Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 10:54:47 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 07/16/96 AIDS Daily Summary July 16, 1996 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 National AIDS Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ****************************************************** "Needle Exchanges Inject Controversy in AIDS Prevention" "Discussing Possible AIDS Cure Raises Hope, Anger and Question: What Exactly Is Meant by "Cure"?" "New Rules Press HMOs to Disclose Data" "Across the USA: Illinois" "In AIDS Fight, Hope Has High Price" "California to Vote on Legalizing Pot as Medicine" "Support Groups for H.I.V.-Negative Gay Men" "At the AIDS Epicenter, New Urgency for Vaccine" "N.C. Seeks FDA Waiver to Let it Keep New HIV Home Test Kits From Market" "Assisted-Suicide Charge" ****************************************************** "Needle Exchanges Inject Controversy in AIDS Prevention" Washington Post (07/16/96) P. A1; Span, Paula There are 86 known needle-exchange programs in the United States, including publicly funded programs and those that operate underground. Washington, D.C., which has had a high incidence of AIDS, but no effective, legal needle-exchange program, is now preparing to award a contract for a program that should be operating by August or September. Under a congressional ban, federal funds cannot be used for needle exchanges. The war on drugs is blamed for the opposition. Moreover, according to Denise Paone, a researcher at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, politicians who would support the programs "are afraid that their constituents will think they're soft on drugs, soft on crime." Research has shown that needle exchanges can effectively reduce needle sharing and HIV transmission among drug users, yet without federal funding, local programs cannot meet the needs of the community. "Discussing Possible AIDS Cure Raises Hope, Anger and Question: What Exactly Is Meant by 'Cure'?" New York Times (07/16/96) P. C3; Altman, Lawrence K. While some AIDS researchers say a cure for AIDS may exist in a combination of drugs able to suppress the virus, others warn that talk of a cure is likely to create a false sense of security. In addition, as researchers increasingly use the words eradication and elimination in reference to patients who have undetectable levels of HIV, no one knows if the virus can be permanently cleared from the body. David D. Ho and Martin Markowitz, both of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, plan to stop treatment in a small number of patients to determine if HIV can come back. Helene Gayle of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency does not have a definition for an AIDS "cure." Many people in the AIDS community see talk of a cure as a distraction, and those involved in HIV prevention have expressed concern that publicity about the success of treatment would threaten funding for their programs. "New Rules Press HMOs to Disclose Data" Wall Street Journal (07/16/96) P. A3; Anders, George New standards being released today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance call for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to disclose more information about their care of patients. The new guidelines include more detailed, standardized patient surveys to facilitate comparison between plans. Under the new guidelines, for example, HMOs will have to reveal how well they provide HIV-positive patients with preventive care for potentially fatal pneumonia. This would be the first attempt to monitor the quality of HMO care for patients with HIV or AIDS. The standards also call for HMOs to disclose whether patients hospitalized with a heart attack receive a class of drugs known as beta-blockers. "Across the USA: Illinois" USA Today (07/16/96) P. 5A Illinois' AIDS Drug Reimbursement Program has reduced the number of medications it provides free to low-income patients from 112 to 28, the result of skyrocketing drug prices. "In AIDS Fight, Hope Has High Price" Miami Herald (07/15/96) P. 1A; Smith, Stephen At the 11th International Conference on AIDS, Nkosazana Zuma, South Africa's minister of health, urged participants to support a global effort to fight AIDS in developing countries, where 90 percent of people infected with HIV live. The pharmaceutical industry has responded to the AIDS epidemic with powerful drugs; however, these treatments are not available to poor, developing countries. An AIDS vaccine, while being pushed by the federal government, still is not a research priority for drug companies. "California to Vote on Legalizing Pot as Medicine" USA Today (07/16/96) P. 10A; Goodavage, Maria Californians will vote in November on whether it should be legal to smoke marijuana for medical purposes, including reducing nausea during chemotherapy, increasing appetite to prevent wasting in AIDS patients, and easing the pressure of glaucoma. Under the proposed law, patients would be allowed to grow and possess marijuana if a physician has recommended it; doctors who recommended the substance would be legally protected. Supporters of the initiative have obtained more than 800,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, and polls indicate that many Californians agree with the bill. But opponents claim that marijuana's medical benefits have not been proven scientifically, and they dispute the bill's loose wording, in part because it does not require a doctor's prescription, only a recommendation, and it does not state how much of the drug can be possessed. "Support Groups for H.I.V.-Negative Gay Men" New York Times (07/14/96) P. 25; Fisher, Ian A dozen groups for HIV-negative gay men have been created in New York's West Village and Brooklyn over the past two years, giving these men a forum to talk about their guilt and their constant fear of infection, as well as giving them a sense of community. The groups are part of a movement among people who are HIV-negative and want to remain that way. The groups especially attract young gay men, in their late 20s or early 30s, who do not necessarily have many friends who have died of AIDS or who are even HIV-positive. The meetings also provide a connection to the larger gay community that does not otherwise exist for young gay men. "At the AIDS Epicenter, New Urgency for Vaccine" Philadelphia Inquirer (07/14/96) P. E1; Collins, Huntly The majority of the world's HIV-positive patients are living in developing countries--where anti-HIV drugs are too expensive and an AIDS vaccine is the best hope of curbing the epidemic. The U.S. government will increase funding for vaccine research to $116 million next year, though this will account for less than 10 percent of the government's AIDS research budget. Large pharmaceutical companies have been criticized for not undertaking more vaccine development, but Dani P. Bolognesi of Duke University says that "science has not given industry the keys to how to make vaccines." While vaccine research in the United States was stymied in 1994 when the federal government decided to postpone large-scale clinical trials of two experimental AIDS vaccines, Thai officials are planning to launch their own trial by 1998. "N.C. Seeks FDA Waiver to Let it Keep New HIV Home Test Kits From Market" American Medical News (07/01/96) Vol. 39, No. 25, P. 15 Some North Carolina health officials are trying to keep the newly approved home HIV test kits off pharmacy shelves, fearing the tests could undermine state efforts to control the spread of HIV. In its appeal, North Carolina is using a rarely used regulation that permits states to ask the Food and Drug Administration to waive its authority over state rules on medical devices for "compelling local conditions." North Carolina has also been involved since 1991 in a court battle with the AIDS activist group ACT-UP Triangle over the state's attempt to replace anonymous HIV testing with confidential testing. State health officials say confidential HIV testing would allow them to identify and contact more people who could have been infected by someone with HIV. "Assisted-Suicide Charge" Maclean's (07/01/96) Vol. 109, No. 27, P. 23 A Toronto doctor recently became the first Canadian physician to be charged with aiding an AIDS patient's suicide. Maurice Genereux, who specializes in treating AIDS patients, allegedly aided in the April 11 death of Aaron McGinn, who had tested positive for HIV in 1990 but had not developed full-blown AIDS. Genereux was released on $1,000 bail and allowed to continue his medical practice but not to prescribe drugs. Friends of McGinn said he was psychologically troubled but still in relatively good physical health.