NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/sci/med/aids/2018

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Subject: CDC Summary 11/19/92
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                       AIDS Daily Summary
                       November 19, 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 CDC
Clearinghouse, or any other organization.  Reproduction of this text is
encouraged; however, copies may not be sold. Copyright 1992,
Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
************************************************************************
 "Almost One-Third of Gay Men in Study Admit to Unprotected Anal
Intercourse" Washington Post (11/19/92), P. A2
A nationwide study of homosexual men in smaller cities found that
approximately a third of them engage in unprotected anal intercourse,
researchers announced yesterday.  Several of the men who admitted to the
practice believed their risk of contracting HIV was none or slight--
representing a high level of ignorance, the study said.  The study was
conducted by the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and will be
featured in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  The researchers said in
the report, "Our findings show clearly that enhanced community-based
resources and prevention efforts are now urgently needed for reaching
gay men in smaller cities who have been neglected in AIDS prevention
relative to their urban counterparts."  The researchers surveyed 1,858
men entering gay clubs in 16 communities early last year. About one-
third of the men said they had practiced unsafe anal sex an average of
eight times in the preceding two months, usually with someone other than
their regular partner.  A total of nine percent said they had tested
HIV-positive.  The 16 smaller cities used in the study were located in
upstate New York, North Carolina, West Virginia, Minnesota, Washington
state, and Montana. Related Story: Baltimore Sun (11/19) P. 8A

"Israel Bars Immigrants Who Carry the AIDS Virus" New York Times
(11/19/92), P. A3
The Israeli government has revealed that the country is barring HIV-
positive immigrants.  The practice has prompted outrage among critics
who claim the ban is discriminatory and contradicts the Israeli law that
gives all Jews the right to settle in Israel. The controversy emerged
after the Interior Ministry announced last week that Israeli embassies
and consulates were ordered this year to refuse immigrant visas to
applicants found in required medical checks to test positive for HIV.
The ministry said foreign workers who wish to stay in Israel longer than
three months will have to take an HIV test, and those testing positive
will be expelled.  Parliament members, doctors, AIDS advocates, and a
leading civil rights group have criticized the policy and have requested
that the Ministry of Health and Immigrants Absorption reexamine it.
Israel's Law of Return, which declares the right of any Jew to settle in
Israel, includes a clause authorizing the Interior Minister to deny
immigrant visas to those believed to be a public health hazard.  Dan
Yakir, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said,
"The use of this clause is illegal, discriminatory, and contradicts the
aim of the Law of Return."  According to critics, the restrictions are
ineffective because they do not apply to Israelis returning from visits
abroad or to tourists staying less than three months.

"Prisoner With AIDS Appeals Sentence for Biting a Guard" New York Times
(11/19/92), P. B7  (Sullivan, Joseph F.)
An inmate with AIDS at Trenton State Prison requested yesterday that an
appeals court overturn his 25-year sentence for attempted murder for
biting a prison guard, and claimed that he had been unfairly treated
because of fears about the disease.  The inmate's attorney contended
that the jury acted irrationally in convicting him because there is no
proof that biting someone can transmit HIV.  However, the prosecutor
said that it was irrelevant, telling the court that Gregory Dean Smith
believed he could transmit HIV in 1989 when he bit Albert Waddington, a
Camden County corrections officer, telling him: "Now die, you pig!  Die
from what I have!"  The case is being brought before a three-judge panel
of the Appellate Division of Superior Court, the state's second-highest
tribunal.  Smith's attorney, Ronald L. Kuby, said the belief that
"persons with AIDS are living weapons" and should be subjected to
"special and draconian punishment when they do something wrong" has the
potential to perpetuate and worsen discrimination against AIDS patients.
He added, "The bottom line is that if Mr. Smith didn't have the AIDS
virus he wouldn't be charged with attempted murder."  Roseann Finn, an
assistant Camden County prosecutor, said medical experts still have not
clearly determined that HIV cannot be transmitted via biting.  Kuby said
that unless Smith can win a new trial or a reduction of his 25-year
sentence, "his current sentence will indeed be a death sentence because
he will die in prison." Related Story: Philadelphia Inquirer (11/19) P.
B4

"Hemophiliacs With AIDS Say National Group Betrays Them" Philadelphia
Inquirer (11/19/92), P. A1  (Gaul, Gilbert M.)
The 44th annual meeting of the National Hemophilia Foundation will begin
today, and protests from hemophiliacs with AIDS are likely to be voiced.
Many hemophiliacs who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products
feel the NHF has done little to help them.  But NHF officials believe
the anger is misdirected.  According to officials, critics are using
"20-20 hindsight" to question decisions made years ago when the NHF was
attempting to balance the need for effective clotting drugs against the
dangers of AIDS.  American hemophiliacs are dying in alarming numbers--
more than 1,500 so far.  But they are dying from AIDS rather than their
congenital bleeding disorder.  Most contracted HIV during the early
1980s while using tainted clotting medicines, known as Factor VII and
Factor IX.  More than half of the country's hemophiliacs--at least
10,000--are HIV-positive.  These hemophiliacs, tired of quietly
accepting their fate, are now demanding answers.  They are asking why
the NHF and the U.S. government did not do more to guarantee the safety
of blood-clotting medicines when their link with AIDS first became
apparent.  They are also questioning whether financial ties between NHF
and the manufacturers, which help to underwrite the convention, affected
these decisions.  Moreover, they are asking why the U.S. is one of a
handful of Western nations that has not yet established a type of
compensation fund for HIV-positive hemophiliacs and their families to
help with escalating health care costs.

"Medical Care for Vacaville Prisoners With AIDS Criticized" Los Angeles
Times--Washington Edition (11/19/92), P. B4 (Morain, Dan)
A California legislative report accused a state prison in Vacaville,
Calif., for allowing four prisoners with AIDS to die prematurely earlier
this year as a result of inadequate care. The report cited conditions
that can hasten the onset of AIDS-related death, including drafty
cellblocks, improper diets, and medical and correctional staff who are
not trained to deal with AIDS.  The report indicated that the problems
at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville worsened after two
doctors quit, warning that Department of Corrections was not providing
enough staff to handle increased numbers of prisoners with AIDS at
Vacaville.  The report concentrated on four prisoners with AIDS who
died.  One inmate died after being put on a high security wing instead
of the hospital when he began vomiting blood.  A second was not hooked
up to a dialysis machine and gained 30 to 40 pounds before dying.  The
third prisoner was discharged from the prison hospital even though he
was vomiting blood and could not stand.  The fourth was heard calling
for help in the night and was found dead in his cell the next morning.
The prison hospital is overcrowded and hospital staff at Vacaville does
not watch for life-threatening conditions like rapid weight loss among
AIDS patients, said the report.  The report also indicated that
prisoners who have only six months to live are not being released under
a program that permits them to leave the prison because requests for
compassionate release are lost and postponed.

"Around the Region: AIDS Home Where 2 Were Arrested Is Set to Reopen"
Washington Post (11/19/92), P. C3
An Arlington, Va., home for AIDS patients that was closed down after two
residents with AIDS were arrested in July on charges of sodomizing a 14-
year-old boy will be reopened this week to new AIDS patients, officials
from the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. announced yesterday.
Clinic officials said they have adhered to new screening and housing
guidelines drafted by a panel of health care experts and clinic
volunteers in an effort to prevent further problems.  The new rules
require the clinic to ask prospective clients about any criminal history
and will not allow visits by minors who are unrelated to residents.
Criminal background checks will be performed if they are considered
necessary, said officials.  The county owns the house and leases it to
Whitman-Walker.  County spokeswoman Sally Michael said, "We are
satisfied that the preparations for the reopening and the selection of
new residents have followed the stringent guidelines set forth by last
summer's review committee."

"AIDS Deaths in Mass. Jump More Than 40 Percent in a Year" United Press
International (11/17/92)
Boston--The number of deaths resulting from AIDS increased more than 40
percent between 1990 and 1991 in Massachusetts, making AIDS the leading
cause of death among men aged 25 to 44, announced state health officials
Tuesday.  The department said that as of Nov. 1 the state had reported
5,384 cases of AIDS in its annual Death Data Report, with 64 percent of
AIDS patients deceased.  Among those, 632 died from AIDS or HIV-related
conditions in 1991--a 41 percent increase over the year before. Health
Commissioner David Mulligan said the rise in AIDS deaths signified a
sharp increase in the number of cases diagnosed in 1988 and 1989 because
the average time between diagnosis and death is about 18-24 months.
Despite the disease's peak in the late 1980s, Mulligan emphasized
continued public education to curb the further spread of HIV.  "While we
can take some comfort in the fact that better treatments and earlier
diagnosis will continue to help people live longer with HIV and AIDS, we
still need to reinforce messages that urge safer sex practices...and
encourage abstinence for our youth," he said.

"Asian AIDS Cases Soon to Pass Africa's" New York Times (11/18/92), P.
A26  (Silva, John L.)
If Asia emulates the prevention, testing, and sexual behavior changes of
the United States gay population, then the AIDS epidemic could be
thwarted there, writes John L. Silva, executive director of Community
HIV Project Gay Asian Pacific Alliance in San Francisco.  Silva comments
on the New York Times' special report on AIDS on Nov. 8.  He said that
there is a growing trend to scapegoat gay people as the principal
carriers of the disease in Asia.  Throughout Asia, discrimination and
misinformation regarding the epidemic is rampant.  In Japan, where AIDS
cases are most prevalent in the homosexual population, new government
pamphlets on HIV do not directly address the gay population. There is
misconception that AIDS is the result of the gay liberation movement,
and any educational materials directed to gays may only increase the
AIDS caseload. With more than 35 countries in Asia and 25 of these
countries reporting HIV and AIDS cases, WHO estimates the number of
cumulative AIDS cases in the region will surpass Africa's by the year
2000.  The economic health and well-being of Asia has profound effects
on Western nations and Japan, and the continent's own denial is
exemplified by the lack of sharing resources and experiences in fighting
AIDS.  For two years, the San Francisco AIDS surveillance unit has
reported a drop in the number of reported Asian Pacific Islander AIDS
cases.  Early intervention and testing and sexual behavior changes have
been responsible for this decline. Implementing similar programs in Asia
will be one significant way to curb the AIDS epidemic, concludes Silva.

"New Weapons Against AIDS" Fortune (11/30/92) Vol. 126, No. 12, P. 104
(Bylinsky, Gene)
The AIDS epidemic has prompted many pharmaceutical companies to research
anti-HIV vaccines, and never in the history of science has so much
research been mobilized so quickly against a disease. Approximately a
dozen anti-HIV vaccines are currently in clinical trials--a result of
the competition among drug companies to claim what experts say could be
a $2 billion-a-year market for a preventive medicine by the year 2000.
Some researchers such as Bette Korber, of Los Alamos National
Laboratory, believe that HIV may become less virulent in future years.
But hopes for an effective vaccine regularly emerge and subside.
Vaccine makers have previously avoided introducing any form of HIV into
healthy patients for fear that even a single virus particle slipping
into a cell could lead to AIDS.  Instead, their technique has been to
try to turn the virus' mutations against it.  But now their strategies
are changing.  In order to succeed, new vaccines should provoke a
strong, extended immune response in which antibodies detect any
subsequent HIV attack and adhere to virus particle and infected cells,
marking them for destruction. Margaret I. Johnson, head of AIDS basic
R+D at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
believes that the development of a protective vaccine is only a matter
of time. She believes that an effective therapeutic vaccine may arise
sooner.  In addition to vaccine research, scientists have been testing
drugs aimed at HIV enzymes.  Two HIV enzymes--tat and env--are being
researched to be targeted by anti-HIV drugs. Also, at least ten
companies are researching drugs aimed at the enzyme protease.