Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 09:48:29 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/15/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 15, 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 ************************************************************ "Study Finds Other AIDS-Fighting Treatments Superior to AZT" "For Those Facing Terminal Illness, Here's a Guide to Handling Finances" "Across the USA: Missouri" "In Mayor's Report on City, an Emphasis on the Positive" "Chronicle: Actor Continues to Help in Fight Against AIDS" "Activists Seek Needle Program in New Bedford" "Health Officials Say No Proof for Irish AIDS Scare" "Update on Treatment of CMV Retinitis" "CD26 Expression Correlates with Entry, Replication and Cytopathicity of Monocytotropic HIV-1 Strains in a T-Cell Line" "Health Watch: 'The Woman's HIV Sourcebook'" ************************************************************ "Study Finds Other AIDS-Fighting Treatments Superior to AZT" Washington Post (09/15/95) P. A19; Okie, Susan The anti-AIDS drug AZT appears to be less effective than an alternative drug or than therapies that combine AZT with either of two other drugs, a new government study concluded. The findings of the study, which involved nearly 2,500 people with moderately impaired immune systems, may change the current recommendation that doctors use AZT as the first-line treatment in AIDS patients, according to Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The study is also important because it is the first to show that a drug or combination of drugs can increase survival or delay disease progression in people with early HIV infection, Fauci said. Overall, the researchers determined that "ddI alone, ddI plus AZT, and ddC plus AZT were each superior to AZT alone" in preventing death, progression to AIDS, or a substantial reduction in CD4 cells. Related Stories: New York Times (09/15) P. A20; Wall Street Journal (09/15) P. B3; Washington Times (09/15) P. A6 "For Those Facing Terminal Illness, Here's a Guide to Handling Finances" Wall Street Journal (09/15/95) P. C1; Asinof, Lynn People diagnosed with a terminal illness must face the daunting financial questions of how their medical bills will be paid, how they will take care of their families, and how these people will survive after the patient's death. Although it is possible to defeat the illness, it is important to arrange your financial plans in case that you do not. "If you plan for the best case and the worst case happens, you are in bad shape," notes David Petersen of Affording Care, a New York non-profit group that helps the seriously ill. For many, the first move may be to ensure that estate plans are in place--including wills, a durable power of attorney for financial decisions, as well as a health-care power of attorney for medical decisions. However, another aspect of financial planning involves cash flow. Six useful places to look for additional funds are: government entitlement programs, medical insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, employee benefits, and credit. "Across the USA: Missouri" USA Today (09/15/95) P. 8A The state of Missouri may be held accountable for $1.5 million in debts from an AIDS program that went broke, according to state Sen. Harry Wiggins. "In Mayor's Report on City, an Emphasis on the Positive" New York Times (09/15/95) P. B6; Firestone, David A self-evaluation released Thursday by New York city Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani revealed the damaging effects of budget cuts. Some people criticized the upbeat nature of the requisite annual management report, which demonstrated several areas of improvement, but did not emphasize problem areas where city agencies need to improve. "It reads like a campaign document and not a sober reflection of how the city performed last year," commented Chris Meyer, staff attorney for the New York Public Interest Research Group. Included in the report are the fact that the number of new tuberculosis cases in New York City dropped from 3,123 to 2,911 and that the city found only half as many apartments for people with AIDS as it did last year. "Chronicle: Actor Continues to Help in Fight Against AIDS" New York Times (09/15/95) P. B7; Brozan, Nadine For two years, Doug Savant, an actor best known for his character Matt, a gay social worker on "Melrose Place," has worked as a volunteer in the AIDS ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco. This weekend, Savant will help 3,500 cyclists as they travel from Boston to New York City, distributing food and drink at rest stops. He will also host Sunday's closing ceremonies. The bike ride is expected to raise close to $5 million for the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center and for the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston. The actor said he wanted people to know "that Doug Savant, who is so blessed to play the character of Matt, has a real commitment to the community as well." "Activists Seek Needle Program in New Bedford" Boston Globe (09/14/95) P. 23; Nealon, Patricia Activists gathered on the steps of the New Bedford, Mass., City Hall on Thursday to commemorate the 200 city residents who have died from AIDS. Because almost three-quarters of New Bedford's AIDS cases are related to injection drug use, the activists will urge the City Council to support a pilot needle-exchange program by a wide enough margin to override an expected veto from the mayor. The city is second to Boston in the number of AIDS cases per capita in Massachusetts, and injection drug use has caused New Bedford to have the highest percentage of AIDS cases in the state. "Health Officials Say No Proof for Irish AIDS Scare" Reuters (09/14/95); Hill, Andrew Health officials in Ireland announced Thursday that they had no medical evidence to support Father Michael Kennedy's claims that a vengeful woman infected as many as 80 local men with HIV. "Having checked with Irish and UK laboratories, we can confirm that there has bee no documented increase in HIV infection or AIDS in the south-east in the last year," the South Eastern Health board said. John Cooney, the board's CEO, he added that Kennedy had failed to fulfill a promise to name five individuals he said were proved to be HIV-positive or the laboratories where the men were tested. Cooney said there was a remote possibility that neither Irish nor British laboratories had been given the correct names by locals seeking HIV tests, but added that it would be impossible to verify unless the curate revealed the name of the woman or the five infected men. "Update on Treatment of CMV Retinitis" AIDS Clinical Care (09/95) Vol. 7, No. 9, P. 71; Feinberg, Judith Recently, several new developments in the treatment and prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis have been reported. The first discovery is a permeable implant that delivers intraocular ganciclovir over a period of 33 to 39 weeks. A small, two-center study of the device in peripheral CMV retinitis patients found that the implant was effective in controlling the disease. Follow-up, however, revealed a high rate of CMV disease elsewhere in the body, and the researchers concluded that the significant number of adverse effects could be related to the implant. A second trial compared the efficacy of intraocular and intravenous ganciclovir. The researchers determined that the patients in the implant groups fared better than those who received only standard intravenous ganciclovir therapy, and that the implant recipients had a substantially longer time until retinitis progression. Other studies have evaluated the use of intravenous and intravitreal cidofovir. Together, they indicate that a single intravitreal injection of cidofovir may provide extended control of retinitis. In addition, the researchers attributed a long period between injections to an increased degree of safety in terms of ocular toxicity. A question that now needs to be answered with the advent of these therapies is how to identify high-risk patients so that specific prophylaxis can be administered. "CD26 Expression Correlates with Entry, Replication and Cytopathicity of Monocytotropic HIV-1 Strains in a T-Cell Line" Nature Medicine (09/95) Vol. 1, No. 9, P. 919; Oravecz, Tamas; Roderiquez, Gregory; Koffi, Justin et al. Oravecz et al. discovered a specific decrease in CD26 expression at the protein and messenger RNA level after monocytotropic (M-tropic), but not T-cell line-tropic (T-tropic) infection when comparing the role of certain cell surface receptors in M-tropic and T-tropic HIV-1 infection. In addition, the researchers found a correlation between CD26 expression and susceptibility to M-tropic viral variants that was not apparent in the T-tropic viruses. The low CD26 expression in PM1 T-cell cultures repeatedly infected with M-tropic HIV-1 marks the preferential elimination of cells with high CD26 expression. The researchers, therefore, propose a model in which differences in the V3 loop sequence that affect cell tropism and viral cytopathicity also result in varied selective pressures on infected groups of cells. The researchers concluded that CD26, is an important marker of M-tropic HIV-1 infection and that the research suggests a mechanism for the premature loss of CD26-expressing cells in patients infected with HIV-1. "Health Watch: 'The Woman's HIV Sourcebook'" Upscale (08/95) Vol. 7, No. 1, P. 60 Jane MacLean Craig's "The Woman's HIV Sourcebook," from Taylor Publishing, describes the medical details and prevention methods of HIV. The book also provides information on current treatments, as well as a discussion of several legal and financial issues--including health insurance, housing, and job discrimination. "Correction on the AIDS Daily Summary" CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse (09/14/95) This is a clarification to the Industry Week article that was posted in the AIDS Daily Summary dated September 11, 1995 ( "Your Health: AIDS Guidelines" Industry Week, Vol 244, No 15, p19). The HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) is a coordinated Public Health Service effort that is offered through the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse. The PHS agencies supporting this service are: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Office of HIV/AIDS Policy and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. ATIS is a free telephone reference service that provides timely, accurate treatment information on HIV and AIDS. The staff is working with many different HIV/AIDS information services to build a comprehensive treatment information referral network. This network will be used to link callers to appropriate information resources. Call: 800-HIV-0440 VOICE (800-448-0440) 800-243-7012 TTY/Deaf Access Write: P.O. Box 6303 Rockville, MD 20849-6303 atis@cdcnac.aspensys.com INTERNET THE END.