DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/ads894a.zip/AD940817.ZIP/AD940817.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-17 | 9KB | 150 lines

                     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.