Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 10:17:35 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/06/95 AIDS Daily Summary October 6, 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 ************************************************************ "Nationline: AIDS Lawsuit" "Basketball: Is Magic Johnson Invited?" "Study Eases Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Fears" "Vaccines May Speed AIDS Virus" "Runnin' Scared: Bloodletting at the AIDS Institute" "Eleven Years of Community-Based Directly Observed Therapy for Tuberculosis" ************************************************************ "Nationline: AIDS Lawsuit" USA Today (10/06/95) P. 3A; Leavitt, Paul; Rivera, Patricia V.; Goodwin, M. David; et al. Collegeville, Pa.-based Armour Pharmaceutical Co. has agreed to an out-of-court settlement with three of six Canadian hemophiliacs who claim they were infected with HIV from tainted blood products, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Each of the three plaintiffs will receive $1.55 million. Documents presented as evidence at a government hearing in Toronto reveal that Armour continued to sell its blood-clotting product Factorate until 1987, even though it knew 10 years ago that its heat-treating process did not destroy HIV. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (10/06) P. B7; Washington Post (10/06) P. A2; New York Times (10/06) P. A17 "Basketball: Is Magic Johnson Invited?" New York Times (10/06/95) P. B14 Magic Johnson's agent, Lon Rosen, claims there are "mixed signals" coming from Taiwan, where a government official said the basketball legend has been prohibited from entering the country because he is infected with HIV. Rosen explained: "Magic has an official invitation from the president of Taiwan to visit with him there. So obviously there are some mixed signals." Johnson is supposed to visit Taiwan on Oct. 30 with his All-Stars basketball team, which will play two exhibition games against Taiwan's Hung Fu Rams basketball team. However, Chang Po-Ya, director general of the Department of Health, said that Johnson was barred because of Taiwanese laws that keep people with major contagious diseases, such as AIDS, from entering the country. "Study Eases Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Fears" Reuters (10/04/95) A study to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that drug-resistant tuberculosis may not be as resistant to further treatment as previously thought. The researchers looked at 26 HIV-negative tuberculosis patients who had already resisted treatment with at least two drugs and found that only one patient did not respond to additional drug therapy. Edward Telzak, one of the researchers, states, "Contrary to previous reports, patients without HIV infection who contract multidrug-resistant tuberculosis can be expected to respond [to further treatment]." A study two years ago by physicians at a Denver tuberculosis center had reported that 22 percent of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis died and only 56 percent responded to further treatment. "Vaccines May Speed AIDS Virus" AIDS Alert (10/95) Vol. 10, No. 10, P. 123 Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles have demonstrated that even moderate stimulation of the immune system may increase the speed of HIV's growth. "The point of our study is that even a mild stimulation like the flu vaccination can result in increases in the growth of the AIDS virus," explains William O'Brien, director of the Immunodeficiency Clinic and Retrovirology Research Lab at the West Los Angeles Veterans Medical Center. In the study, published in the August issue of Blood, researchers used influenza vaccination to imitate the foreign protein exposure that patients experience because of infections or allergies. In more than 50 percent of the HIV-infected subjects, the foreign stimulation temporarily raised the HIV levels an average 10-fold. The increases were not seen in the control group. Despite these findings, the researchers advise most HIV-infected individuals to be vaccinated against influenza because the actual flu infection could be more harmful than the vaccine. Vaccination, however, may not be indicated for people with more advanced disease. "Runnin' Scared: Bloodletting at the AIDS Institute" Village Voice (10/03/95) Vol. 40, No. 40, P. 12; Gogola, Tom New York Gov. George Pataki's recent dismissal of four executive staff members of the state AIDS Institute and reassignment of four others caused alarm among AIDS service providers and prevention organizations. The nationally-known institute was established as a division of the state Department of Health (DOH) 12 years ago, though supporters claim it has since operated semi-independently. The organization has successfully discovered and treated such hidden communities as female ex-convicts and the homeless. "I'm very concerned that Pataki and [health commissioner] Barbara DeBuono won't get that independent voice now," said Charles King, co-executive director of Housing Works, which receives funding from the institute. Pataki's actions shift some of the institute's operations under the control of the DOH, and, at least temporarily, cancel others. Some members of the AIDS community claim the governor is simply subjecting the epidemic to additional bureaucracy. "Eleven Years of Community-Based Directly Observed Therapy for Tuberculosis" Journal of the American Medical Association (09/27/95) Vol. 274, No. 12, P. 945; Chaulk, C. Patrick; Moore-Rice, Kristina; Rizzo, Rosetta et al. Chaulk et al. conducted a study of the efficacy of community-based directly observed therapy (DOT) for tuberculosis (TB) control in 20 U.S. metropolitan cities with more than 250,000 residents. Baltimore saw the greatest decline in TB cases since 1981. Meanwhile, the incidence of TB has increased by more than 35 percent in the five-city cohort since 1985 and by more than 28 percent in the 19 cities, while the rate in Baltimore fell nearly 30 percent. Compared to the five cities, Baltimore's DOT cases had the highest sputum conversion rates and completion rates for anti-TB therapy during 1986 and 1992--trends that cannot be attributed to differentials in AIDS, immigration, poverty, or unemployment. The implementation of community-based DOT resulted in a significant reduction in TB cases in Baltimore, compared to the national increase during the 1980s. DOT--which facilitated treatment completion and bacteriologic evidence of cure in Baltimore--could help reduce the rate of TB nationwide, the authors conclude.