The Arsenal Files 8/The Arsenal Files Collection #8 (Arsenal Computer) (1996).ISO/health/ad961105.txt

Text File | 1996-11-11 | 10KB | 179 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                  Tuesday, November 5, 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


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"Success of AIDS Drug Has Merck Fighting to Keep Up the Pace"
"Across the USA: Rhode Island"
"'Cocktail' Therapies Offer Hope in AIDS Battle"
"Restoring Parental Responsibility"
"New Director Out of Job at Action AIDS"
"Battle to the Death?"
"President Takes His Final Campaign to Where Quest Began"
"Progesterone Implants Enhance SIV Vaginal Transmission and Early
Virus Load"
"A Black-and-White Approach to AIDS"
"Adventuring to Fight AIDS"
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"Success of AIDS Drug Has Merck Fighting to Keep Up the Pace"
Wall Street Journal (11/05/96) P. A1; Tanouye, Elyse
     Merck's AIDS drug Crixivan, which won the FDA's fastest
approval ever, is now so popular that the company is having
difficulty keeping up with demand.  About 90,000 patients
worldwide are already taking the drug, and demand is expected to
increase as more states approve funding for the costly therapy
and more countries approve the drug for sale.  In its rush to
beat competitors, however, Merck obtained approval of Crixivan
before new manufacturing plants were ready to produce the drug.
Crixivan is also the most complex drug Merck has ever tried to
mass-produce, which has only further delayed production.

"Across the USA: Rhode Island"
USA Today (11/05/96) P. 10A
     In Rhode Island, a state Education Department task force
made up of parents and educators has proposed a sex education
plan that would include teaching kindergartners about AIDS and
demonstrating condom use to ninth-graders.

"'Cocktail' Therapies Offer Hope in AIDS Battle"
Baltimore Sun (11/05/96) P. 7A
     A triple combination of AIDS drugs is dramatically delaying
the progression of the disease among European patients, doctors
reported at a conference in England Monday.  Dr. Ian Weller of
London's Middlesex Hospital noted that "we are talking about a 40
[percent] to 50 percent reduction in mortality," and that the
benefit has lasted up to two years in some patients.
Furthermore, Dr. Peter Reiss, of the Academy Medical Center in
Amsterdam, said his AIDS clinic has been able to treat people
with other conditions because his AIDS patients have become
outpatients.  As evidence of the drugs' value, Reiss pointed to
the drop in cases of cytomegalovirus infection, an infection that
can blind people with AIDS, and Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer common
among AIDS patients.

"Restoring Parental Responsibility"
Wall Street Journal (11/05/96) P. A22
     Parental rights and responsibilities have become a hot
political issue, and they are being debated from the presidential
race to a Colorado ballot initiative, according to a New York
Times editorial.  The proposal in Colorado would limit how far
schools and governments can go against the wishes of parents in
areas like psychological testing and condom distribution.  In
Massachusetts, for example, a parent's complaint about a safer sex
performance at a high school was rejected by a federal appeals
court.  The court ruled that the performance, titled "Hot, Sexy,
and Safer," was "intended to educate students about the AIDS
virus."  The Colorado initiative would place in the state
constitution the reasoning used in 1925 to establish a firm right
of parents "to direct and control the upbringing, education,
values, and discipline of their children."

"New Director Out of Job at Action AIDS"
Philadelphia Inquirer (11/05/96) P. B2; Burling, Stacey
     Billy S. Jones, chosen two weeks ago by the board of
directors of Action AIDS to run the Philadelphia AIDS service
agency, was removed from the position Sunday.  The board met with
Jones to discuss a report published Friday in the Philadelphia
Gay News that said that Jones was sentenced to jail in 1985 for
embezzling $57,000 from a San Francisco agency for troubled
youth.  Jones confirmed the report and offered not to accept the
position of executive director.  The new choice for director is
Kevin Conare, who has served as deputy executive director for
three years.  Action AIDS has 80 employees and an annual budget
of $3.5 million.  It provides case-management services, including
referrals for medical care, housing, and transportation to about
2,000 people with AIDS.

"Battle to the Death?"
Washington Times (11/05/96) P. B6
     Companies in the viatical settlements business are at odds
over the implications of a new law that allows individuals with
terminal illnesses to sell their life-insurance policies
tax-free.  At the same time, advances in the treatment of AIDS
have dramatically changed the business.  Independent viatical
companies are fighting to make sure they are not put at a
disadvantage to insurance companies.  The definition of a
viatical company under the new Kennedy-Kassebaum health-insurance
reform law is the central issue in the debate.  The National
Viatical Association claims that the law gives an unfair
advantage to insurance companies because it requires a viatical
settlement company to be operating in one of the 12 regulated
states in order for the customer to benefit from the tax break.

"President Takes His Final Campaign to Where Quest Began"
Boston Globe (11/04/96) P. A10; Wilkie, Curtis
     President Clinton has kept up a rapid pace during the final
days of his campaign, traveling from coast to coast speaking
about the healthy economy and his "bridge to the 21st century."
In a recent speech in Oakland, Calif., Clinton pointed to
advances in medical science.  "We now know how to move drugs and
mix drugs in a way that has more than doubled the life expectancy
for people with HIV and AIDS in only four years," he said.

"Progesterone Implants Enhance SIV Vaginal Transmission and Early
Virus Load"
Nature Medicine (10/96) Vol. 2, No. 10, P. 1084; Marx, Preston
A.; Spira, Alexander I.; Gettie, Agegnehu; et al.
     Genital HIV transmission in women is thought to be
influenced by progesterone, a hormone which causes changes in the
vaginal epithelium, vaginal pH, and cervical mucus.
Epidemiological studies have yielded inconclusive results about
the impact of hormonal contraceptives on HIV transmission.  To
test the relationship, researchers, led by Preston A. Marx of the
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the New York University
Medical School, studied the influence of progesterone implants on
simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in macaques.  They
report that macaques given subcutaneous progesterone implants,
which act similarly to hormonally based contraceptives, were 7.7
times more likely than other macaques exposed to the virus to
have thinned vaginal epithelium and to become infected with SIV.
Macaques with the implants also had higher plasma viral DNA for
the first three months of infection, and three of the treated
macaques showed relatively rapid disease progression.  The
authors conclude that women exposed to high levels of
progesterone could be at increased risk of vaginal HIV infection
and that the influence of progesterone should be studied in
women.

"A Black-and-White Approach to AIDS"
Across the Board (10/96) Vol. 133, No. 9, P. 63
     A 1995 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention shows that 54 percent of workplaces with at least 750
employees have had a worker with HIV or AIDS.  The CDC provides
sample workplace policies to advise companies on managing issues
related to the disease.  The agency also offers a Manager's Kit,
including brochures, resource catalogs, and posters, to aid in
the implementation of AIDS-awareness programs.  The kit is
available for $25 by calling the Business and Labor Resource
Service at [phone].

"Adventuring to Fight AIDS"
Women's Sports+Fitness (10/96) P. 25
     AIDS education is an adventure.  That might be a fitting
motto for Michael E. Coyne, head of Expedition Outreach.  Coyne,
his wife Christine, and other members of the group have
undertaken a series of adventures aimed at educating people about
AIDS and HIV prevention, as well as raising funds for the AIDS
Action Committee of Massachusetts.  "We'll do anything that will
make people stand up and take notice of the AIDS crisis," Coyne
said.  "In particular, we want to educate young adults and kids
about a virulent new strain of AIDS called subtype E, which is
particularly threatening to women because it thrives in their
reproductive tracts."  Expedition Outreach's most recent exploits
involved scaling 21,200-foot Nevado Illiman in the Bolivian
Andes.  Previous outings include skydiving, whitewater rafting,
and ice-climbing adventures.  Coyne hopes eventually to climb a
mountain in either Alaska or Siberia that has never been climbed
before and to name the summit Mt. Hope.  For more information or
to make a donation to the group, call [phone].