AIDS Daily Summary August 17, 1994 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 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD "High HIV Levels Raise Risk to Newborns, 2 Studies Show" New York Times (08/17/94) P. C8; Altman, Lawrence K. Two new studies show that the chance of an HIV-positive pregnant woman infecting her baby with HIV increases with the amount of the virus in her blood. The studies, conducted at the New York State Health Department and New York University, are said to be the first to measure the amount of HIV in a mother and her child's blood throughout pregnancy and into the infant's first months of life. Doctors have yet to determine why only one in four babies born to HIV-positive mothers is infected with the virus. The authors of the studies believe that finding the answer could lead to preventing all transmissions between a mother and her baby. The health department study also found that pregnancy did not worsen AIDS in the women--a result that contradicts previous studies. "AIDS Activists Take Role in Czar Search" Washington Times (08/17/94) P. A3; Bedard, Paul The Clinton administration faces difficulty in finding a new AIDS czar, with potential candidates reportedly turning down the job and AIDS activists calling for the position to be elevated to Cabinet status. Since former AIDS policy director Kristine Gebbie stepped down last month, many top candidates for the position--including Dr. Helene Gayle, head of the CDC's Washington branch--have declined to accept the position because they feel it lacks presidential authority, according to officials at several Washington AIDS groups. The White House, desperate to find an AIDS czar before the lack of success becomes a political liability, yesterday summoned homosexual and AIDS representatives to a meeting with domestic policy adviser Carol Rasco and interim AIDS policy director Patricia Fleming. Activists who attended the meeting said the White House has "scrubbed" its initial list of names and will be starting the search anew. "Don't Call It AIDS" New York Times (08/17/94) P. A19; Stoddard, Tom Tom Stoddard, an attorney on the board of directors of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, writes that while medical science has made major gains in fighting AIDS, the federal government and the media have "largely ignored these successes." Reports coming out of the recent AIDS conference in Yokohama focused only on the negative, Stoddard writes, and said little about the "triumphs of science." It is important that these triumphs be emphasized, Stoddard feels, and a good place to start would be to stop using the term AIDS, which connotes "imminent death and despair." Many of the formerly fatal diseases that fall under the category of AIDS, such as Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia and Mycobacterium avium complex, can now be stopped through antibiotics, Stoddard writes. In the early days of the disease, pneumonia accounted for the majority of deaths caused by HIV; today, it accounts for only 3 percent. While medical advances such as these cannot assure that people will no longer die from preventable infections, people with AIDS need to be told that there is hope, Stoddard says. "Obituaries: John Stuban--AIDS Activist" Washington Post (08/17/94) P. C8 AIDS activist John Stuban, the founder of ACT UP Baltimore, died of the disease at his Baltimore home August 15. He was 38. "Chiron Opens Clinical Reference Testing Laboratory for Quantitation of HIV RNA" Business Wire (08/16/94) Chiron Corp. has begun offering a service to physicians for the quantitation of HIV RNA from patient samples containing the virus. The service utilizes Chiron's branched DNA (bDNA) signal amplification technology. Scientists believe that HIV RNA quantitation may have clinical value in predicting the progression of HIV-infection to AIDS and in monitoring the changes in viral level experienced by patients undergoing antiviral therapy. The service will be performed at the company's corporate headquarters, with sample collection and other client services conducted by Nichols Institute. "German Lab Worker Says Blood Poorly Checked for AIDS" Reuters (08/16/94) Gunhild Jacobus, a laboratory assistant at Germany's UB-Plasma, which is accused of selling blood products tainted with HIV, told a German court on Tuesday that the company did not properly check blood samples. Jacobus said the company, which was shut down in October of last year, "pooled" blood plasma since October 1986 as a way to save money. The company's head, Bernhard Bentzien, and four other executives are accused of supplying improperly checked blood products in 71,000 cases. They are also charged with fraud and with causing bodily harm to three individuals who became infected through the use of UB- Plasma products. "Letters to the Editor: Public Health and Mothers' Rights" Washington Post (08/17/94) P. A18; Saltzberg, Sheri In a letter to the editors of the New York Times, Brooklyn Pediatric AIDS Network Director Sheri Saltzberg, president of the National AIDS Policy Center for Children, Youth & Families, takes issue with Nat Hentoff's July 30 op-ed column, "Who Owns AIDS?" Hentoff's Piece, Saltzberg writes, contains several factual errors and completely misses the point of the debate over newborn HIV testing. Ending the blind nature of newborn HIV testing, as Hentoff suggests, would not result in the prevention of HIV infection, Saltzberg says. It would only tell that the mother is infected with the virus since most babies who test positive are not infected. Saltzberg believes that the real way to prevent HIV infections in newborns is to provide better counseling and testing services to pregnant women. "HIV Patients Appear Vulnerable to Bloodstream Infections" AIDS Alert (07/94) Vol. 9, No. 7, P. 103 The high rate of bloodstream infections in hospitalized HIV patients highlights the need for health care workers to follow proper techniques for central line site preparation, say officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study of HIV patients in five medical centers indicates that primary bloodstream infections are the most common nosocosmial infection among HIV patients, with two-thirds of the infections being traced to central lines. Improper techniques contributing to central line infections would include the failure to wash hands or wear gloves, failure to clean the site with an antiseptic, and failure to check the site for inflammation. The most common pathogens associated with line infections in HIV are Staphyloccus aureus, enterococchi, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. "Risking Everything? Risk Behavior, Behavior Change, and AIDS" Science (07/15/94) Vol. 265, No. 5170, P. 341; Aggleton, Peter; O'Reilly, Kevin; Slutkin, Gary et al. Since HIV was first identified in 1983, scientists have spent considerable time and money in efforts to learn more about the virus and its effects. Although a cure or effective vaccine still eludes researchers, behavior change has been shown to be a potentially effective strategy for curbing the spread of HIV. Behavioral science has already identified the primary social and individual determinants of risk behavior and contributed to the development of programs that reduce personal risk, thereby limiting the spread of HIV infection. Yet the U.S. National Commission on AIDS reports that only about 12 percent of federal AIDS spending went to behavioral research. The continuing spread of infection in some areas, as well as the emergence of HIV in areas that as of yet have not been affected, dictates the need for concerted efforts to expand existing education and communication programs in both industrialized and developing nations.