Software Vault: The Diamond Collection/The Diamond Collection (Software Vault)(Digital Impact).ISO/cdr16/ad950210.zip/AD950210.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-10 | 11KB | 199 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      February 10, 1995

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 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"AIDS Cases Rising Sharply Among Women"
"Teen Gets Life for Murders of 2 Gay Men"
"Pentagon May Hold Up AIDS Study Funds"
"Marijuana Defendant Can Tell Jury He Needs Drug to Fight AIDS"
"Va. Group to Give Latex on Day of Love"
"Killer Injects Himself with HIV-Tainted Blood"
"Liposome Company's Amphotericin B Lipid Complex Approved for
Marketing in the United Kingdom Under Trade Name 'Abelcet'"
"ChemTrak Files for FDA Approval of Home Access HIV Test;
Completes Acquisition of Coonan Clinical Laboratories"
"No Salk Phase III Trials Yet"
"Your Health: HIV Answers"
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"AIDS Cases Rising Sharply Among Women"
New York Times (02/10/95) P. A11
   The number of AIDS cases among women in the United States has
increased sharply and shows no signs of slowing down, officials
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
Thursday.  Cases among women are increasing by about 17 percent a
year, they said, and growing numbers of women are contracting the
disease through heterosexual contact.  "Women need to
consistently use condoms when they're having heterosexual sex,"
said Dr. Patricia Fleming of the center's Division of HIV and
AIDS.  Women accounted for 18 percent of the new AIDS cases among
adults in 1994.  On Wednesday, the World Health Organization
reported that globally, infection with HIV is growing faster
among women than any other group.  Related Stories: Wall Street
Journal (02/10) P. C7; Washington Times (02/10) P. A15

"Teen Gets Life for Murders of 2 Gay Men"
Washington Times (02/10/95) P. A13
   Despite claims that he was trying to avoid being raped and
infected with HIV, Marvin McClendon--the teenager accused of
murdering two homosexual men in a robbery--was sentenced to two
consecutive life prison terms Thursday.  The prosecution said
that the 16-year-old is a troubled youth who stole $100 from the
men, and then killed them.  The defense said that McClendon shot
Robert Walters and Joseph Shoemake while fighting off unwanted
sexual advances and out of fear that he might be infected with
HIV.  Related Stories: New York Times (02/10) P. A25; Washington
Post (02/10) P. A2

"Pentagon May Hold Up AIDS Study Funds"
Washington Post (02/10/95) P. A8;  Brown, David
   The Defense Department may withhold about $30 million earmarked
for AIDS research and about $150 million for breast cancer
research because it does not consider these studies essential
segments of the military's medical program.  This money funds
three-quarters of the military's research on AIDS, including drug
trials, laboratory experiments, and a large study of HIV's
"natural history."  In the past few years, Congress has placed
large sums of money in the defense budget that the Pentagon has
not requested, and in this year's budget, added $33 million to
the Pentagon's requested $14 million for AIDS research, for a
total of approximately $47 million.  Scientists directing some of
the studies stopped recruiting new patients this week and warned
employees of possible layoffs.  The Army, Navy, and Air Force
will continue research in areas seen as directly related to
military preparedness such as AIDS prevention, epidemiology, and
vaccine development, according to a source in the armed forces.

"Marijuana Defendant Can Tell Jury He Needs Drug to Fight AIDS"
Baltimore Sun (02/10/95) P. 14B;  O'Brien, Dennis
   A Charles County, Md., judge ruled Thursday that Jerome E. Mensch
may argue to a jury that he needs to smoke marijuana to combat
the effects of AIDS--the first time the "medical necessity
defense" has been allowed in Maryland.  The 43-year-old dairy
farmer has been charged with the unlawful manufacture and
possession of marijuana.  On Dec. 19, Mensch told Circuit Judge
George W. Bowling that the marijuana he began smoking about a
year prior to his arrest worked better than prescription drugs to
alleviate the weight loss and nausea he experienced from being
infected with HIV.  He admitted growing the marijuana, saying he
did it "because it was free, because it was at my home, and
because I needed it."  Judge Bowling ruled that Mensch met the
three requirements for using the medical necessity defense: it
was done to avoid an evil, there was no other means of avoiding
the evil, and that the remedy was not disproportionate to the
evil to be avoided.  Both sides expect a trial to begin in April.

"Va. Group to Give Latex on Day of Love"
Washington Post (02/10/95) P. C4;  Bates, Steve
   On Feb. 14, as part of "Safer Sex Valentine's Night," volunteers
from Hopkins House--a private social service agency based in
Alexandria, Va.--will distribute candy and condoms at homeless
shelters, jails, and places where drug dealers and prostitutes
hang out in Northern Virginia.  "Condoms should be on par with
candy" on the day set aside to emphasize sweetness and love, said
Glenn Hopkins, director of Hopkins House.  Health officials and
community groups are increasingly concerned that many at-risk
people do not take the initiative to pick up free condoms or buy
them at drugstores.  The Whitman-Walker Clinic and several other
Washington, D.C., area community groups have also developed
outreach programs to combat AIDS.  "We have a little bit more
freedom than a government health employee," said Sean Bugg of
Whitman-Walker, who sends volunteers to distribute condoms and
answer health-related questions at District bars and clubs
frequented by gay men.  In the last four years, the number of
Northern Virginians infected with HIV has increased more than 350
percent, according to Hopkins House figures.

"Killer Injects Himself with HIV-Tainted Blood"
Reuters (02/09/95)
   In a bizarre form of self-inflicted capital punishment,
multiple-killer Terry Fitzsimmons deliberately injected
HIV-tainted blood, the Canadian Press reported Thursday.  "I knew
society wouldn't be satisfied with this (prison) sentence, so I
thought I'd give them the capital punishment they always wanted,"
said Fitzsimmons in a taped interview with his lawyers.  Last
year, he plead guilty to the murders of three people.  He told
his lawyer he intentionally injected blood in his own veins when
taking cocaine with an HIV-positive gay man.  Fitzsimmons tested
HIV-positive in Kingston Penitentiary last month and prison
doctors told him he would develop full-blown AIDS in about five
years.

"Liposome Company's Amphotericin B Lipid Complex Approved for
Marketing in the United Kingdom Under Trade Name 'Abelcet'"
PR Newswire (02/09/95)
   Liposome Co. Inc. has received marketing approval from the
Medicines Control Agency for Abelcet in the United Kingdom.  The
drug is approved for first-line treatment of cryptococcal
meningitis and systemic cryptococcosis in AIDS patients and as an
alternative to amphotericin B for severe systemic fungal
infections.  Chairman and chief executive Charles A. Baker called
Abelcet "a significant advancement over conventional anti-fungal
treatment."  Liposome Co. has filed additional marketing
applications in seventeen countries and expects to receive more
approvals beginning in 1995.

"ChemTrak Files for FDA Approval of Home Access HIV Test;
Completes Acquisition of Coonan Clinical Laboratories"
Business Wire (02/08/95)
   ChemTrak Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has filed a
premarket approval application with the Food and Drug
Administration for the ChemTrak home access HIV test.  The test
for detecting antibodies against HIV-1 will not require doctor
participation or a prescription.  Unlike a conventional home
test, the ChemTrak home access HIV test includes testing as well
as counseling and referral to local care.  "An important weapon
in the fight against HIV and AIDS is early, accurate disease
detection.  Expanded access to HIV testing will be made possible
by offering a home testing option to people unable or unwilling
to use current test alternatives," said Stephen J. Coonan,
founder of ChemTrak's home access HIV test business.  ChemTrak
also announced that on Feb. 3, it completed the acquisition of
Coonan Clinical Laboratories Inc., through which it acquired the
home access HIV test.

"No Salk Phase III Trials Yet"
Lancet (02/04/95) Vol. 345, No. 8945, P. 313;  Rowe, Paul M.
   Jonas Salk and officials from the Immune Response Corporation
recently appeared before a U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) advisory committee, seeking approval of large-scale
efficacy trials of their whole inactivated HIV as a therapeutic
vaccine for HIV infection.  The panel, however, found the data
for the effectiveness of the product to be extremely weak,
although it appeared to be safe.  The panel said that the FDA
should permit expanded trials, but that it was too early for
phase III trials.  While the sponsors claimed that the treatment
improved surrogate markers and reduced disease progression, FDA
analysts argued that no pre-specified marker showed statistically
significant improvement.  Some other markers did--with marginal p
values, but they are not strictly significant because the finding
was post hoc.  Salk's main theory links the stimulation of
cell-mediated immunity with a decrease in viral burden.

"Your Health: HIV Answers"
Advocate (02/07/95) No. 674, P. 43;  Cohan, Gary R.
   Seborrheic dermatitis--the most common HIV-related skin
problem--usually appears as a red, scaly, greasy rash on the
forehead, cheeks, nose creases, eyebrows, and ears.  Although the
rash is rarely itchy on the face, it can be if it affects the
scalp or the trunk, which can happen in severe cases.
Predisposing factors for seborrheic dermatitis include immune
suppression, inherited genes, and increased sebum production.
While it is common in the general population, it is even more so
among HIV-infected persons, with over 80 percent of people
diagnosed with AIDS exhibiting some form of this condition.
Treatment involves a daily skin regimen that includes using the
proper soap for moisturizing, shampooing with products that
contain selenium sulfide or zinc pyrithione, and avoiding harsh
scrubbing with washcloths or abrasive scrubs.