Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 09:24:27 +0500 From: gharaghs{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/gharaghs}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/19/95 AIDS Daily Summary October 19, 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 ************************************************************ "Law Freeing Inmates With AIDS Rejected" "A Marathon Man With HIV" "Sri Lankan Homosexuals Come Out of the Closet" "Clinton to Hold AIDS Conference" "Probe of AIDS Group Sought" "Medarex Files With SEC for 3,000,000 Share Offering" "Critics Claim Disney's Gay Policy is Anti-Family" "India's Population Plan Falls Short--Survey" "Condom Semen Samples for Unlinked Anonymous HIV Testing" "Alpha 1 Settles Shareholder Suit" ************************************************************ "Law Freeing Inmates With AIDS Rejected" Washington Post (10/19/95) P. A34; Williams, Daniel The Constitutional Court in Rome has overturned legislation that permitted criminals with AIDS to be freed from jail. The ruling follows a slew of robberies by so-called AIDS gangs this summer in northeastern Italy. The court said that the law "granted a sort of impunity to the ill [inmates] that did not respect the defense of the health of the entire community." Whether or not prisoners infected with HIV or AIDS should be freed will now be decided on a case-by-case basis. Judges will also now be required to determine whether prisoners with the disease are adequately cared for and whether the risk of contagion is controlled. In addition, Thursday's ruling overturns laws that exempted people with AIDS from detention without trial. Now, they are subject to preventive detention if they are suspected of serious offenses. "A Marathon Man With HIV" USA Today (10/19/95) P. 3D; Painter, Kim This Sunday, Dave Sherrell, a 32-year-old man who has been infected with HIV for at least nine years, will run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. As of the last time his doctor checked, Sherrell had only four T4 cells per cubic millimeter of his blood, but his disease has not prevented him from running marathons in cities including Athens, Berlin, and Helsinki. "I have a lot of patients like this, people who have dramatically low [immune cell counts] who are lifting weights, running, doing their thing," said Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci added that he encourages his patients to "do whatever your body tells you that you can do." Meanwhile, Sherrell counsels, "I do want to say to other people with HIV, 'Go out and live your life ... You can still live a full life for a long time.'" "Sri Lankan Homosexuals Come Out of the Closet" Reuters (10/18/95); Samarasinghe, Mohan Companions on a Journey, a private Sri Lankan organization that helps disadvantaged communities, decided in January to address homosexual issues exclusively and is currently conducting an assessment of the needs of Sri Lanka's gay and lesbian population. Founder Sherman de Rose established the group in 1992 to provide sexual health services for communities at risk, including those infected with HIV. According to statistics from the health department, 159 Sri Lankans have tested positive for the disease, while another 6,000 are HIV-positive but do not know it. The country's penal code mandates 12 years in prison for homosexual sex by men. "Clinton to Hold AIDS Conference" Washington Times (10/19/95) P. A10 White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry said Wednesday that President Clinton will hold a conference on AIDS on December 6. He added that 130 participants would discuss recent trends and issues regarding AIDS and HIV. "Probe of AIDS Group Sought" Philadelphia Inquirer (10/19/95) P. B1; Collins, Huntly Philadelphia Health Commissioner Estelle Richman has asked the District Attorney's office to look into allegations of criminal behavior at Prevention Point, an organization that provides clean needles to drug addicts in an attempt to fight AIDS. Richman has already decided to take back $113,125 in city funds awarded to the program in early October to establish a drop-in center for drug addicts. Sources say health officials are concerned about allegations of illicit drug use by a former employee of the program. Prevention Point's chairman, David Acosta, conceded that an employee has been suspended for illegal drug use, but he argued that Richman was targeting the program in order to conserve funds for more mainstream AIDS organizations. "I guess they found the most politically expedient and most vulnerable community to defund," he said. State law forbids the distribution of drug paraphernalia without a prescription, but this has never been enforced against Prevention Point. "Medarex Files With SEC for 3,000,000 Share Offering" Health Wire (10/18/95) Medarex Inc., a biopharmaceutical company working to develop antibody-based therapies for cancer, AIDS, and autoimmune disorders, announced on Thursday that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange commission. The company intends to sell 3 million shares of common stock via a public offering to certain institutional investors. Smith Barney Inc. and Vector Securities International Inc. are the placement agents for this offering. "Critics Claim Disney's Gay Policy is Anti-Family" USA Today (10/19/95) P. 1B; Jones, Del; Willette, Anne Fifteen Florida legislators have written a letter to Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner protesting the company's decision to extend health insurance coverage to gay and lesbian employees' partners. The lawmakers accused the company of "belittling the sanctity of marriage" and making its customers and other employees pay for treatment for AIDS patients. According to Liz Winfield and Susan Spielman, authors of Straight Talk About Gays in the Workplace, the cost of AIDS treatment is comparable to that for heart disease and cancer treatment and less expensive than care for a premature birth. However, Rep. Bob Brooks, a doctor who treats AIDS patients and the initiator of the letter, argued, "I feel this policy is headed in the wrong direction. In the long run, it will result in an increased number of AIDS cases." "India's Population Plan Falls Short--Survey" Reuters (10/19/95); Graves, Nelson The National Family Health Survey released on Thursday indicates widespread ignorance of AIDS and modern birth control methods in India. The majority of women in 11 of 13 Indian states said they had never heard of AIDS. Only eight percent of respondents in the state of Assam were familiar with the disease. "If the AIDS virus continues spreading at current rates, an estimated five million persons in India will be infected by the year 2000," said the report, which was funded by a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million Indians are currently infected with HIV. "Condom Semen Samples for Unlinked Anonymous HIV Testing" Lancet (10/07/95) Vol. 346, No. 8980, P. 962; Vernazza, Pietro L.; Gresser, Susanne; Koller, Carmen; et al. In a letter to the editor of The Lancet, Vernazza et al. write that unlinked anonymous HIV testing (UAT) can be used to track the spread of HIV in certain populations. The Swiss researchers attempted to determine the usefulness of UAT in heterosexually active men by testing semen samples from condoms. During a two-week period, eight prostitutes in Switzerland collected a total of 804 condoms from their clients. None of the semen samples were reactive on HIV antibody testing, a negative result which was not unexpected, the researchers say, because that population has an estimated seroprevalence of 0.1 percent to 0.25 percent. The researchers feel that UAT is a viable method of testing for HIV in heterosexually active men, though it is limited to the population of men that uses condoms with women. "Alpha 1 Settles Shareholder Suit" Washington Business Journal (10/06/95-10/12/95) Vol. 14, No. 21, P. 12 Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. has settled a class-action securities lawsuit brought by shareholders for $100,000 in cash and 500,000 shares of stock. Shareholders filed the lawsuit in May 1994, alleging that executives of the company manipulated stock price by not informing them of unfavorable clinical results about Thymosin alpha 1, a potential treatment for hepatitis B. Thymosin alpha 1 is now being developed by SciClone Pharmaceuticals, which has licensed the drug from Alpha. Alpha, meanwhile, is developing Thymosin beta 4, a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis, sepsis, and certain respiratory diseases.