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1995-02-23
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AIDS Daily Summary
February 23, 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
************************************************************
"AIDS Testing for Pregnant Women Urged"
"Louganis, Olympic Champion, Says He Has AIDS"
"No One Is Immune"
"Merck Claims Its AIDS Drug Is the Best Yet"
"Nationwide Condom Blitz Heralds Brazil's Carnival"
"VIMRx Pharmaceuticals Reports Encouraging Results..."
"Sex-and-Sun Ads Pulled from Prudent Britain"
"Clinical Trials to Begin on Designed AIDS Drug"
"HCWs Urged to Be Aware of Deaf Patients' Needs"
"Kramer Vs. Kramer's Past"
************************************************************
"AIDS Testing for Pregnant Women Urged"
Washington Post (02/23/95) P. A5
The government proposed on Wednesday that physicians should
counsel every pregnant woman about AIDS and urge them to be
tested for HIV so that infected mothers can try to protect their
unborn children. Because each HIV test costs $25, a major
investment will be necessary to catch the estimated 80,000
heterosexual women of childbearing age who are infected with HIV,
of which more than 7,000 give birth each year, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Doctors recently
discovered, however, that AZT reduces the risk of maternal-infant
transmission by two-thirds. The CDC argued that mass HIV testing
should pay for itself both by saving babies' lives and their
medical bills. Each year, approximately 2,000 babies are born
with HIV. Related Story: New York Times (02/23) P. A20
"Louganis, Olympic Champion, Says He Has AIDS"
New York Times (02/23/95) P. B11; Sandomir, Richard
Greg Louganis, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic gold medal diver,
announced that he has AIDS. Last year, the athlete publicly
acknowledged his homosexuality for the first time at the Gay
Games in New York City. In an interview with ABC's "20/20" that
will be broadcast on Friday, Louganis said he knew he was
infected with HIV before the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South
Korea. Since then, Louganis' infection has developed into AIDS.
He said he was very concerned when he hit his head on the board
during a dive and shed blood in the pool. Louganis did not
inform the doctor who stitched up the two-inch cut without
wearing protective gloves that he was HIV-positive. The diver
said his doctor and Ron O'Brien, his coach, discouraged him from
telling the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) about his condition.
O'Brien said he encouraged Louganis' silence "because our sport
is such that you don't ever really come close to anybody." Since
1989, the USOC has adopted strict procedures for dealing with
open wounds, and voluntary HIV testing is available for Olympic
athletes. The organization, however, has no policy requiring
HIV-positive athletes to disclose their status. Related Story:
Washington Post (02/23) P. D1
"No One Is Immune"
Washington Post (02/23/95) P. D1; Wilbon, Michael
When it comes to HIV and AIDS, the greatest diver in the world is
just as helpless as anyone else handed a death sentence, writes
Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post. We tend to see
world-class athletes--with their medals, trophies, riches, and
fame--as protected from the tragedies of everyday life. During
the 1988 Olympics, diver Greg Louganis hit his head on the board
during the 1988 Olympics, and went on--with five stitches in his
head--to win the gold medal. Louganis had already won gold
medals at the 1984 Olympics, but he continued diving
competitively because he loved it more than anything else.
Perhaps he continued because it provided refuge from an abusive
stepfather, dyslexia, the ugly taunts he endured because of his
Samoan heritage, subsequent depression, and three suicide
attempts. Many people also need to realize that a great athlete
can also be homosexual. Among the famous athletes who have said
they have HIV or AIDS, Louganis is the first man who has talked
openly of his homosexuality. People will undoubtedly rally
around Louganis, and AIDS prevention will be in the news. Once
the energy of the moment dies out, however, everything goes back
to business as usual, and we end up hoping that the next famous
person to have the disease will be able to rally some sustaining
support in the fight against AIDS, Wilbon concludes.
"Merck Claims Its AIDS Drug Is the Best Yet"
Wall Street Journal (02/23/95) P. B1; Waldholz, Michael
Merck & Co. announced that it is accelerating plans for advanced
patient trials for its new experimental drug against AIDS,
MK-639, as a result of encouraging findings. Edward M. Scolnick,
president of worldwide research at Merck, said MK-639 "looks
better than anything else tested" against HIV. However, Merck
said supplies would be limited for about a year due to the
complexity of the manufacturing process. Emilio Emini, head of
AIDS research at Merck, warned that MK-639 is not a cure and
resistance can develop within a few months to a year or more, but
he added that the drug appeared to boost portions of the immune
system in very ill patients.
"Nationwide Condom Blitz Heralds Brazil's Carnival"
Journal of Commerce (02/23/95) P. 4A; Bruce, James
With the advent of Brazil's pre-Lenten carnival, Brazilian
authorities are raiding importers and retailers for substandard
prophylactics. As part of an assault on both chronic inflation
and increasing numbers of AIDS cases, Brasilia dropped import
barriers against prophylactics just last April. In Sao Paulo,
for example, authorities swept through 225 establishments and
seized 7,867 prophylactics last weekend. In Santos, the largest
port in Latin America and an acknowledged focus of HIV infection
in Brazil, authorities confiscated more than one half of the
3,020 packages examined for lack of the official Inmetro seal of
quality. The Inmetro agency tests the domestic products twice a
year and every imported shipment for quality, sanitation, and
shelf life. Brasilia imposed the national standards two years
ago as part of a campaign against HIV infection. Offending
importers caught in the weekend sweep will be fined 571.85 reals
(about $672.76) for the first incident, and 1,624.08 reals for
repeaters.
"VIMRx Pharmaceuticals Reports Encouraging Results..."
Business Wire (02/22/95)
On Wednesday, VIMRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that its
program to develop hypericin, its lead antiviral/antiretroviral
compound, to inactivate viruses in blood used for transfusions is
producing more encouraging results than previously reported.
Scientists at the New York Blood Center have now used hypericin
to achieve complete inactivation of more than six logs (more than
1 million HIV particles per millimeter of blood) of infectious
HIV in human blood. There has been no evidence of any
deleterious effect on any of the blood components tested. Each
year, about 12 million transfusions are given in the United
States, and 40 million worldwide. A small percentage of
HIV-infected blood slips through current testing procedures,
which are aimed at detecting antibodies to HIV and not HIV
directly. The indirect testing results in a one-to-three month
window in which newly infected HIV-positive blood could test
negative. VIMRx believes that using an antiviral agent in the
blood collection and storage processes will greatly reduce the
risks of infectious viral transmission.
"Sex-and-Sun Ads Pulled from Prudent Britain"
Reuters (02/22/95)
Following complaints that they encouraged irresponsible behavior
in the age of AIDS, a series of upfront advertisements promising
sex, sun, and booze has been taken off British streets. The
Advertising Standards Authority, which monitors ads in Britain,
said the campaign for the "Club 18-30" package holiday group
would probably cause widespread offense. "Girls, can we interest
you in a package holiday?" reads one poster fronted by a
well-built man dressed in his underwear. The controversial
holiday group toned down its ads during the 1980s, when AIDS
awareness was an the rise and concern increased about the health
risks of excessive drinking.
"Clinical Trials to Begin on Designed AIDS Drug"
Chemical & Engineering News (02/13/95) Vol. 73, No. 7, P. 39;
Borman, Stu
Scientists at Vertex Pharmaceuticals have used structure-based
drug design to successfully engineer greater bioavailability and
increased potency into a potential anti-AIDS drug, VX-478, an
orally bioavailable inhibitor of HIV protease. In late January,
Burroughs Wellcome, Vertex's development partner for VX-478,
filed an investigational new drug application for VX-478 with the
Food and Drug Administration. Phase I clinical trials are
expected to begin soon in the United States. Although hundreds
of compounds have been developed as HIV protease inhibitors, only
a few have advanced to clinical trials. This is mainly because
most candidate HIV protease inhibitors have not had the right
bioavailability properties, said Manuel A. Navia, a scientist at
Vertex. Bioavailability is a measure of a drug's presence in the
blood following its administration. A problem with many HIV
protease inhibitors is that the liver tends to clear them quickly
from circulation. Clinical trials of protease inhibitors have
tended to show significant decreases in antiviral activity over
time, primarily because of HIV's ability to mutate and thus,
develop resistance to the drugs.
"HCWs Urged to Be Aware of Deaf Patients' Needs"
AIDS Alert (02/95) Vol. 10, No. 2, P. 27
Advocates for the hearing impaired say that the deaf community is
not getting enough attention and health care services, which are
causing higher rates of AIDS among the deaf than in the general
population. The reason is because "so many people lack cultural
competency, sensitivity, and awareness," says Michael Felts, a
co-founder of Deaf AIDS Action, who is deaf and HIV-positive.
There have been 7,000 cases of seropositivity and AIDS among the
deaf nationwide, with 300 deaths, according to AIDS Education
Services for the Deaf, a division of the Greater Los Angeles
Association for the Deaf (GLAD). The deaf community's isolation
leads to much misunderstanding and misinformation, say advocates
for the deaf. James Peinkofer, a social worker at the Madison
Center in South Bend, Ind., says that deaf people are "probably
10 years behind the rest of us" in their knowledge of AIDS.
According to GLAD, the deaf community also engages in or
experiences "a very high incidence of promiscuous sexual
behavior, domestic violence, and alcohol/drug abuse." To
successfully get the message about AIDS across, AIDS service
providers must get involved--getting in touch with deaf social
clubs, sports organizations, and deaf schools, for example.
"Kramer Vs. Kramer's Past"
New York (02/13/95) Vol. 28, No. 7, P. 11; Wechsler, Pat;
Friedman, Roger D.
Writer, activist, and cofounder of the Gay Men's Health Crisis
(GMHC), Larry Kramer has been pushing for the GMHC to endorse new
but unapproved drugs called protease inhibitors. Kramer says
that the drugs have performed well in tests and have produced
fewer side effects in AIDS patients than drugs such as AZT.
However, when GMHC's Treatment Issues attempted to interview him
on the subject, the article was blocked by David Barr, GMHC's
head of treatment, education, and advocacy, says Kramer.
Treatment Issues Editor David Gold, who had conducted the
interview, was threatened with sanctions and even termination by
Barr. "He's being allowed to use the organization to pursue a
personal vendetta against me," said Kramer, who claims the
animosity dates back to their early days at ACT UP. "My approach
has always been to get drugs into bodies as fast as possible.
David and GMHC are blindly cautious," he added. A GMHC
spokesman, however, said the article will be in an upcoming
issue.