NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/sci/med/aids/1567

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Subject: CDC Summary 7/27/92
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                         AIDS Daily Summary
                           July 27, 1992
 The Centers for Disease Control (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
Clearinghouse, or any other organization.  Reproduction of this text is
encouraged; however, copies may not be sold.  Copyright 1992,
Information, Inc., Washington, DC
************************************************************************
 "AIDS-Like Cases Fan Concern, Not Panic" New York Times (07/27/92), P.
B1  (Sontag, Deborah)
     The revelation of 30 people who exhibit symptoms of AIDS but do
not test positive for HIV has not resulted in a panic, as was  expected.
At the Eighth International Conference on AIDS in  Amsterdam last week,
doctors from various cities in the United  States and Europe explained
the cases of patients who were  experiencing AIDS-related illnesses but
showed no signs of HIV-1  or HIV-2.  In addition, a California doctor
told about a new  virus, detected in a 66-year old woman with such
symptoms as well as in her daughter, who is healthy.  The Gay Men's
Health Crisis  witnessed an increase in calls from about 400 to 525 a
day last  week.  However, the inquiries were not from people who were
panicked about the news.  "People just want information, and we  tell
them that the data is inconclusive, that we're talking about 30 cases
that could be significant but also could be a medical  fluke," said
David Eng, a spokesman for the GMHC.   The  Hemophiliac Association
opened early last week to answer what it  believed would be an influx of
calls.  However, only one of the  association's 700 clients called.
Hemophiliacs and their  families have an advanced understanding of the
disease now, said  the association's vice president.  Those individuals
are aware  that a heat and solvent blast cleaning kills all viruses in
the  clotting-factor concentrate used by hemophiliacs.

"Blood Banks Vigilant But Vouch for Safety" New York Times (07/27/92),
P. B2  (Rosenthal, Elisabeth)
     Recent reports disclosed at the international AIDS conference  last
week about patients who seem to have AIDS but test negative  for HIV
have prompted concern and confusion at the nation's blood banks.
However, officials claim they do not see an immediate  need to change
the guidelines for donating or receiving blood.   If research finds that
a new AIDS-like condition is caused by a  microbe that cannot be
detected in donated blood, experts say a  high degree of protection
should be provided by the procedures  already implemented to screen out
potential blood donations  tainted with HIV.  Of the small number of
cases reported, the new illness mainly affects people in groups known to
be at risk for  AIDS, and it seems to be relatively rare.  But doctors
said the  reports of the cases raised many questions and could make it
difficult to advise patients regarding the risks of transfusions.
Approximately 25 percent of the patients with the new syndrome  seem not
to be in high-risk groups and would therefore be  qualified donors.  Dr.
John Adamson, director of the New York  Blood Center, said that if a
significant number of people were  infected with a new agent that evaded
detection, doctors would be seeing more transfusion recipients
developing AIDS or related  illnesses.  Instead, the rate continues to
decline.

"Man With H.I.V. Challenges U.S. Entry Ban" New York Times (07/27/92),
P. A12
     An HIV-positive male citizen of Spain challenged the United
States' ban on admitting noncitizens infected with HIV by  entering the
U.S. through the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.  Tomas
Fabregas, of Spain, is a legal resident of  the U.S. who lives in
Oakland, Calif.  At the Eighth  International Conference on AIDS in
Amsterdam last week, Fabregas announced he would challenge the ban on
admitting  AIDS/HIV-infected people into the United States.  When
Fabregas  returned from Amsterdam, he was greeted by about 40
supporters.   Karen Philis, director of the Immigration and
Naturalization  Service at the airport, said Fabregas went through
customs and  immigration without question, but she did not disclose the
specific process under which he was admitted.  Philis said that
immigration officials did not inquire about Fabregas' infection  and
that he did not "make it an issue."  David Ilchert, director  of the
immigration office for the San Francisco district, said  Fabregas might
have been permitted to re-enter the U.S. because  his trip could have
been considered a "casual departure."   Prohibiting re-entry on that
type of trip is not permitted.   Related Stories: Wall Street Journal
(07/27) P. B4; Philadelphia  Inquirer (07/27) P. B5

"AIDS: Illness and Injustice" Washington Post (07/26/92),P.C5 (Hunter,
Nan D. and Rubenstein, William B.)
     As more cases of AIDS are showing up among people of color,  women,
the poor, adolescents, and children, new charged social  issues  will
emerge and HIV policy and law will be reconfigured,  write Nan Hunter,
professor at Brooklyn Law School, and William  Rubenstein, director of
the American Civil Liberties Union AIDS  Project, in an editorial in the
Washington Post.  The matter of  who will take care of the children of
HIV-infected single mothers will become paramount in state legislatures,
as will the need to  change laws so that teenagers can obtain AIDS
testing and  treatment without parental consent or notification.  AIDS
activists will have to work harder to break down the public's  desire to
punish HIV patients, a mood which will grow as AIDS  hits low-income
groups harder.  Access to health care will have  to be more aggressively
reformed as AIDS become increasingly  treatable.  More insurers are
raising premium costs for  individuals with expensive illnesses, and
some doctors and  hospitals are denying treatment to those with HIV.  A
growing  number of self-insured employers also are adopting AIDS-
specific  caps and exclusions in their coverage.  AIDS advocates will
spend more time pushing laws requiring insurers to accept all
applicants and charge all policyholders the same rates.

"Rose-Colored View on AIDS" Boston Globe (07/24/92), P. 18
     Although President Bush told a group of young participants at the
International Conference on AIDS in Amsterdam that he was  "optimistic
about achieving a major breakthrough," the reality of AIDS research is
not so encouraging, according to the editors of  the Boston Globe.  The
grim statistics that the president ignored include the fact that women
now account for 40 percent of those  infected with HIV worldwide, up
from 25 percent two years ago.   In addition, within two years one in
every six new AIDS cases in  the United States will likely be a woman.
The number of U.S.  children and teenagers orphaned by the disease will
more than  double by the year 2000, according to a report by David
Michaels  of New York's City University Medical School.  Though Bush
promised to increase his budget request for AIDS research from  $4.2
billion to $4.9 billion, that alone will not offset what the National
Aids Commission described recently as the president's  "tragically
insufficient" response to the AIDS crisis.

"At AIDS Talks, Reality Weighs Down Hope" New York Times (07/26/92), P.
1  (Altman, Lawrence K.)
     The co-chairman of the eighth international AIDS conference, Dr.
Jonathan Mann, concluded the meeting on Friday in much the same  fashion
as he started it six days earlier, explaining that the  conference is
one of "hope, not despair."  However, the  conference did conclude in a
melancholy atmosphere prompted by  the increased recognition that HIV is
revealing its secrets  slowly and that the disease is still not fully
understood.  The  5,000 presentations given at the meeting did little to
advance  knowledge about AIDS.  The conference emphasized that instead
of  being controlled, the epidemic is spreading rapidly worldwide,
especially in developing countries and among women.  Even  activists who
have previously disrupted meetings by attacking  health officials and
researchers for their slow action to fight  the epidemic admitted that
there is an urgent need to return to  basic science.  For the first time
in the history of  international AIDS conferences, an activist was
allowed to speak  to the audience.  Mark Harrington of ACT-UP/New York
said that  although aggressive advocacy has incited some useful reform
in  "inefficient" research and drug regulation, he added, "it often
seems that all these accomplishments go for naught" as HIV  continues to
spread.

"Disease Devastating Poor Nations" USA Today (07/27/92), P. 6D
(Painter, Kim)
     The AIDS epidemic is depleting the economies of Third World
countries, and represents an issue of the haves and the have  nots.  At
the international AIDS conference in Amsterdam, it was  disclosed that
the annual amount of health care spent on an AIDS  patient in the U.S.
totals $38,000.  In Western Europe that  figure is $22,000, in Latin
America $2,000, and in sub-Saharan  Africa spending per patient is just
under $400.  In areas like  Africa and Asia, where the virus is most
prevalent, exotic  anti-viral drugs are unthinkable because "there is no
money for  even the most basic antibiotics," said Frans van den Boom of
the  Netherlands Institute of Mental Health.  He said that some
Africans must sell their land and animals to support their AIDS  care.
When those individuals die, nothing is left for their  families.  In
addition, women are at an increased risk of  contracting HIV, because in
many areas women have little control  over sex.  The women do not feel
they have the authority to  demand that their sex partner use a condom,
and they dare not  leave a man who puts them at risk for HIV.  Even
monogamy is not  enough to protect women.  A study of new mothers in
Kigali,  Rwanda, found that 25 percent of the women with only one
lifetime sex partner were HIV-positive.  The younger the women were, the
more likely they were to be infected.

"Biotech Partners Complete Early AIDS Vaccine Trial" Investor's Business
Daily (07/27/92), P. 33
     Cel-Sci Corp and Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. announced Friday that
safety studies of an AIDS vaccine used in 18 healthy volunteers  showed
no significant toxic side effects.  The study's findings  are reported
in the summer issue of Vaccine Research, said the  companies.  The
vaccine, called HGP-30, is a synthetic replica of a component of a core
protein of HIV.  Viral Technologies Inc., a Washington-based joint
venture of Cel-Sci and Alpha 1, owns the  patent rights to the product.

"The Great American Insurance Scam" Advocate (07/14/92) No. 607, P. 37
(Sadownick, Doug)
     Since the AIDS epidemic began, the insurance industry has denied
AIDS claims, cancelled policies and redlined entire industries.
Approximately 37 million people nationwide are uninsured, and a
projected 11,000 homeless people with AIDS are on the streets of  New
York City.  Though gay men are not the only group at risk at  for HIV,
they are being singled out as pariahs by the insurance  industry.  Those
who test positive for HIV are becoming America's "uninsurables," with
the courts and corporate insurance offices  offering minimal help,
despite the fact that  AIDS claims  constitute only 4 percent of private
health care claims.  Scores of gay policyholders have been dropped from
their insurance once  they file AIDS-related claims, while others have
witnessed their  premiums escalate.  Insurers screen out gay men on the
basis of  their zipcodes, refusing to cover unmarried men living in
areas  such as New York's West Village or California's West Hollywood,
or who work in jobs associated with homosexuality, such as  interior
decorating, hairdressing, and the arts.  Redlining also  affects gay-run
businesses, AIDS organizations, and clinics.

"AIDS in Politics--And in the Streets" U.S. News + World Report
(07/27/92) Vol. 113, No. 4, P. 6
     At the Democratic National Convention held in New York City last
week, two AIDS patients spoke about the disease.  Elizabeth  Glaser,
whose daughter died of AIDS and whose son is currently  HIV-positive,
said, "I am here because my son and I may not  survive four more years
of leaders who say they care--but do  nothing."  Preceding Glaser to the
podium was Bob Hattoy, an  adviser to Bill Clinton, who said, "I don't
want to live in an  America where the president sees me as the enemy."
In addition,  the National Commission on AIDS reported that up to half
of all  Americans with AIDS are either homeless or on their way to be,
and that at least 15 percent of people living on the streets are  HIV-
positive.  "The failure of the present administration to  address
the...AIDS housing crisis is clear," concluded the  commission.  Magic
Johnson, the most famous member of the panel,  threatened that he might
quit the commission upon his return from the Summer Olympics in
Barcelona.  "Every time we ask for  funding, we get turned down by the
president," said Johnson.

"The Hidden Cost of AIDS" U.S. News + World Report (07/27/92) Vol. 113,
No. 4, P. 49
     In addition to the millions of lives the AIDS epidemic will take
over the next decade, it will also devastate the global economy.  While
the Black Death killed about 25 million in the 14th  century, by the
turn of the century, 30 million to 110 million  people will be HIV-
positive by the year 2000--up from about 12  million today.  Southeast
Asia could experience an increase of  infections from less than 10
percent to more than 40 percent of  the world total by the year 2000,
according to a recent study by  Harvard's Global AIDS Policy Coalition.
A study by U.S. News +  World Report journalists and economist Nariman
Behravesh of  DRI/McGraw-Hill, found that by the year 2000 the epidemic
could  siphon off between $356 billion and $514 billion from the global
economy.  A worst case scenario shows that the dollar loss equals 14
percent of the entire world's gross domestic product, which is
equivalent of depleting Australia or India of its entire economy. The
epidemic will drain between $81 billion and $107 billion in  the United
States by the year 2000, which is about 1 percent of  gross domestic
product, the study predict.  Also, the number of  young people orphaned
by AIDS could increase more than two times  in the next three years to
3.7 million worldwide.

"Prophylactic Intravenous Immunoglobulin in HIV-Positive Children With
CD4 Counts of 200 or More." Journal of the American Medical Association
(07/29/92) Vol. 268,  No. 4, P. 483  (Mofenson, Lynne M. et al.)
     Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) had a beneficial effect in
multiple infectious outcome measures, with reductions in serious  and
minor viral and bacterial infections observed in children with entry CD4
cell counts of at least 200, write Lynne M. Mofenson et al. of the
National Institute of Child Health and Human  Development in Bethesda,
Md.  In a study of 376 HIV-positive  children with clinical or
immunologic evidence of HIV  infection--313 of whom had entry CD4 counts
of at least 200--  participants were randomly assigned to either a
placebo or 400 mg of IVIG per kilogram of body weight every 28 days.  It
was found  that viral infections and minor bacterial infections caused
death more often in children with CD4 counts of at least 200 than did
serious bacterial infection.  Opportunistic infections transpired at a
similar rate as laboratory-proven serious bacterial  infections.  IVIG
was substantially linked in this group of  patients  with a drop in the
rate of viral infections and minor  bacterial infections per 100
patient-years in addition to a  decline in the rate of serious bacterial
infections per 100  patient-years.  There existed no observed
discrepancy in the rate of opportunistic infections between treatment
arms.