Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 09:51:02 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 09/28/95 AIDS Daily Summary September 28, 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 ************************************************************ "Gene Found in AIDS Virus May Be Cell Killer" "AIDS Care Facility to Close" "Glaxo Wellcome Shares Up 20p as Trials Raise Hopes for New HIV Treatment" "Patent Office Plans to Supply Abstracts Free on the Internet" "AIDS Past Peak in Australia but Fight Goes On" "One in Seven Nairobi Residents Carries AIDS Virus" "BFTI Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase the Exclusive Latin-American Marketing Rights for a Rapid Immunochromatographic Assay for the Detection of the HIV 1/2 and Hepatitis 'B' Viruses" "The Reliable Source: Eazy E" "Race, Sex, Drug Use, and Progression of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease" "A Model Collaboration Built to Last" ************************************************************ "Gene Found in AIDS Virus May Be Cell Killer" New York Times (09/28/95) P. A23 Researchers from the AIDS Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) say they have identified a gene in HIV that arrests CD4 T-lymphocyte reproduction. In Friday's issue of The Journal of Virology, the researchers report that the Vpr gene contains the plan for a protein that interrupts CD4 cells, keeping them from splitting into two identical cells. This discovery may aid in the development of new AIDS drugs that inhibit the gene's activity and permit immune cells to continue multiplying and fending off HIV. Some scientists, however, warn that the UCLA researchers' work is still preliminary. "It's a big leap to go from this observation in the laboratory to a statement that Vpr is what's responsible for the depletion of the immune system in infected patients," commented Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. "AIDS Care Facility to Close" Philadelphia Inquirer (09/28/95) P. B1; Santiago, Denise-Marie Officials at Betak, a nursing home for people with AIDS in Mount Airy, Pa., have announced yet again that the facility will close due to financial difficulties. Ruth Bartelt, the acting president of Lutheran Home at Germantown, which owns and operates Betak, explained, "Neither [Lutheran nor Betak] can manage the cash flow necessary to keep Betak open, and funds are not available to meet capital needs associated with the program." Betak is a 43-bed nursing home that is funded by grants and Medicaid and operates under a contract with the state of Pennsylvania. The state pays Betak approximately $114 per day per patient, but, according to David Fair of We The People Living with AIDS/HIV of the Delaware Valley, the cost of caring for a person with AIDS is between $230 and $250 a day. Estelle Richman, Philadelphia's Health Commissioner, announced Wednesday that her office would give Betak short-term loans while it waited for reimbursement from the state. She noted that the city had provided such assistance during the last two crisis periods, but that Betak officials declined the offer this year. "Glaxo Wellcome Shares Up 20p as Trials Raise Hopes for New HIV Treatment" Financial Times (09/27/95) P. 4; Cookson, Clive The results of a large-scale trial of drug combinations sponsored by medical research agencies in seven European countries and Australia provide the strongest evidence yet that drug "cocktails" are the best current treatment for HIV. The "Delta" trial looked at the effects of Glaxo Wellcome's AZT in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb's ddI or Roche's ddC and found that both drugs combined with AZT performed better than AZT alone. Other studies suggest that three drugs are better than two, just as two are better than one, but the high cost of AIDS drugs makes the combination treatment controversial. Glaxo Wellcome has developed an additional drug (discovered by Biochem Pharma), 3TC, and is expected to push an AZT and 3TC combination over other mixtures. "Patent Office Plans to Supply Abstracts Free on the Internet" New York Times (09/27/95) P. D8; Markoff, John The Patent and Trademark Office will make abstracts of the United States' large patent data base freely available on the Internet beginning Nov. 9. This free access to patent information is opposed by private companies who specialize in buying patent information and selling it to interested markets. The Patent Office is already providing free access to a data base of AIDS-related patents. The new move may be the first step in a process that will make the entire patent library accessible to the public. "AIDS Past Peak in Australia but Fight Goes On" Reuters (09/27/95) Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said Wednesday that his country's level of AIDS infection has passed its peak, in large part due to an aggressive campaign against the disease. "A decade of hard and unremitting effort in this country has resulted in a welcome reduction in the rates and incidence of both HIV and AIDS," he said. Keating also announced that the Australian government would finance a third five-year campaign starting in July 1996, when the $75-million second effort concludes. The Prime Minister said that specific details of the new strategy had yet to be determined but that it would focus on research, care and treatment, education and prevention, and the international war against AIDS. The Australian National Council on AIDS has recorded 18,989 cases of HIV and AIDS since 1985. The council said that the level of new HIV infections seems to have evened out to approximately 600 each year. "One in Seven Nairobi Residents Carries AIDS Virus" Reuters (09/27/95) One in seven residents of Nairobi, Kenya, is infected with HIV, according to the newspaper the Daily Nation. The paper quoted communications consultant Raphael Tuju who, when addressing members of the Insurance Institute of Kenya, said that 14 percent of the capital city's population was HIV-positive. Tuju noted that about 20 percent of the country's military was infected with the virus that causes AIDS and urged insurance companies to add clauses to contracts with area companies that require them to initiate AIDS awareness programs. "BFTI Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase the Exclusive Latin-American Marketing Rights for a Rapid Immunochromatographic Assay for the Detection of the HIV 1/2 and Hepatitis 'B' Viruses" Business Wire (09/27/95) Bio Flourescent Technologies Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Wyding Holdings Inc. to buy the exclusive Latin-American marketing rights for a rapid screening assay for both HIV 1/2 and the hepatitis B virus. The tests, which produce results in five to seven minutes, do not require laboratory equipment or trained technicians and can therefore be performed at doctors' offices or in the home. The purchase is expected to be completed within the next month. "The Reliable Source: Eazy E" Washington Post (09/28/95) P. C3; Gerhart, Ann; Groer, Annie Tomika Wright, the widow of rapper Eazy E, gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday. Eazy E, whose real name was Eric Wright, died of AIDS-related complications in March. A spokesman reported that neither Tomika Wright nor her two children are infected with HIV. "Race, Sex, Drug Use, and Progression of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease" New England Journal of Medicine (09/21/95) Vol. 333, No. 12, P. 751; Chaisson, Richard E.; Keruly, Jeanne C.; Moore, Richard D. To determine whether the differences among sociodemographic groups affect the rate of HIV progression, Chaisson et al. of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine measured disease progression and survival in more than 1,300 HIV-seropositive individuals. The researchers determined that progression to AIDS or death was associated with a CD4 level between 200 and 350, the presence of symptoms at base line, prior antiretroviral therapy, and older age. There was, however, no association between HIV progression and sex, race, intravenous drug use, income, level of education, or insurance status. In addition, there was essentially no difference in survival between males and females, blacks and whites, intravenous drug users and those who did not use drugs, or patients whose average annual income was more or less than $5,000. According to the authors, differences found in previous studies may represent differences in the use of medical care. "A Model Collaboration Built to Last" Science (09/08/95) Vol. 269, No. 5229, P. 1333; Nowak, Rachel The Nairobi Group--which is primarily financed by the Medical Research Council of Canada and the U.S. National Institutes of Health--is widely seen as a model for collaborative science in developing countries, according to Richard Marlink, director of the Harvard AIDS Institute. One of the group's most highly publicized studies is an examination of 700 African societies confirming that male circumcision is associated with significantly lower rates of HIV infection. In the past two years, the researchers have begun to understand why some Nairobi prostitutes who are repeatedly exposed to HIV are able to avoid infection. It was discovered that many of these seemingly HIV-immune women have human leukocyte antigens, rare cell surface molecules that the immune system uses to separate self from nonself. Other projects the team is working on include laying the groundwork for Kenyan AIDS vaccine trials, evaluating the merits of vaginal microbicides for blocking HIV transmission, and determining the role of breast-feeding in transmitting the virus.