Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 09:32:48 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/13/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 13, 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 ************************************************************ "Red Cross Tones Down AIDS Materials" "Across the USA: California/Missouri" "Asia AIDS Epidemic Looms Amid Ignorance, Taboos" "Clean Needles in Massachusetts" "Vengeful Irish Woman Spread AIDS Virus--Priest" "Researchers Air Alternative Views on How HIV Kills Cells" "Government Should Readily Admit Errors" "Dental Discrimination Case Could Be Decided by Jury" "The Economics of AIDS" ************************************************************ "Red Cross Tones Down AIDS Materials" New York Times (09/13/95) P. A20; Berke, Richard L. The American Red Cross is attempting to tone down its AIDS prevention program following a request by its president, Elizabeth Dole. Internal Red Cross documents do not indicate any political agenda for Dole, whose husband Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, but some Red Cross officials claim that the board of governors reflected her desires at a time when Sen. Dole is trying to please conservatives. According to Red Cross Chairman Norman R. Augustine, however, Mrs. Dole was motivated by "personal views," not political. "There were concerns raised that the material is highly explicit in terms of sexual matters, including illustrations," Augustine explains. Several organization officials approved an expanded AIDS program in April, but documents show that the board chose to review the program, which delayed it for several months. The board then requested substantial modifications to materials, including leaflets, videos, and instruction manuals. The documents reflect the board members' desire to place increased emphasis on individual responsibility in preventing AIDS, as well as concerns that instructional video language was too explicit and that literature did not focus more on drug abuse. "Across the USA: California/Missouri" USA Today (09/13/95) P. 9A A measure approved by the California state legislature which allows people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis patients to grow and smoke marijuana for medical purposes will likely be vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson, who rejected similar bills in 1993 and 1994. Meanwhile, a program in Missouri that assisted almost 1,400 people with HIV or AIDS has run out of money. The $2.2 million federal grant which provided funds for rent, food, and health care ran out seven months earlier than expected. "Asia AIDS Epidemic Looms Amid Ignorance, Taboos" Reuters (09/13/95); Charles, Deborah Health care and social workers must battle ignorance and religious taboos to teach Asians about AIDS. Thousands will address the problem at the upcoming Third International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, at which organizers say they hope to find some answers--or at least draw attention to the epidemic in the region. According to experts, the number of people with AIDS and HIV will multiply faster in Asia than any other continent. There are already several million HIV and AIDS patients in the region, and many say Asia will soon surpass Africa as the epicenter of the disease. The World Health Organization notes that India and Thailand are the two nations that have had the most significant increases in infections. Non-government organizations in India estimate that about 3.8 million residents are infected with HIV and that 200,000 have AIDS, while the much less populous Thailand is suspected to have about 800,000 cases of HIV and at least 24,000 cases of AIDS. "Clean Needles in Massachusetts" Boston Globe (09/12/95) P. 14 The city of Worcester would be wise to follow Massachusetts Gov. William Weld's authorization of a modest expansion of a state needle-exchange program, write the editors of the Boston Globe. Earlier this month, Commissioner of Public Health David Mulligan reported that in its first two years, the program provided more than 37,000 sterile needles, collected an equal number of used or contaminated needles, helped hundreds of addicts into drug treatment programs, and did not result in increased drug use. In addition, program officials say there has been a reduction in HIV infections among drug users and their partners because participants are given condoms, bleach, free HIV tests, and counseling. The Worcester City Council and officials of other communities in the state where drugs and AIDS have taken their toll should consider the advantages of needle-exchange programs, and then implement a trial program, the editors conclude. "Vengeful Irish Woman Spread AIDS Virus--Priest" Reuters (09/12/95) Physicians minimized rumors that a malicious Irish woman infected as many as 80 men after becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "This would seem to be a very high level of transmission. It requires to be investigated," said Dr. James Walsh, former National Irish AIDS coordinator. Walsh added that, according to standard rates of HIV transmission in heterosexual sex, the woman would have had to have intercourse with each man several hundreds of times to have infected them all. The story began in the coastal town of Dungarvanon Sunday, when Father Michael Kennedy revealed to his congregation that a female AIDS patient told him that she had slept with 60 to 80 men in the region. The woman said she was on a revenge mission, Kennedy told the media. "Researchers Air Alternative Views on How HIV Kills Cells" Science (08/25/95) Vol. 269, No. 5227, P. 1044; Cohen, Jon AIDS researchers recently gathered in Berkeley, Calif., to discuss their "alternative" views on how HIV destroys the immune system and causes AIDS. "We have to subvert the dominant paradigm," said immunologist Michael Ascher of the Calif. Dept. of Health Services at the opening of the forum. The paradigm to which Ascher refers is the cytopathic model of HIV pathogenesis, in which HIV directly cripples the immune system by destroying T lymphocytes that have CD4 receptors. To many researchers, this theory largely explains the gradual loss of CD4 cells in HIV-infected persons. However, Ascher and his colleagues view the model as overly simplistic. "The conclusion that CD4s are killed directly requires a lot of assumption," said immunologist Terri Finkel of the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. Many of the researchers attacked two papers published in the Jan. 12 issue of Nature which said that when anti-HIV drugs stopped HIV production, CD4 levels soared. According to immunologist Haynes Sheppard, HIV disrupts the constant CD4 population when gp120 meshes with the CD4 receptor, which signals CD4 to "activate." Here, the excess activation signal prepares and deletes more CD4s than required. Sheppard and Ascher believe that apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a key factor in the actual deletion of the cells. A number of researchers also suggested that because HIV gradually destroys the lymph node's structure, it might somehow cause the lymph nodes to isolate more and more CD4s than otherwise needed. "Government Should Readily Admit Errors" Nikkei Weekly (08/28/95) Vol. 33, No. 1686, P. 6; Shioya, Yoshio The Japanese government makes promises to the general public to correct its errors and to maintain discipline; however, it rarely apologizes to an individual, notes Yoshio Shioya, a senior staff writer of The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in the Nikkei Weekly. For example, the government has failed to acknowledge any liability for the HIV infection of hemophiliacs via imported blood products. Some people have noted that while the government cannot reject its responsibility for the lapse in switching to safer products, it is simply watching these individuals die. According to Shioya, officials are moved from one position to another, letting them defer decisions that affect the government's honor and authority. Although it would be a waste for the government to compensate cases for which it is not liable, it is wrong for the government to intentionally ignore cases to avoid spending tax money, the author concludes. "Dental Discrimination Case Could Be Decided by Jury" AIDS Alert (09/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 118 The case of a dentist in Maine who refused to treat an HIV-infected individual in his office recently moved closer to becoming the first HIV discrimination case under the Americans with Disabilities Act to be tried before a jury. U.S. District Court Judge Morton Brody rejected a request in July for a judge to decide the case instead of a jury. Sidney Abbott sued Dr. Randon Bragdon of Bangor, Maine, after she revealed she was HIV-positive and he refused to fill her cavity at his office, offering instead to treat her at a hospital. Abbott's attorney said he wants to avoid a jury trial because of jurors' potential misconceptions about HIV. However, unless the judge issues a summary judgment, the case will almost definitely go to a jury. The attorney also claimed that Bragdon's offer to treat his client at a hospital was a pretext for not treating her. "As far as we know, he has never had privileges [at any hospital], so it wouldn't be much of an offer." In addition, requiring Abbott to pay hospital fees for filling a cavity, he said, would be ridiculous. "The Economics of AIDS" Business Week (09/18/95) No. 3442, P. 34; Mandel, Michael J. AIDS may have less of an economic impact than previously thought, according to a new report by David E. Bloom and Ajay S. Mahal of the National Bureau of Economic Research. It was previously thought that AIDS would reduce economic growth in severely affected nations, and that the disease's high medical costs would take needed monies from economic investment. When comparing countries with high and low rates of AIDS, however, Bloom and Mahal found no indications that per capita income grew more slowly in hard-hit nations. This finding is in part due to the fact that many developing countries have sufficient surplus labor forces to compensate for the AIDS losses. In addition, more highly educated workers appear to be taking efforts to protect themselves from the disease. Still, Bloom and Mahal note that economically, AIDS may seriously impact particularly hard-hit geographic and demographic groups.