Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 10:18:01 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary May 23, 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 ************************************************************ "Health Officials Dropped Warning for Hemophiliacs" "Activist Will Head AIDS Office" "World Bank Denies Its Policies Fuel AIDS Spread" "The Benefits of Needle Exchange" "Hillary Clinton Unveils Pediatric AIDS Campaign" "AIDS Group Demands Chirac Fire Three Ministers" "AIDS Messenger's Trail Ends" "For Benefit, a Dancer in 'Salome'" "Research into Topical Microbicides against STDs" "HIV-Positive Diagnosis May Have Been Negligent" ************************************************************ "Health Officials Dropped Warning for Hemophiliacs" Philadelphia Inquirer (05/23/95) P. A2; Shaw, Donna In 1982, as HIV was spreading through the U.S. blood supply, federal health officials omitted from an article a warning about the potential risks to hemophiliacs of tainted blood products, government documents show. A draft of the article, which was written by doctors from the Centers for Disease Control, included the warning which said that hemophiliacs "should be advised" of the possible danger of contracting HIV from their clotting medicines. The draft was sent to manufacturers of the drugs, but when the article was published in the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, the warning was missing. The omission was recently brought to light when one of the article's authors, Dr. Bruce L. Evatt, was shown the two versions during sworn testimony as part of a federal lawsuit by HIV-infected hemophiliacs. Evatt said was not aware until that moment that the warning was missing and that he had "no idea why it was omitted." "Activist Will Head AIDS Office" Baltimore Sun (05/23/95) P. 1B; Bor, Jonathan Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening appointed Dr. Liza Solomon, a public health researcher and AIDS advocate, to operate the state AIDS Administration. This marks the first time that the director of the office has come directly from the activist community. In the past, Solomon has fought former Gov. William Donald Schaefer's attempts to register the names of HIV-infected individuals, claiming it would violate privacy rights and would scare people from getting care. As a compromise, Solomon helped develop a "unique identifier," a numeric code that provides demographic information about each new case without identifying the person. The AIDS Administration has been without a full-time director since July 1994 when Dr. Kathleen Edwards resigned to take a teaching post at the University of Maryland. Solomon, an instructor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, is a principal investigator in one of the nation's largest studies of HIV infection among women. "World Bank Denies Its Policies Fuel AIDS Spread" Reuters (05/22/95) On Monday, the World Bank rejected as naive an article in the journal AIDS which claimed the bank's policies may have increased the spread of AIDS in developing countries. The article, by three U.S. researchers, said that structural adjustment programs implemented by many developing countries as a prerequisite for receiving World Bank or International Monetary Fund loans had frequently undermined the countries' social structure, promoting behavior that places their citizens at increased risk for infection with HIV. In a letter to the journal's editor, however, Philip Musgrove--a World Bank principal economist--said the article was ignorant and seemed "extraordinarily naive." He said it was not true that the World Bank had advised governments to reduce health spending, and noted that the bank financed programs to control sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS in several nations. Researcher and lead author of the paper, Peter Lurie termed the World Bank's response as "classic institutional defensiveness." "The Benefits of Needle Exchange" Boston Globe (05/22/95) P. 12 In its second year, Massachusett's pilot needle exchange program has provided more than 1,300 drug users with sterile hypodermic needles without an increase in drug abuse, write the editors of the Boston Globe. Because addicts can only participate if they undergo an interview and counseling, the program has been credited with getting hundreds of injection drug users into treatment. Boston was the nation's 20th city to implement a needle exchange program in an effort to reduce the spread of AIDS. But in addition to reducing the risk of HIV infection through dirty needles, participants can also receive free AIDS tests and counseling. The Legislature's Health Care Committee has proposed a measure that would modestly expand the needle exchange program. Gov. Weld has said he will sign it if it reaches him. Substance abuse is one of America's greatest problems, and every means to get people into treatment must be pursued, the editors conclude. "Hillary Clinton Unveils Pediatric AIDS Campaign" Reuters (05/22/95) Citing a study that shows treatment can reduce the risk of mothers transmitting HIV to their babies, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a campaign on Monday that urges pregnant women to get tested for HIV. The campaign, designed by the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, "will reach out and give women the information they need to protect their own health and the health of their children," she said. Clinton also said that, according to the National Institutes of Health study, almost 6,000 HIV-infected American women give birth each year and, without treatment, 20 percent to 25 percent of those babies are born infected. "AIDS Group Demands Chirac Fire Three Ministers" Reuters (05/22/95) ACT-UP urged French President Jacques Chirac on Monday to fire newly-appointed Health Minister Elisabeth Hubert, claiming she was prejudiced against homosexuals. In a half-page advertisement in the daily Liberation, the radical AIDS awareness group also asked Chirac to fire Education Minister Francois Bayrou and Secretary of State for Emergency Humanitarian Action Xavier Emmanuelli. "ACT UP Paris has met often with Ms. Hubert and we know she is in favor of compulsory AIDS-testing, we know she refuses welfare protection for the children of foreigners and we know that she is homophobic," the group said. The organization accused Bayrou of obstructing attempts to teach AIDS prevention in school and Emmanuelli of being the first to adopt "second-grade health care for the poor." "AIDS Messenger's Trail Ends" Philadelphia Inquirer (05/23/95) P. B1; Raphael, Michael Monday was not the first time that Andrew Ross-Ebert, 30, has spoken to schoolchildren about AIDS. It will, however, be his last. Ross-Ebert, who was diagnosed with HIV at age 22, spoke to children at Johnson Elementary in Cherry Hill about the disease that was killing him and what they could do to protect themselves from it. "The act of... the finality of it all, which is admitting to how sick I am...[Today] I did something I've never done in all my years of speaking. I broke down and cried," Ross-Ebert said of his final engagement. His mother estimates that he has spoken to 75,000 people in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. But after recovering from double pneumonia last year, he realized he had to slow down and ultimately stop. Monday's presentation was scheduled months ago--before his most recent diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. But even in the final stages of AIDS, Ross-Ebert was still trying to reach that extra person, the one who will hear him and therefore live a longer life. "For Benefit, a Dancer in 'Salome'" New York Times (05/23/95) P. C14; Dunning, Jennifer Patrick Dupond's solo performance in "Salome" at New York City's City Center promises to reach a new level of extroversion. "Seduction is pushed until destruction. It is inspired by Kabuki and by Oscar Wilde," he commented. Dupond is a principal dancer with the National Opera of Paris. Proceeds from the performance benefit the American Ballet Theater and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to people with AIDS. "Research into Topical Microbicides against STDs" Lancet (05/13/95) Vol. 345, No. 8959, P. 1231; Rowe, Paul M. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease will fund three Programme Project grants to study topical microbicides--primarily for intravaginal use to prevent the sexual transmission of fungal, protozoal, bacterial, and viral diseases. A team led by Lawrence R. Stanberry will study polysulphated carbohydrates and a modified version of heparin without anticoagulant activity. In culture, these compounds can block herpes virus and HIV infections. Sharon L. Hillier will lead a team that will study a number of detergents. Among others, they will re-examine the antimicrobial properties of nonoxynol-9, the spermicide that has been associated with decreased HIV transmission when used in moderate amounts, and increased HIV transmission when used in larger quantities. Finally, Robert I. Lehrer will study protegrins, which are thought to act by "permeabilizing" membranes. Because of their wide spectrum of action, attacking enveloped viruses as well as protozoans and bacteria, researchers hope the protegrins will be very useful. "HIV-Positive Diagnosis May Have Been Negligent" American Medical News (05/08/95) Vol. 38, No. 18, P. 22 A man incorrectly diagnosed with HIV could maintain an action for negligent infliction of emotional distress, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled. In March 1988, a 54-year-old man suffering from diarrhea and weight loss was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. An HIV test was performed when the patient returned to the doctor's office a few months later. In June, the physician reported the positive HIV diagnosis and referred the man to a gastroenterologist, who repeated the HIV test because the patient did not fit any of the high-risk profiles for AIDS. In September 1990, the patient sued the first doctor for negligence in diagnosing him as HIV-positive. A trial court and the high court both agreed that the patient could receive relief for his claim. However, a two-year statute of limitations applied to the claim, and it was barred by time.