Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 09:54:57 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/22/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 22, 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 ************************************************************ "A Lonely Few Roam the Night to Save Lives" "Rate of Births for Teen-Agers Drops Again" "D.C. March to Benefit AIDS Research" "Scientists Confirm Virus Causes Kaposi's Sarcoma" "Gays in San Francisco See Beyond AIDS to Golden Years" "Street-Wise Gay Teens Help Others Fight AIDS" "Brazil Renames AIDS Campaign Talking Penis" "Drugs Target RNA to Block HIV" "Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Thiacetazone for Tuberculosis Treatment in Tanzania" "Patsy Fleming: AIDS Advocate" ************************************************************ "A Lonely Few Roam the Night to Save Lives" Philadelphia Inquirer (09/22/95) P. A1; Sataline, Suzanne Several nights each week, members of the Midnight Cowboy Project walk the streets of Philadelphia distributing condoms in the city's sexual underground. The group's goal is to provide the prophylactics when they are needed. "AIDS doesn't stop because it's cold, because it snows, because it rains," notes member Hassan Gibbs. The success of the group--which receives $90,000 in state, local, and federal funds--has started to receive national attention. David Acosta, the program's founder, has been invited to national AIDS conferences to discuss the Cowboys' methods. During the last fiscal year, the outreach workers handed out more than 61,000 condoms to some 14,000 people. "Rate of Births for Teen-Agers Drops Again" New York Times (09/22/95) P. A18 The birth rate for American teenagers fell for the second consecutive year, the Government announced on Thursday. According to statistician Stephanie Ventura of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the reasons for the decline are not clear, but more teens may be using condoms to prevent HIV infection. Ventura said that abortion is not a factor because studies indicate that the number of teenage abortions is declining. The birth rate among teenagers in the United States fell 2 percent in 1993, the most recent year studied, and 2 percent in 1992. Related Story: Washington Post (09/22) P. A1 "D.C. March to Benefit AIDS Research" Washington Post (09/22/95) P. B2 Thousands of people will march through the streets of Washington, D.C., on Saturday to raise funds for AIDS research in the Whitman-Walker Clinic's ninth annual AIDSWALK. A number of businesses have encouraged their workers to participate in the event, which will include concerts by singers Cyndi Lauper and Diane Reeves. "AIDS hits close to home," explained Bob Davis, chairman of the community involvement council at AT&T, which will have about 200 employees marching. The day will also include a 10-kilometer race and a health fair. "Scientists Confirm Virus Causes Kaposi's Sarcoma" Reuters (09/21/95) British researchers say they have almost definitely proved that a kind of herpes virus causes Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS), a cancer frequently associated with AIDS. Professor Thomas Schulz and his colleagues at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research studied 189 HIV-infected people and 134 controls. They detected the implicated virus, known as Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV), in the blood of 52 percent of the HIV-infected patients who also had KS. Of the 143 HIV-infected patients who did not have KS, KSHV was found in only 11 patients--of whom six later developed the cancer. "None of the blood samples from 134 healthy blood donors and 26 HIV-negative cancer patients contained detectable KSHV," the scientists report in the British medical journal The Lancet. The team, therefore, concluded that "the presence of KSHV in all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma supports a causitive role for this virus in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma." "Gays in San Francisco See Beyond AIDS to Golden Years" Boston Globe (09/21/95) P. 1; Nolan, Martin F. The 30-year-old gay community in San Francisco is starting look past the AIDS epidemic, focusing on old age rather than near death. The city is entering the new age with the help of "Good Dog," a campaign and a brochure for the uninfected gay community that accents living a long life. The name is taken from the wish list that is included--"a good dog...a nice apartment...a life that doesn't revolve around HIV." The campaign--which is geared toward San Francisco's 58,000 gay and bisexual men, as well as the city's many visitors--attempts to address the "random denial in our community," said Derek Gordon of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. But some health professionals, including Thomas J. Coates, director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, are concerned. It is great that people care about prevention, said Coates, but "while we worry about middle-class, middle-aged men, half of the new infections are among people under 25." According to Dana Van Gorder, the city's coordinator of lesbian and gay health services, the campaign's target audience is ages 22 to 35, though "older gay men are thrilled to be role models." "Street-Wise Gay Teens Help Others Fight AIDS" Chicago Tribune (09/21/95) P. 1-5; Schodolski, Vincent J. Filipe Hernandez cruises through Hollywood many nights a week, armed with sandwiches, leaflets, and condoms. Hernandez--a staff member of the nation's first clinic dedicated especially to gay youths--tries to help teenagers, a group of Americans now contracting HIV faster than any other. "The people I come in touch with are alienated," he says. "At first we just try to get them to know that there is somebody out there who cares." Directors of the Pedro Zamora HIV Clinic, which is housed at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, use young people to spread medical help and advice because they feel there is a greater chance that these workers will get through to the teens. "To reach these people you have to look like them, talk like them, dress like them, and understand where they are coming from," explains Lorri Jean, executive director of the center. The new clinic offers HIV testing and counseling, as well as compassion. "Brazil Renames AIDS Campaign Talking Penis" Reuters (09/21/95) Brazil's health ministry announced on Thursday that it had dropped the relatively popular name Braulio given to a "talking penis" used in an AIDS prevention campaign after many complaints from people with that name. Instead, the organ will be addressed by such neutral terms as "partner," "buddy," and "ditto," said Lair Guerra de Macedo Rodrigues, coordinator of the national AIDS program. "The object of this campaign is not to come up with a new name for the male genitalia, but to bring attention to the prevention and control of AIDS," she commented. "Drugs Target RNA to Block HIV" Science News (09/09/95) Vol. 148, No. 11, P. 171; Lipkin, Richard Chemist Anthony W. Czarnick of Parke-Davis reports that he and a team of researchers isolated a class of 149 compounds that block RNA activity in HIV-1. The researchers are attempting to disable HIV with small, easily manufactured molecules that inhibit the reproductive ability of the virus' RNA--specifically, by using trans-activation response (TAR) RNA. "We have evidence that preventing the protein TAT from binding to TAR RNA dramatically decreases the replication of cells infected with HIV-1," Czarnick says. The researchers are therefore focusing on the TAT-TAR binding site. They predict that a drug that keeps the two parts from interacting will suppress HIV infection if the drug can reach its goal. "Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Thiacetazone for Tuberculosis Treatment in Tanzania" Lancet (09/09/95) Vol. 346, No. 8976, P. 657; Ipuge, Yahya A.I.; Rieder, Hans L.; Enarson, Donald A. Ipuge et al. conducted a year-long study of cutaneous thiacetazone-related adverse reactions within Tanzania's tuberculosis (TB) program. Studies conducted by the British Medical Research Council and others suggested that thiacetazone was a useful and inexpensive companion drug for the treatment of TB, but recently the drug has been linked to severe toxic reactions. In this study, more than 1,250 patients with adverse reactions were reported. Among TB patients, there were 3.1 fatal outcomes from any cutaneous reaction per 1,000, while nearly 20 percent of patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis died. Approximately 60 percent of the total reactions and fatalities occurred within 20 days of beginning treatment. Overall, case fatality from adverse cutaneous reactions to thiacetazone was significantly less frequent than previous studies have shown. According to the researchers, the findings indicate that increased management could make the continued use of the drug feasible. "Patsy Fleming: AIDS Advocate" Essence (09/95) Vol. 26, No. 5, P. 68; Cimmons, Marlene Patricia "Patsy" Fleming, the White House director of AIDS policy, says she plans to keep the AIDS epidemic a focus of the national agenda. One part of her campaign will be to direct a continuous flow of AIDS prevention messages at groups expected to be the most at risk in the future, particularly black women. "The numbers for black women are going up, and this virus doesn't discriminate among high-, middle-, or low-income sisters," notes Fleming. Despite the fact that AIDS has permeated all walks of life, Fleming says lawmakers are trying to reduce expenses, and are less inclined to back AIDS prevention and education programs than in the past. "I was raised to believe in fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised and against discrimination of any kind," she explains. "The utter horror of the AIDS epidemic has reinforced my need to be an activist."