Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 10:06:16 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/02/95 AIDS Daily Summary October 2, 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 ************************************************************ "Fungal Infections Resist Treatment" "Ace Gallery AIDS Gala Too Popular for Police" "AIDS Conference Recommends Use of Drug Cocktail" "Black Men in Houston Target of Study" "Biochem Pharma Inc.--European Phase II/III Study Indicates Sustained Effect of 3TC(TM) in Combination with AZT on Surrogate Markers of HIV for Two Years" "Experts Suggests Donated Blood Should Be Filtered" "AIDS Update: Take-Home Test" "Chemist Follows Own Path in Research on Proteins" "Prevalence and Incidence of Vertically Acquired HIV Infection in the United States" ************************************************************ "Fungal Infections Resist Treatment" Washington Times (10/02/95) P. A8 Certain fungal infections, especially those that affect people with AIDS, are becoming resistant to treatment, according to researcher Dennis Dixon of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "There are gaps in coverage, so there are fungi that are innately non-responsive to the available drugs," Dixon explained. "Ace Gallery AIDS Gala Too Popular for Police" USA Today (10/02/95) P. 2D; Facter, Sue Los Angeles authorities closed down Friday's AIDS benefit at the Ace Gallery after neighborhood residents complained about the crowd and the noise. The event was scheduled to continue until 2 a.m., but police and firemen arrived more than one hour prior to that time. The party attracted 2,000 people with such features as belly dancers, virtual reality games, and batting cages. "AIDS Conference Recommends Use of Drug Cocktail" Chicago Tribune (09/30/95) P. 1-4 Researchers say that the overall consensus at the 5th European Conference on Clinical Aspects and Treatment of HIV Infection in Copenhagen, Denmark, was that a combination of AZT with either ddI or ddC should be given to prolong the lives of AIDS patients. A joint European-Australian study presented at the conference indicated that AZT and ddI or AZT and ddC extended the survival times of nearly 40 percent of the subjects by more than two years. "We now know that a combination of drugs does make a difference and can achieve prolonged survival," said Dr. Scott Hammer of Harvard Medical School. "Black Men in Houston Target of Study" Houston Chronicle (09/29/95) P. 35A; Lum, Lydia A large number of young African-American men in Houston continue to have misperceptions about AIDS more than 10 years after the beginning of the epidemic, said researchers at Texas Southern University. Almost 50 percent of the 2,472 men polled incorrectly responded to at least four of 18 questions, noted Gerald Waddy, associate director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Center at the university. For example, close to 20 percent of the respondents said that heterosexuals cannot become HIV-infected. Fifteen percent said that HIV can be transmitted from a toilet. "We didn't anticipate some of these responses," Waddy said. More than 80 percent of the men surveyed said they were heterosexual, and almost 60 percent had either attended or graduated from college. The two-year study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Houston department of health. Waddy said that workers from the HIV/AIDS Prevention Center plan to offer counseling and education in the areas where large numbers of men answered incorrectly. "Biochem Pharma Inc.--European Phase II/III Study Indicates Sustained Effect of 3TC(TM) in Combination with AZT on Surrogate Markers of HIV for Two Years" Business Wire (09/29/95) Biochem Pharma reported at the 5th European Conference on Clinical Aspects and Treatment of HIV Infection in Copenhagen, Denmark, that the effects of a combination of 3TC and AZT appear to have been sustained for two years in the 26 HIV-infected patients for whom data is currently available. The efficacy was measured using the surrogate markers CD4 cells levels and viral load. The drug combination was well tolerated, as most reported side effects, such as nausea or headache, were considered mild. Glaxo Wellcome began trials to determine the clinical benefit of 3TC and AZT earlier this year. "Experts Suggests Donated Blood Should Be Filtered" Reuters (10/01/95) According to a researcher at New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center, blood transfusion recipients may recover from surgery faster and have a lower risk of infection if the white blood cells are filtered out first. "In the long term there will be substantial savings because it will mean fewer infections and shorter stays in the hospital," said researcher Paul Tartter. In a report prepared for the American Medical Association, Tartter also said that U.S. blood donations, which declined significantly when the AIDS epidemic first hit the country in the 1980s, still have not reached their previous levels, though the number of people banking their own blood for use during surgery has increased substantially. "AIDS Update: Take-Home Test" Men's Health (10/95) Vol. 10, No. 8, P. 61 A new survey indicates that home HIV testing kits could be popular if approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Nearly 30 percent of those polled said they were at least somewhat likely to use the test, while more than 40 percent of respondents with risk factors said they would use it. The concept of a home HIV test--in which the user pricks a finger, places the blood on filter paper, and then mails it to a laboratory--has long been controversial. Opponents claim that giving test results over the phone may not provide sufficient counseling. "Chemist Follows Own Path in Research on Proteins" Nikkei Weekly (09/11/95) Vol. 33, No. 1688, P. 19; Taki, Junichi Yoshiako Kiso, a professor at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University in Japan, is best-known for an AIDS treatment that uses a peptide called Kinostatin 272 to block the protease enzyme. Kinostatin 272, which is one of the more promising new AIDS drugs, is now in clinical testing in the United States. Kiso claims that it was merely luck that he happened to be a protease enzyme specialist in 1987, when medical research linked the enzyme to HIV disease. Developing a protease-inhibiting peptide, however, was not so easy. According to Kiso, his 20-person research team succeeded because of its "hands on" approach, in which it tested thousands of peptides based on theoretical calculations. "Prevalence and Incidence of Vertically Acquired HIV Infection in the United States" Journal of the American Medical Association (09/27/95) Vol. 274, No. 12, P. 952; Davis, Susan F.; Byers, Robert H.; Lindegren, Mary Lou et al. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a national HIV serosurvey of childbearing women to estimate the incidence of vertically transmitted HIV infection in children born between 1988 and 1993. Using the results of the survey, as well as older data from the national AIDS surveillance system, they determined that 14,920 babies with HIV were born in the United States from 1978 to 1993. Of this total, approximately 12,240 were alive at the beginning of 1994--26 percent were less than two years old, 35 percent were between two and four years, and 39 percent were five years or older. It is therefore estimated that 1,630 HIV-infected infants were born in 1993, based on a 25 percent vertical transmission rate and the fact that about 6,530 HIV-infected American women gave birth that year. According to the authors, the findings lay the foundation for estimating medical and other resource needs for HIV-infected women and for assessing the effect of interventions used to reduce vertical HIV transmission.