Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 09:15:11 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary February 17, 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 ************************************************************ "HIV Risk from Health Workers Called Low" "Ethnic Bias Charged at AIDS Foundation" "San Francisco Station Ousts a Blunt Host" "Penn State Researchers Make Progress on AIDS Drug Treatment" "About 80,000 People HIV-Positive in Swaziland" "Five More Vietnamese Die of AIDS-Related Causes" "HIV Video's Debut Set at VCU" "Sheffield Medical Technologies Files Response to FDA on HIV Therapeutic Application" "AIDS Scientist Accused of Double Dipping" "Cure du Jour" ************************************************************ "HIV Risk from Health Workers Called Low" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/17/95) P. A2; Vedantam, Shankar There is virtually no risk of a patient contracting HIV from their dentists or other health-care providers who are infected with the virus, said researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The researchers complimented the healthcare system for effectively protecting patients. They also revealed, however, that 42 health-care workers are known to have acquired the infection from their patients, and another 88 might have as well. Studies found that as of July 1994, 13,420 health-care workers had AIDS--almost 5 percent of the AIDS population in the United States. The risk of medically based HIV transmission was essentially limited to contact with infected blood while administering injections or suffering accidental cuts, the scientists said. The researchers said that saliva appeared to be an effective barrier against HIV transmission, but the reason why is not known. "Ethnic Bias Charged at AIDS Foundation" New York Times (02/17/95) P. A22 Alleging that the agency has treated them unfairly and, in some instances, passed them over for promotions, three Hispanic employees have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The workers said that the nonprofit organization, which provides AIDS services and education, had a pattern of discriminating against minority employees. One worker said he was fired after he was wrongfully accused of threatening another staff member. He also said that he was not selected to manage a trilingual hot line because he has an accent. Another worker noted that the foundation has eliminated a multicultural program, and thus, did not serve women and members of minorities as well as it once did. "San Francisco Station Ousts a Blunt Host" New York Times (02/17/95) P. A14 J. Paul Emerson, the broadcaster whose radio talk show has gained attention because of his remarks about homosexuals and AIDS has been fired just six weeks after he went on the air. "It hasn't worked out, and he is not returning" to the airwaves, said Julie Hoover, a spokeswoman for the owner of KSFO-AM radio, Capital Cities/ABC Inc. Emerson was hired in January as part of the San Francisco station's switch to an all-conservative talk format. His comments that people with AIDS should be quarantined and that homosexuals were "sick" and "pathetic" particularly stirred outrage. "Penn State Researchers Make Progress on AIDS Drug Treatment" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (02/17/95); Andron, Scott Researchers lead by Kenneth A. Johnson of Penn State University have discovered how an experimental class of AIDS drugs called nonnucleosides work. Their findings were published in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Johnson and his team found that nonnucleosides interfere with the enzyme that enables HIV to attach itself to DNA. This discovery could lead to the development of more effective AIDS treatments with fewer adverse effects. "About 80,000 People HIV-Positive in Swaziland" Reuters (02/17/95) Approximately 80,000 people in the small African country of Swaziland are infected with HIV, Health Minister Derek von Wissel announced today. He estimated that about 9,000 people will die of AIDS in 1996. "It seems few people in the country realize the seriousness of AIDS," von Wissel told an AIDS awareness seminar organized for teachers. He also said that one in five school-going children, between the ages of 15 and 19, was already HIV-positive. "Five More Vietnamese Die of AIDS-Related Causes" Reuters (02/16/95) Five Vietnamese have died of AIDS-related causes during the last six weeks, official sources reported. Their deaths, which include the first married couple in Vietnam to die from AIDS, raised the death toll in the country from the disease to 54. "As of February 11, the whole country has recorded 2,200 Vietnamese tested positive with HIV, of which 131 have been confirmed as suffering from AIDS and 53 have died of the disease," said an official with the national AIDS Protection Committee. The 54th death, which occurred after the committee's statistics were drawn up, was the first death from the disease in Hanoi, the capital. Most of Vietnam's AIDS deaths have occurred in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city and a major port. "HIV Video's Debut Set at VCU" Richmond Times-Dispatch (02/16/95) P. B5 "We Journey Together," a video about the impact an HIV-positive diagnosis has on a person and about the resources available for such people, will have its first showing on Feb. 21 at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The video focuses on the life of a young man recently diagnosed with HIV. The video, which was primarily financed by the Richmond AIDS Consortium, the VCU HIV/AIDS Center, and the Mid-Atlantic AIDS Education and Training Center, will be distributed free of charge to AIDS service organizations, health care providers, and other groups that deal with HIV issues. "Sheffield Medical Technologies Files Response to FDA on HIV Therapeutic Application" Business Wire (02/16/95) On Thursday, Sheffield Medical Technologies Inc. filed its response to clinical hold issues raised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its RBC-CD4 Phase I/II Investigational New Drug (IND) Application. The original IND was filed on Aug. 19, and a clinical hold was placed on it 30 days later. Harvey L. Kellman, the company's president and CEO, said that the FDA usually issues clinical holds to give its review committee extra time to evaluate an application, which is normally followed by a written response that details the clinical hold issues. The company's clinical protocol calls for a 19-patient study to test for safety, tolerance, and activity at therapeutic doses. Sheffield projects include two HIV/AIDS therapeutics--the red blood cell-CD4 electroinsertion technology and a Liposome-CD4 project--and an HIV/AIDS vaccine which is in preclinical animal studies at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. "AIDS Scientist Accused of Double Dipping" Science (02/10/95) Vol. 267, No. 5199, P. 779 On Feb. 3, the Miami Herald reported that AIDS researcher Lionel Resnick resigned from positions at Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami after his billing practices came under scrutiny last year. The Department of Health and Human Services is investigating allegations that Resnick improperly used a lab supported by federal research funds to do outside contract work, netting him at least $250,000. The institutions began investigating after they noticed that Resnick had requested that payments for work done at his Mount Sinai lab go to Vironc Inc., a business sharing his home address. Resnick's attorney acknowledged that his client had used his Mount Sinai lab to moonlight, by doing virology tests for drug companies, for example. He said, however, that the story has been blown out of proportion over "an accounting issue," that is, Resnick's misunderstanding of the government's direct cost reimbursement rules. "Cure du Jour" Advocate (02/21/95) No. 675, P. 36; Downton, Joseph A growing number of HIV-infected people swear by the curative powers of kombucha tea, which is endorsed by advocates as a cure for ailments including eczema, memory loss, multiple sclerosis, and impotence. Critics, however, argue that the effects of kombucha have not been scientifically studied. Some--like Ruben Gamundi, a treatment education advocate at the service group AIDS Project Los Angeles--are also worried about possible side effects. "We have been alerted that mold sometimes grows on the kombucha culture and that this mold might contain a fungus known as Aspergillus, which can lead to a fungal infection that can be fatal in people with HIV," says Gamundi. Betsy Pryor, co-founder of Laurel Farms, a California supplier of kombucha, dismisses such fears and explains that the tea has a long history of use dating back thousands of years to ancient Manchuria, Japan, and Tibet. She says that although the tea's medicinal benefits have not been documented in clinical trials, they are well-substantiated anecdotally. The Food and Drug Administration is examining the contents and preparation process of kombucha to assess potential health risks. AIDS Daily News will not publish on Monday, February 20, in observance of Presidents' Day. Publication will resume on Tuesday, February 21. THE END.