Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 10:08:44 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 06/10/96 AIDS Daily Summary June 10, 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 **************************************************************** "Court to Rule on Girl, 3, With AIDS" "Discounts Provided for New Medication" "HIV-Drug Nears Approval" "New Anti-Viral Drug Recommended" "Learning What Trip Really Means" "AIDSWALK Rallies Forces Against Killer" "Black Clergy Exhorted to Take on AIDS" "Healing the Wounds of the Past: Salvadoran Doctor's Mission Is to Help the City's Latinos" "Special Consultation on Syringe Laws Addresses Epidemics, Airs Controversy" "A Tax Break [Is Proposed for AIDS Patients and Others]" **************************************************************** "Court to Rule on Girl, 3, With AIDS" Washington Post (06/10/96) P. D3; Lewis, Nancy A "do not resuscitate" order for a 3-year-old girl with AIDS was temporarily removed Thursday in a ruling by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Doctors say the girl is in grave condition because her mother hid her from authorities for six months. The mother's attorney had filed an emergency appeal of a district court judge's decision to appoint a guardian and to approve the "do not resuscitate" order. The girl's doctor has testified that any attempt to resuscitate her would lead to her death because of her serious condition. She weighs about 17 pounds, is unable to move her head, and is in constant pain even though she is receiving an adult dose of a painkiller more than 20 times the strength of morphine. The girl's medical records revealed that medical personnel suspected that the mother may have been abusing drugs at the time of the neglect, although she has testified that she has not used drugs for eight years. "Discounts Provided for New Medication" Wall Street Journal (06/10/96) P. A19; Perelman, Gregg In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, Gregg Perelman, president and CEO of Stadtlanders Pharmacy, claims a recent Journal article represented pharmacy prices for protease inhibitors as lower than they actually are. He points out that Stadtlanders, which distributes Merck's protease inhibitor Crixivan, provides the drug to about 80 percent of their customers at a large discount. He also says that most of the people using the drug have insurance that covers part of the cost, and that others can use a cash discount prescription card. According to Perelman, the prices listed in the article for other protease inhibitors were 15 percent to 20 percent below actual pharmacy prices. "HIV-Drug Nears Approval" Miami Herald (06/08/96) P. 3C Nevirapine, a new anti-HIV drug made by Boehringer Inglheim Pharmaceutical, was recommended for approval Friday by a Food and Drug Administration panel. The panel recommended use of the drug in adults with HIV, indicating that it should be used across the infected adult population, not only for advanced cases. "New Anti-Viral Drug Recommended" Houston Chronicle (06/07/96) P. 22A The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made new recommendations Thursday for treating health care workers who are exposed to HIV. Workers with open wounds who are splashed with HIV-infected blood should be offered AZT immediately, and workers accidentally stuck with HIV-contaminated needles should be offered a three-drug regimen consisting of AZT, lamivudine, and indinavir, the agency said. In December, the CDC published a study showing that health care workers who took AZT after a needlestick reduced their risk of becoming infected by 79 percent. Lamivudine and indinavir are two new anti-virals that help fight HIV's ability to become resistant to AZT. "Learning What Trip Really Means" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (06/10/96) P. B4; Reed, Mack As one of 2,275 cyclists who participated in the 525-mile California AIDS Ride 3, Los Angeles Times reporter Mack Reed relates stories collected during the trip, stories of climbing hills, wrecking, and sharing stories of loved ones lost to AIDS. He says the riders pulled together to help each other and offered support along the way. The event raised $8 million for people with AIDS. "AIDSWALK Rallies Forces Against Killer" Baltimore Sun (06/10//96) P. 1B; Francke, Caitlin An estimated 7,500 people participated in Baltimore's AIDSWALK Sunday to remember loved ones lost to the disease, promote AIDS awareness, and raise money for the disease. The mood was festive for the 3.2 mile walk, which started and ended at Memorial Stadium. The event raised an estimated $300,000 for the Health Education Resource Organization (HERO), which cares for about 2,000 AIDS patients in the Baltimore area. "Black Clergy Exhorted to Take on AIDS" Philadelphia Inquirer (06/08/96) P. B1; O'Reilly, David At a conference held Friday in Philadelphia, Rev. James A. Forbes, senior pastor at New York's Riverside Church, urged African American clergy to become active in the fight against AIDS, a disease that is widespread among the African American population. Forbes noted that African American clergy and congregations have watched passively for 15 years as HIV spread from "them"--the homosexual community--to others, including teenagers, heterosexual men and women, and infants. Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was among the 250 clergy, church leaders and healthcare workers who participated in the event. She told the group that they should be as active as African American church leaders were in the anti-slavery and civil rights movements. In Philadelphia, blacks make up about 40 percent of the population, and almost 70 percent of the AIDS cases reported last year. The conference was sponsored by the Ecumenical Information AIDS Resource Center, a nonprofit agency established by predominantly African American churches to promote AIDS education among blacks. "Healing the Wounds of the Past: Salvadoran Doctor's Mission Is to Help the City's Latinos" Washington Times (06/10/96) P. C10; Marshall, Toni La Clinica del Pueblo, a clinic for Latinos in Washington, D.C., has the largest Latino-based HIV-AIDS program in the metropolitan area, according to the D.C. Agency for HIV/AIDS. Clinic administrator Dr. Juan Romagoza, while not licensed in the United States as a doctor, is largely responsible for the program's success, having developed health screening, education, and follow-up programs for such illnesses as cancer, HIV, and AIDS. Romagoza was recently recognized for his efforts when he received the $100,000 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership award. "Special Consultation on Syringe Laws Addresses Epidemics, Airs Controversy" Journal of the American Medical Association (06/06/96) Vol. 275, No. 21; P. 1621; Titus, Karen The Consultation on Syringe Laws and Regulations to Address the Dual Epidemics of HIV Infection and Substance Abuse, held in Atlanta, Ga., brought physicians, public health experts, and other experts together to consider how syringe laws impact the transmission of HIV. A national survey found that laws restricting the sale of syringes foil efforts by health care professionals to reduce disease transmission. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one third of all AIDS cases are related to injection drug use, and the rate of transmission associated with injecting drug users is higher than for any other category. Don Des Jarlais, of the Chemical Dependency Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center, says that rates of HIV transmission among injecting drug users can be reduced by providing early intervention, sterile injecting equipment, and community outreach. All but two states restrict access to syringes in some way, and 47 states have laws that criminalize the sale or distribution of drug injection equipment. Lawrence O. Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said the issue will remain controversial, but that the solution will include both preventing and treating drug abuse and helping injection drug users protect themselves from disease. "A Tax Break [Is Proposed for AIDS Patients and Others]" Advocate (06/11/96) No. 709; P. 16 Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill that would allow people with AIDS and other terminal illnesses to sell their homes and not pay a capital gains tax on the proceeds of the sale. That exemption is currently available only to those aged 55 and older. Kerry explained that he proposed the bill because he had heard of families that took 10 years to recover from the financial burden created by the loss of a loved one to a terminal illness.