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1994-12-15
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AIDS Daily Summary
December 15, 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
************************************************************
"Eye Device May Help AIDS Patients"
"Promising AIDS Trial of AZT with 3TC Spurs Debate on Combination
Therapies"
"Mayor's Office Disbands Advisory Unit on AIDS"
"Triumphing Over AIDS"
"Serving Compassion with a Meal"
"Home Tests for HIV Supported"
"Family Portraits"
"Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center Press Conference Dec. 15"
"Hope for Sale"
"Use of Living Wills in HIV Infection and AIDS"
************************************************************
"Eye Device May Help AIDS Patients"
Washington Post (12/15/94) P. A12
A double-layered plastic membrane saturated in ganciclovir may be
able to control the potentially blinding infection
cytomegalovirus (CMV). While CMV is benign in healthy people, it
poses a serious threat to people with weakened immune
systems--such as AIDS patients. Carl Kupfer, director of the
National Eye Institute, says that approximately one-fourth of all
AIDS patients develop CMV infection in the eye. Currently, CMV
is treated with daily intravenous doses of ganciclovir or
foscarnet. AIDS patients must take the drugs for the rest of
their lives because they lack the necessary immune system
response. With the new device, once the membrane is implanted in
the eye, the drug is slowly released, controlling the infection.
After eight months in a study of 26 patients with 30 infected
eyes--of which 14 of the eyes received the implant--the CMV
infection had not progressed in any of the eyes with the
implants. An application for Food and Drug Administration
approval may be made after two additional clinical trials.
"Promising AIDS Trial of AZT with 3TC Spurs Debate on Combination
Therapies"
Wall Street Journal (12/15/94) P. B6; Moore, Stephen D.
A debate on "combination therapies" has erupted after studies
found that a combination of the drugs AZT and 3TC could
significantly slow HIV progression. While some researchers
warned that the supporting evidence is still too preliminary,
drug makers and other researchers said the studies clearly
demonstrate that a combination of drugs used against HIV can be
effective. Drug companies Wellcome PLC and Glaxo Holdings
responded enthusiastically to the findings. "There's no doubt
that these [study] results are encouraging," said Dr. Brian
Gazzard, clinical director for HIV Services at London's Chelsea
and Westminster Hospital. "But I think you have to be cautious."
Gazzard wants to see whether the combination therapy actually
prolongs the lives of AIDS patients or produces statistically
significant differences in survival rates between groups of
patients receiving varied therapies. Researchers hope to dispel
some of the doubts about combination therapy by testing several
three- and four-drug combinations during the next two years.
"Mayor's Office Disbands Advisory Unit on AIDS"
New York Times (12/15/94) P. B5; Dunlap, David W.
New York City Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter on Wednesday disbanded the
group of outside experts who were trying to restructure the
city's Division of AIDS Services. In a letter to the committee's
members, Reiter said that "protests, discussions of process,
non-negotiable demands and grandstanding" by some AIDS
organizations had resulted in "unproductive, time-wasting
meetings." She specifically blamed the Housing Works
group--which provides housing and other services to about 1,500
HIV and AIDS patients--for disrupting a private meeting last May.
The situation will likely prolong the debate over the city
agency, which the Giuliani administration considered eliminating
earlier this year but abandoned in the face of strong protest.
"Triumphing Over AIDS"
Washington Post (12/15/94) P. D.C. 3; Young, Vincent
"How I Got Over," a special ceremony that celebrated the lives of
long-term AIDS survivors, was held in Washington, D.C., on
Saturday. "It's time to hear from people who are living,
surviving, and thriving," said organizer Gregory Ford, who tested
HIV-positive eight years ago. More than 250 people attended the
event, where they shared personal testimonies and spoke openly
about the difficulties of living with HIV.
"Serving Compassion with a Meal"
Washington Post (12/15/94) P. D.C.1; Young, Vincent
Chocolate Strawberries, a newly opened restaurant in the
Washington, D.C., area, reserves its lunch hour to serve free
meals to anyone who is hungry and HIV-infected. "We're trying to
help give people with HIV-AIDS, who might live on fixed incomes
or can't afford to buy food, a chance to get out of the house and
eat a healthy meal in a restaurant with friendly people, nice
table settings, flowers, and music," said Marsha Richardson,
co-founder of the restaurant. The majority of the volunteers who
prepare and serve the luncheon meal are HIV-positive or have
AIDS. The lunch is open to anyone with HIV, but it is requested
that a health or social worker make a referral.
"Home Tests for HIV Supported"
Houston Chronicle (12/14/94) P. 29A; Lum, Lydia
Two Texas legislators, Reps. Glen Maxey and Debra Danburg, said
on Monday that they hope to pass legislation to make an HIV
home-test kit legal for use in the state. The Food and Drug
Administration is currently considering approval of the kits. At
this point in Texas, such a kit could not be used because it does
not provide the in-person counseling required by state law. With
the home-testing kits, people would learn the results over the
phone with trained counselors offering advice. The
representatives' remarks came during a public hearing on Tuesday
in Houston, during which people voiced their opinions and
concerns about the home-testing concept. The concerns mirrored
the national debate over the kits--impersonal notification, risk
of misdiagnosis, and protecting confidentiality.
"Family Portraits"
Toronto Globe and Mail (12/14/94) P. A15; Mitchell, Alanna
A survey of sexually active young adults aged 16 to 19 has shown
that teenagers from higher-income families seem to have a greater
awareness of sexual health. The 1990 Ontario Health Survey found
that while 46 percent of low-income teenagers never used a
condom, only 40 percent of middle income and 32 percent of high
income teenagers never used one. Sexually active teens from
low-income families are also less likely to use other forms of
birth control. The result will be an increasing number of
teenage pregnancies and greater likelihood of sexually
transmitted diseases, such as AIDS, among teenagers of poorer
families.
"Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center Press Conference Dec. 15"
PR Newswire (12/14/94)
The husband and wife research team of Dr. Yuan Chang and Dr.
Patrick Moore are holding a press conference at the
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York on Dec. 15 to
discuss their findings of what they believe is a new human herpes
virus that may be responsible for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in
patients with AIDS. KS is the most common cancer in AIDS
patients and often first appears as red or purplish sores on the
face and in the mouth.
"Hope for Sale"
American Medical News (11/21/94) Vol. 37, No. 43, P. 13;
Pinkney, Deborah Shelton
The lack of a therapeutic vaccine for HIV has led to an
increasing interest in unconventional AIDS therapies, such as
acupuncture, macrobiotic diets, and megadoses of vitamins. Some
alternative therapy practitioners work in cooperation with
doctors and consider their treatment supplementary. "Many
alternative therapies are being integrated into the overall
treatment strategy as an additional preventive measure to support
and enhance one's life," said Ron Mealy, executive director of
the Carl Vogel Center, an HIV/AIDS nutrition and information
center in Washington, D.C. The treatments are often used in
addition to conventional therapies, but what is especially
alarming is that a 1993 New England Journal of Medicine study
found that 72 percent of the patients using unconventional
treatments had not informed their physicians. A related problem
is that many people are being promised miracle cures from
unproven therapies. Dr. John H. Renner of the National Council
Against Health Fraud estimates that at least 10 percent of
HIV-infected people have been conned. Some of the fake cures
involve snake venom, ozone injections, or the ingestion of ice
balls. In 1990, the FDA established regional AIDS fraud task
forces to deal with complaints about harmful therapies and
educate consumers about area con artists.
"Use of Living Wills in HIV Infection and AIDS"
Lancet (11/26/94) Vol. 344, No. 8935, P. 1509; Meadows, Paul
In October 1992, The Terrence Higgins Trust, in cooperation with
the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics at King's College, London,
published a form of living will and healthcare proxy specifically
designed for use by people with HIV and AIDS, writes Paul Meadows
in a letter to the editor of the Lancet medical journal. Thus
far, 20,000 copies of the living will form have been distributed.
A questionnaire to test the document's acceptability showed that
it is mainly being used by men between the ages of 30 and 40 with
a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS. Very few of the living will users
discussed their advanced directive with anyone and Meadows notes
that the form should emphasize the importance of discussing a
living will with someone--especially a doctor--to guarantee that
the patient's wishes are carried out. A revised living will form
that has been simplified to reflect the concerns of the users
identified during research and to clarify the accompanying notes
is now available. The revision also reflects changes in recent
case law, which shows that under certain condition, the advance
refusal of medical treatment will be legally binding.