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Text File | 1996-02-05 | 12KB | 212 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      February 1, 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 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 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Abbott AIDS Drug Halves Death Rate, New Study Reports"
"Survival of AIDS Patients Linked to Doctors' Knowledge of AIDS"
"Deaths from AIDS in U.S. Outpace New HIV Infections"
"Army Sergeant with HIV Feels Deserted by Policy"
"Students Lobby for AIDS Funds in Washington"
"Japan Reports Change in Pattern of Contracting AIDS"
"Gilead Sciences Announces Statistically Significant Anti-HIV
Activity of GS 840"
"Inquiry Criticizes Red Cross Officials"
"CDC Study: AZT Reduces HIV Risk From Needlesticks"
"Surveillance of Tuberculosis and AIDS Co-Morbidity--Florida,
1981-1993"
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"Abbott AIDS Drug Halves Death Rate, New Study Reports"
Wall Street Journal (02/01/96) P. B5
     A new drug offered by Abbott Laboratories has been found to
reduce the death rate and progression of disease by half in
seriously ill AIDS patients.  Researchers reported that 4.8
percent of the 543 people taking the drug Norvir (ritonavir) died
within seven months, compared to 8.4 percent of 547 patients who
did not receive the drug.  All of the patients were also
continuing any therapy they had started before the study.  Of the
patients using the drug, 13 percent died or had their disease
progress, compared to 27 percent in those who did not receive the
drug.  Abbott and Merck & Co. announced earlier this week that
separate studies showed that ritonavir and the Merck drug
Crixivan each showed potent antiviral activity against HIV when
combined with other drugs.  Related Story: Los Angeles
Times--Washington Edition (02/01) P.A1

"Survival of AIDS Patients Linked to Doctors' Knowledge of AIDS"
New York Times (02/01/96) P. A12;  Altman, Lawrence K.
     An AIDS patient's survival is directly linked to how much his
doctor knows about treating the disease, scientists reported at a
meeting in Washington Wednesday.  The study, conducted by
researchers at the University of Washington, looked at the
survival of more than 400 AIDS patients treated by 125
primary-care doctors from 1984 to 1994 at a health maintenance
organization in Seattle.  It found that after the disease was
diagnosed, the median survival of the most experienced doctors'
patients was 26 months, compared to 14 months for patients of
doctors with the least experience with AIDS.  The study found a
decreasing risk of death for each successive patient a doctor
treated.  The areas where experienced doctors were attentive were
monitoring of the patients immune cell count, prescribing drugs
for pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, and in providing aggressive
anti-HIV therapy.  In a second study reported at the meeting,
researchers at the New York City and New York State health
departments reported an increased incidence of invasive cervical
cancer in women with HIV.

"Deaths from AIDS in U.S. Outpace New HIV Infections"
Washington Times (02/01/96) P. A3;  Price, Joyce
     Since 1993, the number of Americans that die of AIDS each year
has surpassed the number of new infections by 10,000 to 20,000.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, said the epidemic is starting to wane.  He
was responding to a report by Dr. Robert Biggar of the National
Cancer Institute, who estimates that 60,000 Americans die of AIDS
each year and 40,000 are becoming infected with HIV.  Biggar says
the plateau is the result of people in high-risk groups taking
precautions to protect themselves from infection.  Biggar said,
however, that new infections are rising among young people,
especially minorities and heterosexuals.  Troy Petenbrink, of the
National Association of People with AIDS, says he finds it hard
to believe that the new infection rate is lower than the AIDS
death rate.

"Army Sergeant with HIV Feels Deserted by Policy"
Washington Post (02/01/96) P. A3;  Priest, Dana
     A sergeant who has been with the U.S. Army for 10 years would be
forced out of the military by an HIV-related provision in the
Defense authorization bill President Clinton is expected to sign
early next week.  Marie got the disease from her late husband.
She has not told her young daughter or her co-workers, although
she was diagnosed five years ago.  Marie said she feels anger for
the bill's sponsor, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Calif.), who said
that service members become HIV-infected by injecting drugs,
having heterosexual sex with prostitutes, and having unprotected
homosexual sex.  Dornan, when learning of this woman's situation,
said, "It sounds like a tragic case."  He added, however, that
service members with AIDS put an extra burden of others by not
being able to serve overseas.  Some high-ranking military
officials have supported the policy change, saying that
HIV-positive service members impair military readiness.
Administration officials say they hope to have an alternative to
the provision prepared when Clinton signs the bill.

"Students Lobby for AIDS Funds in Washington"
Baltimore Sun (02/01/96) P. 3B;  Respers, Lisa
     Six teens from a Baltimore County high school lobbied for funding
for AIDS research in Washington on Wednesday.  The members of
Student AIDS Advisory of Baltimore County, along with Dr.
Michelle A. Leverett, director of the county health department,
met with Patricia Fleming, director of AIDS Policy for President
Clinton.  Fleming said she was impressed with the students'
initiative.  "Peer education has proven to be effective," she
said.  The students gave Fleming a scroll with 150 signatures
from students calling for continued support for AIDS research.

"Japan Reports Change in Pattern of Contracting AIDS"
Reuters (01/31/96);  Yoshikawa, Miho
     The way in which people in Japan contract HIV has changed, with
most infections now occurring in men who contract the disease in
Japan rather than abroad.  Until now, men's trips
abroad--especially to Southeast Asia--were thought of as the main
source of AIDS in Japan.  Kenji Soda, of the Yokohama City
University and a member of the government panel on AIDS,
estimates that 70 percent of the people with HIV in Japan were
infected inside the country.  The Japanese government reported an
increase in the number of new AIDS cases on Wednesday, and
attributed the rise to widespread complacency and ignorance.  The
report said that 446 new cases of HIV and AIDS were reported in
1995.  The government said that 57 percent of the people affected
were men.  Sexual transmission is the source of most of the AIDS
cases, a Health Ministry official said.

"Gilead Sciences Announces Statistically Significant Anti-HIV
Activity of GS 840"
Business Wire (01/31/96)
     Gilead Sciences Inc. reported on Wednesday the results of a Phase
I/II clinical trial of GS 840 (adefovir dipivoxil) for the
treatment of HIV-infected patients.  According to Gilead, GS 840
was well-tolerated and produced sustained improvements in
surrogate markers of HIV infection, including a reduction in HIV
viral load and progressive increases in CD4 cell counts.  The
data also suggest that the drug may decrease levels of
cytomegalovirus (CMV) in semen and may therefore be active
against the disease.  GS 840 is a member of a new class of
antiviral compounds known as nucleotides that can remain active
within both healthy and infected cells for prolonged periods.

"Inquiry Criticizes Red Cross Officials"
Toronto Globe and Mail (01/30/96) P. A1
     More than 70 allegations have been made against top officials of
the Canadian Red Cross as a result of the federal inquiry into
the tainted blood tragedy.  The Red Cross is accused of not
excluding blood from high-risk donors, misrepresenting Red Cross
policies, withholding information, and giving inaccurate
information at critical points.  The organization is challenging
the finding's of misconduct.  More than 1,000 Canadians became
infected with HIV with the tainted blood in the 1980s.  The
inquiry found that, among other missteps, the Red Cross failed to
inform potential donors of the conditions under which they would
be high-risk, and voluntarily refrain from donating blood.

"CDC Study: AZT Reduces HIV Risk From Needlesticks"
American Medical News (01/15/96) Vol.39, No.3, P. 18
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported
that health care workers who took AZT to prevent infection after
exposure to HIV through accidental needlesticks reduced their
chance of infection by 79 percent.  An AIDS expert who counsels
hospital workers exposed to HIV said that drug combinations for
AIDS may be a better solution.  HIV can quickly develop
resistance to AZT.  Many health care workers exposed to HIV on
the job already take the drug to fight infection, although the
government has not approved it for that use.  The CDC said this
study provides evidence that the drug can prevent infection and
should be approved by the government for such cases.  But Dr.
David Rimland, an AIDS expert at the Veterans Administration
Medical Center in Atlanta, said the recommendation may not be the
best advice, because AZT can cause side effects and other drugs
are becoming available.  The CDC does not know how much AZT
lowers the risk of infection, and says care-givers who are
exposed to HIV should consider the type of injury when
considering whether to take the drug.  The study found that the
largest risk of infection was associated with a large amount of
tainted blood, AIDS patients who were close to death, and when
the worker had stuck themselves with a large needle that had been
in the patient's veins.

"Surveillance of Tuberculosis and AIDS Co-Morbidity--Florida,
1981-1993"
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (01/19/96) Vol.45, No.2, P.
38
     Because people infected with HIV have weakened immune systems,
they are more susceptible to tuberculosis (TB).  In 1987,
extrapulmonary TB was added to the surveillance case definition
for AIDS and in 1993 pulmonary TB in people with HIV was added.
In many areas surveillance for AIDS includes assessing the
completeness and accuracy of reported cases based on links with
the registries for TB and other diseases.  In December 1993 the
Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services matched
TB and AIDS case lists to verify TB data, include more complete
TB data on the AIDS records, and identify cases in the AIDS
records with unreported TB.  They matched all 16,559 reported
cases of TB in Florida between 1984 and December 1993 with all
36,002 cases of AIDS reported in the state from 1981 to December
1993.  Computer and manual matching found 2,567 patients on both
lists.  Of that total, 83.2 percent had TB noted on their AIDS
record, but the remainder did not have TB documented.  Medical
records were reviewed for 679 AIDS cases with TB that were not
listed in the TB registry.  In an editorial note, health
departments are urged to improve their staff's awareness of TB,
help people with TB get tested for HIV, and  provide TB tests to
people with HIV.