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                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      December 19, 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


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"AIDS Virus Claims Fourth Dental Patient"
"Man Claims He Uses Pot to Fight AIDS"
"In the Name of AIDS Prevention, They Break the Law"
"Health Journal: Embrace Risk Reduction"
"AIDS Vaccine Tests Set for Thailand, Brazil"
"200 Protest Church Ban on AIDS Victims"
"Functional Association of Cyclophilin A with HIV-1 Virions"
"Bacterium Guards against HIV"
"The Brighton Conference and HIV Prevention"
"Marked Man"
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"AIDS Virus Claims Fourth Dental Patient"
New York Times (12/19/94) P. A14
     Barbara Webb, a retired schoolteacher whom medical experts
believe became HIV-infected from a dentist, died of AIDS on
Saturday.  Webb was the fourth of Dr. David Acer's patients to
die of the disease.  She had joined Kimberly Bergalis--the first
of Acer's patients to die from AIDS--in advocating the testing of
health care workers.  The only health professional known to have
transmitted HIV to patients, Acer died of complications due to
AIDS in 1990.  Related Stories: Washington Post (12/19) P. B6;
Washington Times (12/19) P. A6; USA Today (12/19) P. 3A

"Man Claims He Uses Pot to Fight AIDS"
Washington Times (12/19/94) P. C6
     Jerome Mensch, a 43-year-old dairy farmer, will argue at a
preliminary hearing today that he needs marijuana to help fight
the effects of HIV.  When Mensch was arrested in November 1993
for possession of marijuana, he told officers he needed the drug
to combat the nausea and weight loss associated with his illness.
His lawyer will present testimony showing that marijuana is the
most effective medicine Mensch can find.  To be allowed to use
the defense, the lawyer must prove that his client's life is at
risk, that there were no reasonable alternatives, and that the
use of the drug is not disproportionate to his medical needs.
Dr. Douglas Ward, who says he wishes he could prescribe marijuana
to all his AIDS patients, says that he has seen an improvement in
Mensch's condition since he began smoking the drug.  "What it
does is, it makes him better able to respond to other
medications," said Ward.  Mensch began using marijuana in 1992
after having taken AZT and another anti-viral drug--both of which
caused symptoms such as numbness, diarrhea, nausea, and appetite
loss.  For  Mensch, the marijuana has eliminated the nausea,
helped him regain weight, and allowed him to return to working 15
hours a day on his farm.

"In the Name of AIDS Prevention, They Break the Law"
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/19/94) P. B2;  Urgo, Jacqueline L.
     An unnamed underground effort in Atlantic City--illegal in New
Jersey and eight other states--is geared toward preventing the
spread of AIDS through the use of contaminated needles among
intravenous drug addicts.  As other organizations have done in
the Northeast, the group last week began their needle
distribution effort.  The sale or possession of syringes without
a prescription is illegal.  The group roams the streets armed
with plastic "works" bags--consisting of a syringe, a small
bottle of bleach, alcohol swabs, condoms, and informational
brochures.  The members plan to go out on a weekly basis to build
trust between the group and the drug community.  Jon
Stuen-Parker, founder of the Boston-based National AIDS
Brigade--the nation's first needle exchange program--praised the
group.  "The laws that ban needle distribution were made before
we had a problem with AIDS being spread by IV drug users," he
said.  "The laws will never change unless they are challenged."

"Health Journal: Embrace Risk Reduction"
Wall Street Journal (12/19/94) P. B1;  Chase, Marilyn
     Among resolutions for a healthier 1995, health gurus hope for an
AIDS vaccine.  Until a safe, effective vaccine is developed, the
most inexpensive, low-tech HIV barriers are condoms and
needle-exchanges.  They are not, however, broadly promoted
because they are too controversial.  The American Academy of
Pediatrics recently joined others to call for sterile needles to
slow the spread of HIV from addicts to their families.  HIV
prevention will require enormous acts of medical statesmanship.
Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop should be redrafted
because Americans were never closer to consensus on issues such
as sex, drugs, and death than when Koop was in charge.

"AIDS Vaccine Tests Set for Thailand, Brazil"
Boston Globe (12/17/94) P. 15
     Newly appointed leader of the United Nations AIDS program, Dr.
Peter Piot, announced on Friday that heterosexual male drug users
in Thailand and homosexual men in Brazil will be the key
volunteers of the first human tests of two AIDS vaccines.  Women
will also be included in the initial tests, particularly in
northern Thailand.  The World Health Organization (WHO) recently
completed a master plan for the tests of two vaccines, said Piot.
While other vaccines are being developed, they are still only in
the laboratory or are being tested on animals and will not be
tested on humans for years, he added.  WHO said that the test
groups were selected because they were very likely to be exposed
to a strain of HIV for which a vaccine had been developed, and
also because researchers could track them.  Christopher Powell,
spokesman for WHO's Global Program on AIDS, said that the
vaccines to be tested, called GP-120, were safe to use on humans
and had already been tested in small-scale trials in the United
States and Europe.  The vaccines, Powell said, produce a limited
number of antibodies and do not have a long-lasting effect.

"200 Protest Church Ban on AIDS Victims"
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/17/94) P. B1;  Macklin, William R.
     Approximately 200 people gathered outside the Old Ship of Zion
church in North Philadelphia to protest it's ban on people with
AIDS.  The protesters denounced the pastor as "a fool," a "false
prophet," and "an idiot."  They also demanded that a sign warning
visitors that "to join you must have had an AIDS test and it must
come back negative" be removed.  The controversy began two weeks
ago when Philadelphia AIDS activist Dan Estes learned about the
church during a meeting with other AIDS patients.  He distributed
a flier, which carried the words of the sign and called for a
peaceful candle-lit vigil "in defense of the dignity and rights
of people living with AIDS."  When asked if he was aware that
AIDS cannot be contracted through casual contact, Bishop Nathan
Giddings laughed.  "Scientists lie," he said, adding that AIDS
patients should be happy to meet him "because I know how to cure
AIDS: Repent and turn to the Lord."

"Functional Association of Cyclophilin A with HIV-1 Virions"
Nature (11/24/94) Vol. 372, No. 6504, P. 363;  Thali, Markus;
Bukovsky, Anatoly;  Kondo, Eisaku et al
     Thali et al report that viral particles formed by HIV-1 Gag
polyprotein p55(gag) contain significant amounts of cyclophilin
A.  Sequences in the capsid domain of p55(gag) are both necessary
and adequate for the virion-association of cyclophilin A.
Cyclosporin A, as well as SDZ NIM811 ([Melle-4]cyclosporin)--a
non-immunosuppressive analogue of cyclosporin A, inhibited the
association of cyclophilin A with HIV-1 virions in a
dose-dependent manner.  Drug-induced reductions in
virion-associated cyclophilin A levels were accompanied by
reductions in virion infectivity, which suggests that the
correlation is functionally relevant.  In addition, SDZ NIM811
inhibited the replication of HIV-1 but was inactive against
SIV(MAC), a primate version of HIV which does not incorporate
cyclophilin A.

"Bacterium Guards against HIV"
Science News (11/26/94) Vol. 146, No. 22, P. 360;  Fackelmann,
Kathy A.
     Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
are trying to convert the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes into
an HIV vaccine.  While L. monocytogenes can cause illness in
people with unhealthy immune systems who eat contaminated food,
HIV-infected people appear relatively resistant to the bug.  It
was discovered that when a specific HIV gene was injected into L.
monocytogenes' chromosomes, the genetically engineered bacteria
used the information encoded by the HIV gene to construct one of
the virus' protein products.  After studying mice injected with
the transformed bacterium, the researchers believe that once the
bacterium is established in a cell, it begins to produce the HIV
protein.  The cell would then recognize the foreign protein and
bring it to the surface of the cell at the attention of killer T
cells.  Such a process, researchers hope, will yield protective
immunity against HIV.

"The Brighton Conference and HIV Prevention"
Focus (11/94) Vol. 9, No. 12, P. 5;  Marks, Robert
     The strongest presentations at the Conference on Biopsychosocial
Aspects of HIV Infection focused on prevention strategies for gay
men and drug users.  In response to continuing relapse from safer
sex, and the emergence of new populations who do not recognize
their risk, researchers challenged assumptions about HIV
prevention, especially in gay men.  Citing four studies of gay
men who had relapsed into unsafe sex, Ron Gold of Deakin
University in Australia, found that many gay men have accepted
the "safe sex culture;" that links to the gay community do not,
however, encourage all men to do so; and that safe sex campaigns
that emphasize information and exhortation are no longer useful.
He concluded that directly targeting the arguments that some gay
men use to "give themselves permission" when they participate in
unsafe sex might lead to risk reduction.  The session on alcohol,
drugs, and unsafe sex among gay men accented the need for
researchers and educators to be specific about the context in
which a behavior--such as drug and alcohol use--occurs.  It also
might be effective to develop state-specific
interventions--strategies that reach people when they are in the
state they are usually in, sober or intoxicated, when they have
sex.  Finally, after studying injection drug users in Brooklyn,
New York researcher Sam Friedman found that the shape and size of
drug use networks played a major role in determining the extent
of HIV infection in network members.

"Marked Man"
Advocate (11/29/94) No. 669, P. 6;  Fuller, Matt
     Matt Fuller, a volunteer for the People With AIDS Coalition,
describes his experiences after he had the words HIV-POSITIVE
along with a pink triangle tattooed on his arm.  The only time he
says he felt threatened by someone's reaction to the tattoo was
by a large man on a New York City subway.  When Fuller responded
affirmatively to the man's inquiry as to whether the tattoo was
real, the man whispered, "Me too."  One reason Fuller says he got
the tattoo was to force people to face their own fears about
AIDS.  "I am less concerned with making others feel comfortable
than I am with trying to save lives, including my own.  If that
makes people angry, upset, or confused, at least they are talking
and thinking about AIDS," he writes.