AIDS Daily Summary September 1, 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 ************************************************************ "Life Partners Inc. Is Told to Transfer Control of Policies" "Judge Upholds Denial of Coverage for AIDS" "Ashe Booth at Open Loses High-Profile Spot" "Blood Panel Destroyed Records" "Women Gets Prison in AIDS-Transmission Case" "Body Heal Thyself" "AIDS-Prevention Steps Taken, Dental Chief Says" "Teen with AIDS Had Sex with 15" "Impact of Improved Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on HIV Infection in Rural Tanzania: Randomised Controlled Trial" "Hopelessness and Injection Drug Use" ************************************************************ "Life Partners Inc. Is Told to Transfer Control of Policies" Wall Street Journal (09/01/95) P. B5; Schatz, Amy J. Life Partners Inc. has been ordered to release its policies to a third party. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against the company and its president, Brian Pardo, last year, alleging that they sold unregistered securities, that they did not register as a securities broker, and that they misled investors. Life Partners makes viatical settlements--a deal in which it buys AIDS patients' life insurance policies, thus allowing them to receive a portion of the policy's value while an investor continues to finance to policy's premium. The SEC claims that the company and Pardo keep the policies themselves until after the patient dies. Regulators are concerned about this arrangement because about 90 percent of the company is owned by offshore corporations which have yet to be identified. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth dismissed Life Partners' claim that viatical settlements are not securities, issued a preliminary injunction requiring the company to transfer control of the policies to a third party to hold "for the benefit of those investors who have purchased interests in them," and ordered the company to comply with securities regulations. Related Stories: New York Times (09/01) P. D3; Washington Times (09/01) P. B7; Washington Post (09/01) P. C1 "Judge Upholds Denial of Coverage for AIDS" Journal of Commerce (09/01/95) P. 7A The Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS, does not apply to South Carolina's Health Insurance Pool, ruled U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Shedd. "I applied and was rejected because I was HIV-positive," said Sam Givens Jr., who replaced original plaintiff Bill Edens Jr. after Edens died of AIDS two years ago. "I just felt like to be an insurance pool that's supposed to take up the slack of an insurance company, they should cover that." Judge Shedd, however, said that Givens' argument "is contrary to the very existence of the exemption." "Ashe Booth at Open Loses High-Profile Spot" New York Times (09/01/95) P. B7; Sandomir, Richard The Arthur Ashe Endowment for the Defeat of AIDS has occupied a high-visibility booth inside the main gate to the National Tennis Center for three years, selling souvenirs to raise funds for AIDS programs. This year, however, the U.S. Tennis Association moved the nonprofit organization to the "Passarelle," the boardwalk that runs from the subway station to the tennis center. "It looks like a stepchild over here," said one spectator. Because the booth has been moved from the heavy customer-traffic area, sales have fallen nearly 75 percent in the U.S. Open's first four days. Booth salesman Alfonso Ramirez said that 1994's daily sales average of $8,000 to $12,000 has dropped to $2,000 to $3,000 this year. Jay Snyder, the event director, explained that the Ashe booth had been moved because "there was no room left in the plaza area where they had been." "Blood Panel Destroyed Records" Toronto Globe and Mail (08/31/95) P. A1; Picard, Andre A "record of decisions" of a meeting of the Canadian Blood Committee reveals that the committee's members agreed in 1989 to destroy all audio tapes and transcripts related to their discussions of Canada's tainted blood scandal in order to avoid public scrutiny. It was estimated at that time that more than 1,500 people had been infected by blood and blood products contaminated with HIV; several people had already filed lawsuits. At the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, many allegations have focused on the Canadian Red Cross. However, senior Red Cross officials have said they relied on the blood committee, which provided their funding, for policy instructions. "Women Gets Prison in AIDS-Transmission Case" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (08/31/95) P. 1B; Goodrich, Robert On Wednesday, Caretha Russell was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, after pleading guilty to transmitting HIV. Russell admitted that she repeatedly had sex with a 17-year-old last year even though she knew she had AIDS. Thus far, the teenager has not tested positive for HIV, said prosecutor Carol Barnard. She had asked for a sentence of six years to protect the public and send a message to other HIV-infected individuals who might be tempted to have unprotected intercourse. A friend of Russell's said he hoped Russell would get probation because she contracted the virus at a time when many people had unprotected sex and were ignorant of its risks. "Body Heal Thyself" Financial Times (08/31/95) P. 8; Griffith, Victoria Unlike previous classes of vaccines, therapeutic vaccines aim to treat patients already affected by an illness rather than prevent infection. These vaccines attempt to add a few extra years to life by teaching the immune system to destroy disease cells. Successful trials for such diseases as melanoma, hepatitis B, stomach ulcers, and AIDS have encouraged scientists as well as several biotechnology firms that are investing in this field. Despite their potential, however, some scientists have doubts about the safety and efficacy of therapeutic vaccines, particularly about the concept of relying on the immune system when it is already weakened by disease. "AIDS-Prevention Steps Taken, Dental Chief Says" Toronto Globe and Mail (08/31/95) P. A9 The president of the Canadian Dental Association reported on Wednesday that Canadian dentists are already conducting all the procedures recommended in a study to prevent the risk of HIV spreading from drills. The study, which was published in Nature Medicine, discovered that HIV can survive in the fluids lubricating the gears of dental equipment. The authors recommended high-temperature sterilization between uses of the tools. Dr. Jim Brookfield said that the association established guidelines two years ago which recommend that all hand pieces to be heat sterilized. "Teen with AIDS Had Sex with 15" Boston Globe (08/31/95) P. 12 According to a Ukrainian official, a 13-year-old AIDS patient searched for people to infect, and transmitted HIV to at least 15 girls. "This is the first such case in Ukraine, when a teen-ager, barely out of his childhood, has deliberately endangered the lives of 15 girls," commented Valery Ivasyuk of Ukraine's National Committee Against AIDS. "Impact of Improved Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on HIV Infection in Rural Tanzania: Randomised Controlled Trial" Lancet (08/26/95) Vol. 346, No. 8974, P. 530; Grosskurth, Heiner; Mosha, Frank; Todd, James et al. To determine the effects of increased sexually transmitted disease (STD) case management at the primary healthcare level on the incidence of HIV infection, Grosskurth et al. conducted a randomized trial of more than 12,500 individuals in Mwanza, Tanzania. Intervention included the establishment of an STD reference clinic, staff training, the regular supply of drugs, standard supervisory visits to health centers, and STD education. Of those subjects who were initially seronegative for HIV, 1.2 percent of the intervention communities and 1.9 percent of the comparison group seroconverted during the two years of follow up. The incidence of HIV was consistently lower in all six of the intervention communities, compared with the six comparison communities. However, no change in sexual behavior was observed in either group. The authors concluded that improved STD care reduced HIV incidence by about 40 percent in Mwanza. "Hopelessness and Injection Drug Use" Focus (08/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 7 Injection drug users being tested for HIV antibodies had low overall levels of hopelessness, considering the likelihood of infection through drug use, a large clinical study reveals. Other studies of hopelessness, which is defined as "negative expectancies about the future," have found no relationship between overall levels of hopelessness and HIV status. The new study, which is reported in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, evaluated nearly 2,400 intravenous drug users using the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), which rates hopelessness from 0 to 20 on three levels. These levels are resignation to the futility of changing the future, rejection of the possibility of a better future, and acceptance of the inevitability of a hopeless future. Overall, almost 18 percent of the subjects reported BHS scores greater than nine, suggesting a risk for eventual suicide, and nearly 25 percent reported current thoughts of suicide. The researchers hypothesized that seeking testing and counseling may have given the subjects a sense of hope for the future. The CDC AIDS Daily Summary will not be distributed on Monday, September 4, in observation of Labor Day. Distribution will resume on Tuesday, September 5.