Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 09:38:39 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/18/95 AIDS Daily Summary October 18, 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 ************************************************************ "Dole Says Staff Wrong to Return Gays' Donation" "LifeTECH Applies for Advanced Cellular Infusion Device Patents" "Spread of HIV Among Addicts Studied" "Cytel Acquires Full Ownership of Sequel Therapeutics, Inc." "Condom Ad Barred Over Jersey Stadium" "Confusion Reigns Over Compassionate Use of AIDS Drug" "Prenatal AZT Is Protective Across All Maternal CD4 Counts" "Informed Pregnant Women Opt for HIV Test" "Women at a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic Who Reported Same-Sex Contact: Their HIV Seroprevalence and Risk Behaviors" "Satisfaction with Home Healthcare Services for Clients with HIV: Preliminary Findings" ************************************************************ "Dole Says Staff Wrong to Return Gays' Donation" Washington Post (10/18/95) P. A1; Broder, David S. Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) said Tuesday that his campaign staff erred in returning a $1,000 donation from the Log Cabin Republicans in August. Until now, Dole has defended his rejection of the contribution, but he said on Tuesday, "My view is, [just] because you accept money from them, you don't agree with their agenda." Dole's campaign spokesman, Nelson Warfield, explained, "The campaign returned this contribution to protect Senator Dole from distortions of his record, either by groups that would use a contribution to imply he supports all their views or by opponents that might try similar tactics." He added that Dole told him, "I should have accepted the contribution and said it's a thank you for my work on the Ryan White [AIDS research] bill, and it would have been over." Related Story: New York Times (10/18) P. A1 "LifeTECH Applies for Advanced Cellular Infusion Device Patents" Business Wire (10/17/95) LifeTECH Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has submitted an application for a U.S. patent on two advanced Cellular Infusion Devices, components of the company's Sterizone System to sterilize blood, blood products, and other biological fluids. The Cellular Infusion Device mixes these fluids with ozone in order to neutralize bacteria and viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis. The new devices are more efficient at mixing liquids and gas and cause less cellular damage than LifeTECH's original Cellular Infusion Device. "Spread of HIV Among Addicts Studied" Washington Times (10/18/95) P. A9 According to a study published in Tuesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, many U.S. cities still have a chance of controlling the spread of AIDS if they provide clean needles and attempt to educate drug addicts. "HIV prevention is actually, if you get started early, a whole lot easier than anybody expected," said Don C. Des Jarlais, lead author of the study. The researchers looked at five cities that implemented intervention programs early and successfully kept infection rates low from 1988 through 1993. The cities were Tacoma, Wash.; Glasgow, Scotland; Lund, Sweden; Sydney, Australia; and Toronto, Canada. Related Story: Washington Post (10/18) P. A2 "Cytel Acquires Full Ownership of Sequel Therapeutics, Inc." Business Wire (10/17/95) Cytel Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the Scripps Research Institute's minority interest in Sequel Therapeutics Inc. for 1,300,000 shares of Cytel common stock and will receive rights to Theradigm immune stimulation technology and the resulting vaccines. The company's lead compound based on this technology is Theradigm-HBV, which has been shown to induce a CTL immune response to the hepatitis B virus in healthy subjects. Cytel is also working on applying the Theradigm technology to treatment of hepatitis C, HIV, tuberculosis, fungal diseases, and prostate, breast, and lung cancers. The company recently won a $3.3-million grant from Strategic Programs for Innovative Research on AIDS Treatment to develop Theradigm technology as an immunotherapeutic vaccine for HIV-1 infection. "Condom Ad Barred Over Jersey Stadium" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (10/17/95) P. 4B An air traffic controller prevented a plane towing a condom advertisement from flying over Giants Stadium during a football game, causing the plane's owner to complain that his right to free speech was violated. Spokeswoman Arlene Salac for the Federal Aviation Administration conceded, "Agency policy on access to airspace is not based on an advertiser's message." The advertisement is a 25-foot high silhouette of an unrolled condom with the brand name in the middle and the slogan "roll one on." Marsha Wenk, legal director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "It's not just up to an air traffic controller to decide what the public will be offended by. In light of the AIDS epidemic, there are elements of public service in this message." "Confusion Reigns Over Compassionate Use of AIDS Drug" Nature Medicine (10/95) Vol. 1, No. 10, P. 986; Tastemain, Catherine Many patients and doctors are confused about who now qualifies for the compassionate use of Glaxo Wellcome's experimental AIDS drug 3TC (Lamivudine). Early this year, the company announced that because supplies of the drug were low, it would therefore reduce the numbers of new patients using the drug under its compassionate use program. News of the shortage caused protests among AIDS organizations--including ACT-UP, which demonstrated outside the company's main office in Paris and its facility in Normandy. According to ACT-UP's Francois Houyez, Glaxo should have expected the increased demand that resulted from newly reported promising trial results, and raised production as a result. In July, to the surprise of many, Glaxo said that the 3TC shortage was not as extreme as previously thought. The company said it would double the number of compassionate use patients to more than 600 a week in the United States and 220 in the rest of the world. Conflicting with Glaxo's announcement, however, was the concomitant decision by France's Agence Francaise du Medicament--an agency similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that had been asked by Glaxo to help manage 3TC distribution--that the drug would only be available to patients with between 50 and 200 CD4 cells per mm. "Prenatal AZT Is Protective Across All Maternal CD4 Counts" AIDS Clinical Care (10/95) Vol. 7, No. 10, P. 87 To determine the efficacy of antenatal zidovudine in reducing perinatal transmission of HIV-1, Matheson et al. examined data from more than 300 HIV-infected New York women who participated in a prospective study of vertical HIV transmission. Of these women, 44 were prescribed oral AZT and 277 were not. Intravenous AZT was not used during labor, nor did any of the infants receive the drug. After adjustment for CD4 levels, the AZT group was about 36 percent less likely than the control group to infect their babies with HIV. The absolute HIV transmission rates among women with fewer than 200 CD4 cells were 23 percent in the AZT group, compared to 42 percent without it. Despite the fact that the study was observational and nonrandomized, the results further promote the beneficial effects of AZT therapy for HIV-infected pregnant women, the authors conclude. "Informed Pregnant Women Opt for HIV Test" POZ (10/95-11/95) No. 10, P. 20 An international survey conducted by Kaiser Permanente reinforces the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation that physicians should encourage their pregnant patients to be tested for HIV. One half of the more than 32,400 pregnant women counseled by the health maintenance organization's doctors in 1994 to get HIV tests voluntarily agreed to do so. However, the number jumped to 90 percent in the Kaiser facilities that focused on educating women about benefits of testing. "If you have an organized system and are willing to put in the effort to convince mothers that HIV testing will benefit the baby, an overwhelming number will go along," commented Edgar Schoen, the company's director of perinatal screening in Northern California. "Women at a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic Who Reported Same-Sex Contact: Their HIV Seroprevalence and Risk Behaviors" American Journal of Public Health (10/95) Vol. 85, No. 10, P. 1366; Bevier, Pamela Jean; Chiasson, Mary Ann; Heffernan, Richard T.; et al. Bevier et al. compared the characteristics, attitudes, and HIV-infection status of women at a New York City sexually transmitted disease clinic who reported same-sex contact with those who were exclusively heterosexual. Of the 9 percent who reported having same-sex contact, more than 90 percent said they also had contact with men. Overall, the women who had same-sex contact were more likely than the women who only had sex with men to be HIV seropositive, to trade sex for money or drugs, to use intravenous drugs, and to use crack cocaine. HIV infection in these same women was generally associated with a history of syphilis, exchanging sex for crack, and injection drug use. The researchers concluded that women reporting same-sex contact had greater HIV risk behaviors and were thus more likely to be seropositive for HIV than exclusively heterosexual women, although there were no instances of female-to-female HIV transmission. "Satisfaction with Home Healthcare Services for Clients with HIV: Preliminary Findings" Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (09/95-10/95) Vol. 6, No. 5, P. 20; Foley, Mary E.; Fahs, Marianne C.; Eisenhandler, Jon; et al. Five years ago, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield (EBCBS) started a cooperative program of quality home care for HIV/AIDS patients, called the "At Home Options Program," or AHOP. Foley et al. report their findings of a client satisfaction survey of this unique program, which attempts to enhance the quality of care provided to HIV-infected EBCBS patients, reduce the inpatient admission rate with home care and other suitable services, cut the length of stay for inpatients, and decrease the overall cost of treatment through long-term management. AHOP's available services include a nursing service, a home health aide or housekeeper, physical therapy, mental health services, and a pharmacy card. The 52 AHOP participants surveyed were very satisfied with the services provided. There were, however, some questions about the uneven quality of substitute paraprofessionals, easier access to knowledgeable healthcare professionals, inadequate information dissemination, and administrative oversights. Overall, the survey's results support the continuation of AHOP, while informed changes in the program will help increase its quality and customer satisfaction.