, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged physicians to look more carefully for chanchroid in people with genital ulcers because it raises the risk of HIV infection. A new method called polymerase chain reaction assay is more sensitive than standard laboratory tests in identifying the sexually transmitted nonsyphilitic venereal ulcers that are caused by bacteria, the CDC said. According to the agency, if chanchroid is not identified and properly treated, the genital ulcers take longer to heal, and thus increase the risk that they will transmit or become infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "Across the USA: Hawaii" USA Today (08/04/95) P. 6A According to the University of Hawaii, a caller who asks women for personal information, claiming to be conducting an AIDS and sex education poll for Leeward Community College, is a hoax. The school is not conducting such a survey. "More Chinese Youths Contract Venereal Disease" Reuters (08/04/95) The number of Chinese youths who contracted venereal diseases in 1994 skyrocketed nearly 83 percent compared with the previous year. The total number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases in 30 Chinese provinces increased more than 22 percent last year to 300,466. Six types of venereal diseases were on the increase--including herpes, which soared more than 270 percent and syphilis, which rose more than 120 percent. In addition, China has diagnosed 1,774 individuals with HIV, but experts claim that incomplete reporting and misdiagnosis have clouded the true total, which could be more than 10,000. "Pedro Zamora HIV Clinic Opens" Miami Herald (08/03/95) P. 2B Last week, the Pedro Zamora Youth HIV Clinic opened in Hollywood, Calif. The clinic, which is named for a young man from Miami who died last year at age 22, is the first in the United States to specifically target HIV-infected teenagers and young adults. Zamora brought AIDS into the nation's living rooms through his starring role on MTV's series "The Real World." "Immune Factor Inhibits the Spread of HIV" Science News (07/29/95) Vol. 148, No. 5, P. 71; Seachrist, L. Researchers in San Francisco are learning more about a substance secreted by certain immune cells that prevents HIV from replicating. The substance, called cell antiviral factor (CAF), curbs HIV's ability to spread through the immune system. "Understanding how CAF inhibits the virus could give us insights into new therapies for HIV," says immunologist Jay A. Levy of the University of California at San Francisco. Levy's team identified CAF during the 1980s while trying to grow HIV. They found they could separate large amounts of HIV from T cells of late-stage AIDS patients, but not from the blood of recently infected or asymptomatic persons. New data from Levy's colleague, Carl E. Mackewicz, suggests that CAF inhibits HIV replication within CD4 cells at an early stage. Due to the fact that the CD4 cells continue to function as normal, while CAF suppresses HIV, Levy sees hope for a therapeutic strategy against HIV, although neither he nor Mackewicz yet knows exactly what CAF is. "Exon Amendment: Threat to AIDS Prevention and Activism?" AIDS Treatment News (07/21/95) No. 227, P. 5; Mirken, Bruce The "Communications Decency Act of 1995," more commonly known as the "Exon Amendment" after its author Sen. James Exon (D-Neb.), may complicate AIDS prevention efforts if approved. The amendment to the 1995 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act contains several provisions that may concern AIDS activists, affecting not just the Internet but any "telecommunications device." The amendment makes it illegal to "make or make available any obscene communication in any form." It is hard to determine how much AIDS-related information online would be considered obscene or, in fact, what the definition of "obscene" would be. For example, several sites contain open, graphic discussions of the HIV risks involved in some sexual acts. Would such data be deemed "indecent?" asks Mirken. This prospect has many AIDS educators concerned. Jeff McElroy, the coordinator of the HIV/AIDS forums on America Online, notes that although the online service restricts sexually explicit messages, "we are less stringent" when the subject is HIV/AIDS because "such communications save lives." The provisions dealing with "harassing" communications are also problematic. Many activists use phone and fax campaigns to urge the government or drug companies to improve research or open access to new treatments. Yet once again, the language is broad enough and imprecise enough so that it is difficult to know exactly what would be prohibited. The Exon amendment passed the Senate overwhelmingly, and is now awaiting vote in the House. CLARIFICATION: The AIDS Daily Summary for August 1, 1995 contained an abstract of a Reuters article entitled "Gay British Men Still Spurning Condoms--Study." The abstract stated that "seven out of 10 [gay men] are still not using a condom when they have penetrative sex." Researchers, however, have noted that the 70 percent figure refers to the proportion of unprotected anal-intercourse episodes, not individual men.