Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 09:45:19 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary March 15, 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 ************************************************************ "Nation of Islam Clinic Markets AIDS 'Cure'" "Self-Insemination May Carry Risk of HIV Infection" "Suit Seeks Release of Babies' AIDS Test Results" "Employee Sues City Over Job" "Across the USA: Maine" "Bill to Provide Private HIV Testing at Home Advances" "AIDS Expert Grilled at Inquiry" "AIDS Funding Change Criticized" "Primary Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis by Fluconazole in HIV-Infected Patients" "AIDS Research Priorities" ************************************************************ "Nation of Islam Clinic Markets AIDS 'Cure'" New York Times (03/15/95) P. A22 A Nation of Islam clinic in Washington, D.C., which has received almost $600,000 in federal funds during the past two years, is dispensing an unlicensed "miracle cure" for AIDS, the Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday. The Abundant Life Clinic is run by Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, the Nation of Islam's chief doctor, who once accused the federal government of developing HIV to eradicate blacks. Alim describes what he is selling as a form of interferon, which studies have found to be ineffective in fighting AIDS. In Nation of Islam publications, the clinic advertises that Alim has found the cure for HIV. He said, in a 1992 speech, that one of his pills taken daily for six months would cure AIDS. In 1992, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said that his church had acquired the exclusive distribution rights in the United States for Immunex, a brand of interferon. However, Dr. George Carlo, acting technical director of Pharma Pacifica Management Ltd. of Australia, which owns the Immunex trademark, said, "How could anyone give them the rights to distribute the drug? It's illegal to sell it in the United States." Related Stories: Chicago Tribune (03/14) P. 1-1; USA Today (03/15) P. 3A "Self-Insemination May Carry Risk of HIV Infection" Washington Post (03/15/95) P. A3 There is a risk of contracting HIV for women who practice self-insemination with sperm that has not been properly screened for HIV, a researcher has cautioned. Another researcher, however, said there have been no reported cases of HIV infection through artificial insemination since 1986, and said a woman's risk of becoming infected in such a fashion is "probably remote." Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that semen donors be tested for HIV, it is not known how many actually are, said Mary E. Guinan of the CDC's HIV-AIDS office, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Artificial insemination is safe but not completely so," she wrote. Still, in another study reported in the same journal, Maria Rosario G. Araneta found that seven of 199 women artificially inseminated with semen from five HIV-infected men between 1981 and 1985 tested HIV-positive. The test for HIV antibody became available in 1985, and no cases of infection through artificial insemination have been reported since then, said Araneta, an epidemiologist with the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego. "Suit Seeks Release of Babies' AIDS Test Results" New York Times (03/15/95) P. B6; Lee, Felicia R. The Association to Benefit Children, a New York City advocacy group for children, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to have all newborns in New York state tested for HIV and their mothers notified of the results. A bill, which would require such testing and disclosure, is expected to go to the Senate floor after being approved by a health committee on Tuesday. Gretchen Buchenholz, the executive director of the association, said that her organization's suit on behalf of HIV-infected children is an effort to extend their lives of the kids and prevent unnecessary pain. The suit claims that the state's "blind" HIV testing is unfair because it is unlike the state's other mandatory testing of newborns for other diseases, in which case the mothers are informed of the results. In its suit, the association has requested that all children born in New York state be tested within 30 days, and that an "HIV risk assessment" be made for all children in the care, custody, and control of the state. "Employee Sues City Over Job" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/15/95) P. B1; Rosenberg, Amy S. On Friday, Cecil Hankins--an African American employee of Philadelphia's Health Department--sued the city, claiming he was passed over for the job of program director of Philadelphia's AIDS office because "the position had been set aside for a member of the white community." Hankins,47, contends that the city lowered the education requirements for the head of the AIDS Activities Coordinating Committee in 1993 so that a "lesser-qualified white male" could be hired. The lawsuit also alleges that the city has a policy within the AIDS office of "altering job requirements for the purpose of preventing qualified African Americans from advancing within the organization." Richard Scott, the man who was given the director's position, was removed in October after leaders of minority groups said he was insensitive to their needs. "Across the USA: Maine" USA Today (03/15/95) P. 9A A bill in Maine's legislature would allow anyone exposed to another person's blood to demand that person be tested for HIV. The measure would also prohibit insurers from requiring HIV tests, except for those people seeking life policies of $100,000 or more. "Bill to Provide Private HIV Testing at Home Advances" Houston Chronicle (03/14/95) P. 15A; Tuell, Sherry Carter On Monday, a bill that would provide for anonymous home HIV testing received tentative approval, and was slated for a vote before the full House on Tuesday. The bill, which is sponsored by Texas Rep. Glen Maxey (D.-Austin) would permit over-the-counter sales of home test kits to detect the virus that causes AIDS. Direct Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval to manufacture HIV test kits similar to those for pregnancy, blood sugar levels, or blood pressure levels. Under Maxey's bill, the Texas Department of Health would establish and enforce standards of testing and counseling for the home test kit, which would cost about $30. An HIV test at the health department costs about $10. The measure has drawn criticism from some AIDS activists who object to the telephone counseling provision. "AIDS Expert Grilled at Inquiry" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/14/95) P. A4; Coutts, Jane On Monday, Canadian Red Cross lawyer Earl Cherniak repeatedly suggested that AIDS expert Dr. Don Francis had not been nearly as aggressive in his recommendations for controlling AIDS as he had claimed. Francis, a former epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), last week said that if the Red Cross had incorporated his recommendations, it might have reduced HIV infection in Canada "by at least three-quarters, if not 90 percent." He based this criticism of the Red Cross on a memo he wrote in January 1983, in which he said that blood banks should refuse donations of blood or plasma if the donors were intravenous drug users, promiscuous, or had sexual partners who were either. During several hours of cross-examination, Cherniak noted repeated instances in which Francis and his colleagues at the CDC could have pushed harder for the recommendations to be adopted. "AIDS Funding Change Criticized" Houston Chronicle (03/14/95) P. 13A; Stinebaker, Joe Minority social service agencies in Harris County, Texas, say that after years of progress, they and their clients are no longer receiving a fair share of this year's federal AIDS funding. Groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans have long relied on "minority set-aside" contracts with the Ryan White Council to provide financial, legal, and health services to county residents who have HIV or AIDS. In August, an assistant county attorney informed the council that the "set-asides" are illegal under state law, effectively ending the program. Now, as the 1995-1996 contracts are being signed, some of the minority-run agencies claim they are being frozen out in favor of larger, more established social service agencies. Health workers, council members, and others says that the federal government has tied the council's hands on how to get funds to the minority community and then threatens punishment if the council does not improve its relationship with minority agencies. "Primary Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis by Fluconazole in HIV-Infected Patients" Lancet (03/04/95) Vol. 345, No. 8949, P. 548; Quagliarello, Vincent J.; Viscoli, Catherine; Horwitz, Ralph I. Quagliarello et al.'s study of the use of oral fluconazole provides evidence for the use of the drug in preventing a first episode of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected people. During the six months before lumbar puncture--a method of specific diagnosis--two of the 18 subjects with cryptococcal meningitis and 26 of the 72 controls were exposed to fluconazole. This finding indicates a 92 percent protective efficacy for fluconazole exposure. The researchers concluded that fluconazole decreases the risk of a first episode of cryptococcal meningitis in people with CD4 counts less than 250. Because the patients were exposed to fluconazole for an average of 30 days, it is possible that a significant protective effect could be achieved with less than daily use. "AIDS Research Priorities" Science (03/03/95) Vol. 267, No. 5202, P. 1249; Kramer, Larry In a letter to the editor published in Science, AIDS activist Larry Kramer uses the phrase "heartbreakingly inadequate" to describe the "comprehensive research plan" as presented by Dr. William E. Paul, director of the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health, to deal with the AIDS epidemic. To Kramer, a plan means strategy, priorities, direction, goals, and results. He questions the goals and vision of Paul's plan. Although Paul's strategy heralds "investigator-initiated research proposals," the process each scientist must go through to obtain funding is still one "fully determined by the procedure of peer review as part of the entire competitive process." Kramer concludes that the new Republican Congress is just beginning to sense what AIDS activists discovered long ago--that NIH has never produced a cure to any major illness, and that for $14 billion each year, the taxpayers are getting a bad value for their money.