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The Arsenal Files 8
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The Arsenal Files Collection #8 (Arsenal Computer) (1996).ISO
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ad961023.txt
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1996-10-25
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AIDS Daily Summary
Wednesday, October 23, 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 National AIDS
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
******************************************************
"Blacks Urged to Act to Increase Awareness of the AIDS Epidemic"
"Helping Kids With HIV"
"Study of Access to Medical Care Finds Outlook Remains Grim for
Uninsured"
"USA Snapshots: AIDS in the Workplace"
"ADA's Miseries and Accommodations"
"Survey: Congress Hopefuls Lean to Drug Prevention"
"HIV Perinatal Transmission Risk Not Affected by Infection
Outcome of Previous Siblings"
"New Surveillance Tool Introduced for Global Monitoring of HIV-1
Variants"
"Here's the Straight Dope"
"A Reluctant Campaigner"
******************************************************
"Blacks Urged to Act to Increase Awareness of the AIDS Epidemic"
New York Times (10/23/96) P. A16; Rimer, Sara
Black leaders representing government, academia, religion,
and medicine met Tuesday at Harvard University to urge
African-Americans to take action against the spread of HIV.
Henry Louis Gates, chairman of Afro-American studies at Harvard,
told the group that "our people, our leaders, our culture, have
long been in denial about AIDS in the black community." The
Harvard AIDS Institute estimated that more than half of all U.S.
AIDS cases would be among blacks by the year 2000. By that time,
the institute said, a Black person would be nine times as likely
to have AIDS as someone who is not Black. Institute member Mario
Cooper said that all levels of government, as well as charitable
organizations, must be more active in making AIDS-fighting
resources available to Blacks.
"Helping Kids With HIV"
Washington Post (10/23/96) P. A22; Brodsky, Marian
Washington, D.C.'s Whitman-Walker AIDS Clinic does not serve
children with HIV, claims Marian Brodsky, of Children's National
Medical Center in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post.
Brodsky, who serves as hospital volunteer coordinator of Project
CHAMP (Children's HIV/AIDS Model Program), takes issue with a
recent Post article that called Whitman-Walker "the largest
health care and legal provider" for area AIDS patients. She
points out that CHAMP provides medical care, volunteer services,
respite care, and recreational activities to more than 70 percent
of children with HIV and AIDS in the Washington, D.C. area, as
well as providing community outreach.
"Study of Access to Medical Care Finds Outlook Remains Grim for
Uninsured"
Wall Street Journal (10/23/96) P. B9; Winslow, Ron
As many as 17 million adults have difficulty getting the
medical care they need or struggle to pay for it when care is
obtained, a new study has found. Researchers at Harvard
University report in today's issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association that 15 percent of the U.S. population is
uninsured. Led by Karen Donelan of the Harvard School of Public
Health, the researchers report that those lacking insurance were
four times more likely than those with insurance to fail to get
the care they needed and three times more likely to struggle to
pay their medical bills. Furthermore, they said, those in the
poorest health had the most problems getting care.
"USA Snapshots: AIDS in the Workplace"
USA Today (10/23/96) P. 1B
Employees at about one in six companies are offered HIV/AIDS
education, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's Business Responds to AIDS Program. Only about 6
percent of companies with less than 50 employees offered employee
AIDS education, compared to 32 percent of companies with at least
750 workers.
"ADA's Miseries and Accommodations"
Washington Times (10/23/96) P. A15; Germer, Fawn
Critics of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) argue
that measures needed for compliance are too costly and
time-consuming, but supporters say that the changes are fair and
necessary. The ADA prohibits employment and public access
discrimination against disabled people--including those who use
wheelchairs, the hearing impaired, blind, learning-disabled,
recovering alcoholics, and those with HIV and other diseases.
According to the ADA definition, about 49 million Americans are
disabled--more than one in six. The ADA, moreover, has sparked
thousands of lawsuits, most of which were against businesses that
must make "reasonable accommodations" to allow disabled people to
work. For example, a man in Indiana who lost his job because he
was HIV-infected was awarded $25,000 in damages in a lawsuit
against his employer because the employer did not keep his medical
condition confidential.
"Survey: Congress Hopefuls Lean to Drug Prevention"
USA Today (10/23/96) P. 3A; Johnson, Kevin
Prevention is the favored tool among many Republican and
Democratic congressional candidates for reducing teen drug use,
in contrast to the enforcement methods favored by their parties'
presidential candidates. A new survey, conducted by the
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, found that 65 percent
of the 1,000 candidates that responded favored education programs
over the punitive and interdiction proposals offered by President
Clinton and GOP nominee Bob Dole. The survey also found that 13
percent of the respondents supported some type of drug
legalization that included the legalization of marijuana for
medical use.
"HIV Perinatal Transmission Risk Not Affected by Infection
Outcome of Previous Siblings"
Reuters (10/22/96)
The risk that a woman will transmit HIV to a child does not
increase with time, according to researchers at Emory University.
In the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal, Dr. Steven Nesheim
and colleagues report on a study of 114 HIV-positive women who
gave birth to at least two children after becoming infected. Among
members of that group, 18 percent of the younger siblings and 17
percent of the older children became infected. The researchers
concluded that strong maternal factors do not affect the risk of
perinatal transmission, but rather that the risk is linked to
factors associated with the individual pregnancy and delivery.
"New Surveillance Tool Introduced for Global Monitoring of HIV-1
Variants"
Reuters (10/22/96)
A new method has been developed to determine more easily the
type of HIV-1 that is in a contaminated blood sample. Sharon
Cassol of the University of Ottawa and other Canadian researchers
report that their method, which involves collecting a blood
sample on paper and mailing it to a laboratory for analysis,
avoids the biohazards associated with processing and shipping
whole blood or cell samples from developing countries. The
researchers analyzed dried blood spot samples from HIV-1 positive
patients in five Asian countries, and found that, in southern
India, type C was most prevalent, with rare occurrences of type
A. Their findings agreed with what has been reported in western
and northern India.
"Here's the Straight Dope"
Newsweek (10/21/96) Vol. 128, No. 17, P. 37; Klaidman, Daniel
While Bob Dole's charges about the rise in drug use during
the Clinton administration have received a lot of attention
during the presidential campaign, his claims may be misleading,
writes Daniel Klaidman in Newsweek. The proportion of teens
using marijuana rose from 4 percent in 1992 to 8.2 percent last
year, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
The reported rise in the use of harder drugs, however, may be too
small to be statistically significant, survey experts say. In
addition, the rise in marijuana use actually started in 1992,
when President Bush was still in office. Drug-policy experts
point out that prevention programs take years to have an impact.
Furthermore, overall drug use has remained the same or decreased
since the Clinton administration began. Clinton, meanwhile, has
also used statistics from the Household survey, noting that
cocaine use dropped from 2.6 percent to 1.7 percent last year.
According to Klaidman, he has slightly exaggerated the decrease
as 30 percent, when it is actually closer to 21 percent.
Clinton's claims of increased drug control and border enforcement
are also misleading, Klaidman concludes, because his
administration cut interdiction funding by 50 percent in 1993,
then raised it, but not to the original level.
"A Reluctant Campaigner"
Newsweek (10/21/96) Vol. 128, No. 17, P. 36; Kosova, Weston;
Klaidman, Daniel
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton's drug czar since
last year, is more interested in long-term solutions to the drug
problem than campaigning for Clinton's re-election. He believes
that drug use can be diminished more effectively through long-term
prevention and treatment programs, rather than through
incarceration and interdiction, which Clinton has favored.
McCaffrey is valuable to Clinton, because he is respected by both
Democrats and Republicans. His testimony to Republicans on the
welfare bill this summer persuaded them, for example, to drop a
provision that would have stopped benefits to recipients who are
arrested on drug-related charges.