Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 10:27:28 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary March 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 ************************************************************ "Hospital Clerk's Child Allegedly Told Patients that They Had AIDS" "Swazi Babies in Hospital with HIV Virus" "The Reliable Source: Greg Louganis" "This AIDS Play Is Honestly Hilarious" "Alienation, AIDS and Murder, but Keeping a Sense of Humor" "Burroughs Wellcome Co. Begins U.S. Clinical Trial Program with Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Protease Inhibitor for HIV" "Amgen Turns Bullish on Possible Lab Breakthroughs" "UCSF Launches HIV Prevention Fact Sheets to Answer Common Questions" "Reexamining AIDS Research Priorities" "Transitions" "Frequently Asked Questions Available From CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse" ************************************************************ "Hospital Clerk's Child Allegedly Told Patients that They Had AIDS" Washington Post (03/01/95) P. A17 In Jacksonville, Fla., the 13-year-old daughter of a hospital clerk was arrested on Monday after calling people treated at the hospital's emergency room and telling them that they were HIV-positive. Police Sergeant Malcolm Adams said the girl had visited her mother at work over the weekend and took a list of patients' phone numbers with her. The girl has been charged with three counts of making threats, one count of assault, and one count of aggravated assault. Seven patients said they had received prank calls. A 16-year-old patient had to be restrained from trying to commit suicide when she received the false test results. Jan Olson, a hospital spokeswoman, said the hospital will call all patients who were treated in the emergency room over the weekend to make sure that no one else was given phony information. She also said that the girl's mother could face dismissal for divulging confidential information to her daughter. Related Story: New York Times (03/01) P. B7 "Swazi Babies in Hospital with HIV Virus" Reuters (03/01/95) Derek von Wissell, Swaziland's Health Minister, said that the majority of the babies admitted to the country's hospitals were treated for HIV-related illnesses. He gave no specific figures, but said that because of the virus, deaths among babies would significantly increase within a few years. "This will destroy the achievements of the past decade when infant mortality was reduced from 150 per 1,000 to less than 100 per 1,000," he said. Last week, von Wissell announced that about 80,000 people in Swaziland had become infected with HIV, and predicted that at least 9,000 would die of full-blown AIDS in 1996. "The Reliable Source: Greg Louganis" Washington Post (03/01/95) P. B3; Romano, Lois On Monday, Greg Louganis said that it was a promise to his late psychiatrist, Stan Ziegler, that made him reveal in his new book, "Breaking the Surface," that he has AIDS. Louganis tearfully told an audience at Columbia University that "one of the saddest things about losing Stan is that he is not here to see what a difference our time together has made and that he would [have been] here to hear me say...I'm gay and I'm HIV-positive." "This AIDS Play Is Honestly Hilarious" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/01/95) P. E2; Keating, Douglas J. Paul Rudnick's "Jeffrey" is one of the funniest plays in years, according to Philadelphia Inquirer theater critic Douglas J. Keating. The play is about Jeffrey, a young, gay man who is highly sexed at a time when AIDS has made sex dangerous. Jeffrey falls in love with a man who is infected with HIV, is forced to confront the realities of the disease. Some of the most comical episodes are in the form of interludes as Jeffrey searches for a way to come to terms with himself and his situation. They include his attendance at a 12-step program for sexual compulsives; a fantasy phone conversation with his Midwestern parents, who give him advice on his sex life; and a bizarre encounter with a gay priest. "Alienation, AIDS and Murder, but Keeping a Sense of Humor" New York Times (03/01/95) P. C13; Brantley, Ben The first act of Nicky Silver's "Raised in Captivity" features two men describing two very different deaths. One man has watched his lover die from AIDS, while the other man talks about committing a murder. The play--which is about alienation, guilt, redemption, and self-punishment--opens in a graveyard where Sebastian Bliss, his twin sister, and her husband have gathered to mourn the death of the twins' mother. Sebastian, who has lived in a state of "sexual and emotional celibacy" in the 11 years since his lover's death, later says, "I have no contact with anyone, including myself." The author juxtaposes the banal and the outlandishly whimsical in dialogue that lingers hauntingly in the memory. "Burroughs Wellcome Co. Begins U.S. Clinical Trial Program with Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Protease Inhibitor for HIV" PR Newswire (02/28/95) On Tuesday, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Burroughs Wellcome Co. announced the commencement of a Phase I clinical trial for VX-478 in the United States. The trial is a dose escalation trial designed to test the tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and oral bioavailability of VX-478, an orally administered protease inhibitor for the treatment of HIV infection and AIDS that was designed by Vertex. The study is the first in an international clinical development program for VX-478 being undertaken by Burroughs Wellcome, Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., and Vertex. Burroughs Wellcome and Kissei will use the results of the trial to develop trials to determine the safety and anti-HIV efficacy of VX-478 alone and in combination with reverse transcriptase inhibitors. "The Burroughs Wellcome-sponsored clinical program and the Kissei studies planned for Japan are part of an effort that is both extensive and designed to generate data rapidly on VX-478," said Dr. Joshua Boger, President and CEO of Vertex. "We and our partners believe that the pharmaceutical attributes of VX-478 make it a very promising drug candidate for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection." "Amgen Turns Bullish on Possible Lab Breakthroughs" Wall Street Journal (02/28/95) P. B4; Rundle, Rhonda L. Amgen researchers and executives hope to impress securities analysts with their optimism for Amgen's pipeline at a major presentation on Tuesday. According to George Morstyn, vice president of clinical development, the company currently has 11 candidates either in or ready for clinical trials. In addition, 18 trials are underway to extend Neupogen's applications to cancer, AIDS, pneumonia, and other infectious diseases. The most exciting project involves a molecule called megakaryocyte, which triggers platelet growth and could play a major role in cancer treatment. "UCSF Launches HIV Prevention Fact Sheets to Answer Common Questions" Business Wire (02/27/95) Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have created fact sheets to answer common questions about HIV prevention. In an effort to make HIV prevention behavioral research findings more widely available, the fact sheets are being distributed to policymakers, legislators, research funding agencies, and community-based HIV prevention programs. The fact sheets are the product of Looking Back, Looking Ahead--a two-year project devoted to studying and disseminating information on HIV behavioral research--which was co-sponsored by the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) and the Harvard AIDS Institute. "The challenge of HIV prevention demands that there be open communication between behavioral scientists and those on the front lines actually delivering, funding, and evaluating prevention services," said Dr. Thomas J. Coates, CAPS director and the project's co-principal investigator. Some of the issues addressed in the fact sheets include whether condoms are effective in preventing HIV transmission, what women's HIV prevention needs are, and whether clinicians can help with HIV prevention. "Reexamining AIDS Research Priorities" Science (02/03/95) Vol. 267, No. 5198, P. 633; Paul, William E. The continued development of the AIDS epidemic and the high rate of infection in many disadvantaged communities emphasize the federal government's responsibility to create an effective response, writes William E. Paul, director of the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the journal Science. Many scientists, such as Professor Bernard Fields of the Harvard Medical School, are calling for a significant increase in the support of research on the basic mechanisms underlying HIV infection and disease progression and on the nature of immune responses that might control such progression. Recent legislation gives the OAR the responsibility of developing a comprehensive plan that sets the scientific priorities to be used in the design of the whole NIH AIDS budget. Questions that still need to be answered include what accounts for the immunodeficiency in AIDS, whether protective immunity occurs and under what circumstances, and whether the cytokine environment is necessary in determining the protective value of immune responses. The critical importance of immune responses both before and after infection suggests that unified efforts to understand how the immune system can be mobilized to control HIV is of the highest priority, concludes Paul. "Transitions" Advocate (02/21/95) No. 675, P. 23 The Massachusetts board of bar overseers has recommended that Harvey Prager, 47, be admitted to the state bar. In 1988, Prager was convicted of smuggling 11 tons of marijuana into the United States, and was sentenced to operating an AIDS hospice in his home for five years. During that period, he attended law school. The board said that Prager had "testified convincingly to the deep impression and chastening effect" of operating the hospice. *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#* # # * NEW "Frequently Asked Questions" * # on HIV/AIDS-related topics # * * # Call 800-458-5231 for a FREE copy # * * #*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# The CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse (CDC NAC) is pleased to announce a new series of publications that provide answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" on a variety of HIV/AIDS-related topics. The publications present brief answers to questions about HIV/AIDS and... * Visually Impaired Persons (#B352) * The Deaf (#B354) * Incarcerated Persons (#B404) * Nutrition (#B361) * Women (#B436) * Developmentally Disabled Persons (#B337) Each publication includes: * brief answers to HIV/AIDS-related questions * materials and resources * organizations to contact for further information Get a FREE copy today! To order any of the frequently asked questions series call the Clearinghouse Publications Ordering Department at 800-458-5231 (press 2 at the options menu), or 800-243-7012 (deaf access/TDD). Write to: CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse Publications Ordering Department P.O. Box 6003 Rockville, MD 20849-6003 Fax to: 301-251-5343 Send an Internet request to: aidsinfo@cdcnac.aspensys.com Get your "Frequently Asked Questions" publications even faster: * Order your copies through NAC FAX, CDC NAC's fax-on-demand service. Call 800-458-5231 and follow the directions to the NAC FAX service. * Or access the information electronically by connecting to the CDC NAC gopher, at cdcnac.aspensys.com. You can also download the text files from the CDC NAC file transfer protocol (FTP) site, at cdcnac.aspensys.com. *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*