AIDS Daily Summary December 4, 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 ************************************************************ "Epidemiology: 'Center' of AIDS Shifting to Asia" "The Reliable Source: Sharon Stone" "Federal AIDS Education Ad Campaign Aims at Teenagers" "Red Cross Left in Lurch for Funds, CEO Says" "German HIV Victims May Have to Register" "Germans Jailed on AIDS Day Over Tainted Blood" "Court Jails Woman Who Injected Lover With Blood" "Parents, Students Support School Condom Programs" "Is HIV the Cause of AIDS?" "All About AIDS" ************************************************************ "Epidemiology: 'Center' of AIDS Shifting to Asia" Washington Post (12/04/95) P. A2; Brown, David Most new AIDS cases will occur in Asia, not Africa, by the turn of the century, the World Bank said on Friday. According to Richard Feachem, one of the institution's senior health officials, the bank's prediction adds to the increasing amount of evidence that the "center of gravity of the epidemic is shifting from Africa to Asia." Although India and Thailand are currently Asia's hot spots for HIV infection, many AIDS authorities are especially concerned about the virus' effect on China and Indonesia, in part, because of their large populations and the relative lack of dedication to HIV-prevention efforts by government officials. "The Reliable Source: Sharon Stone" Washington Post (12/04/95) P. B3; Gerhart, Ann; Groer, Annie Actress Sharon Stone has taken Elizabeth Taylor's place as the lead fund-raiser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, according to Reuters. "I am shocked by how little we know and how little we understand," said Stone, who is expected to raise $76 million in four years. "Federal AIDS Education Ad Campaign Aims at Teenagers" Washington Post (12/01/95) P. A16 Health authorities introduced on Thursday a new ad campaign geared toward teenagers, called "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself." The fast-paced, contemporary public service announcements feature young people discussing sex, AIDS, condoms, virginity, and abstinence. For example, in one ad, a young woman named Vivian says, "What do I say to a guy who won't use a condom? Good-bye!" In another ad, a youth named Dwayne states, "I'm HIV-negative, and I intend to stay that way." Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala noted that the television and radio commercials have been praised by people who think they go too far, and by those who believe they do not go far enough. The Family Research Council, for example, described the ads as an "irresponsible use of federal funds" that are based on the "flawed premise that there is nothing wrong or harmful about teenagers having sex." However, some advocacy groups, including the AIDS Interfaith Network, hailed the effort for including a "range of prevention messages to young men and women, both gay and heterosexual, to those who are currently sexually active, as well as to those who choose to abstain from sexual relations until they commit to a long-term monogamous relationship." Related Story: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/01) P. 12A "Red Cross Left in Lurch for Funds, CEO Says" Toronto Globe and Mail (12/01/95) P. A1; Picard, Andre The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) is experiencing a serious financial crisis, due, in part, to new blood safety measures and the provinces' reluctance to pay for them, said Douglas Lindores, secretary-general and CEO of the humanitarian agency. "We've already gone in hock for $30-million to $40-million to keep Canadians supplied with safe blood and blood products, so this situation cannot continue much longer," Lindores explained. Phillip Dresch, interim executive of the Canadian Blood Agency (CBA), said that while the public should not really be concerned about debt, he added that the CRC's financial problems "could jeopardize the security of the blood supply in Canada." Dresch observed that a long-term funding arrangement was imperative, and that he believed one was possible. The CBA finances and established policy for the CRC on behalf of Canada's provincial and territorial health ministries. "German HIV Victims May Have to Register" Washington Times (12/04/95) P. A13 German Health Minister Horst Seehofer said that HIV-infected Germans may be forced to register by name with the government. This is just one of the measures being studied by two governments-sponsored AIDS research groups to fight the spread of HIV-1 subtype E, Seehofer explained. An estimated 14,000 Germans have AIDS, and between 50,000 to 60,000 are reportedly HIV-positive. "Germans Jailed on AIDS Day Over Tainted Blood" Reuters (12/01/95) In Germany on Friday, three executives at UB Plasma were convicted of distributing poorly tested blood products, and thus causing the HIV-related deaths of at least two persons. Company owner and managing director Ulrich Kleist and head controller Dieter Stuer were both sentenced to four years in jail, and lab doctor Alexander Kressler was sentenced to three years, a court spokesman reported. The 1993 scandal, which involved some 71,000 batches of plasma that were sent to more than 50 hospitals, caused thousands of fearful Germans to be tested for HIV, thinking they might have been infected during operations many years ago. "Court Jails Woman Who Injected Lover With Blood" Reuters (12/01/95) A British court sentenced a Ugandan woman to two years in jail for injecting her lover with blood as a "parting present" when he wanted to end the relationship to be with someone else. Judge Heather Steel said 25-year-old Rhena Ndagga's crime was "deliberate, calculating, and cruel," and recommended that the woman be deported. During Ndagga's relationship with 28-year-old David Kabagwire, the two were tested for HIV. Kabagwire's test was negative, but Ndagga's was positive. Soon after the results were in, Kabagwire told her he had begun seeing another woman, though he continued to sleep with Ndagga. One day, as the couple left their home for confirmatory HIV tests, Kabagwire felt a sharp pain in his buttocks. He called the police after finding a needle and syringe on the rug with what appeared to be blood inside. Thus far, Kabagwire has continued to test HIV-negative. "Parents, Students Support School Condom Programs" AIDS Alert (11/95) Vol. 10, No. 11, P. 141 Studies of New York City schools indicate that parents support condom availability in schools and that students take advantage of them. The city's program mandates that each of its 120 high schools establish a health resource center in which trained personnel provide the prophylactics to students who request them. The schools must also add no less than six lessons to present HIV/AIDS classes, and provide rudimentary HIV/AIDS information to parents. The program was revised last year to enable parents to have their children "opt out" if they did not want them receiving condoms. The Academy of Educational Development (AED) found that nearly 70 percent of parents favored the New York program, and only 2 percent chose to bar their children from obtaining condoms at school. Additionally, 31 percent of the sexually active boys and 18 percent of the sexually active girls surveyed said they would take advantage of the free protection. The AED's Alice Radosh said that one great challenge now is to persuade more girls to require their partners to wear condoms. According to the survey, 22 percent of the sexually active girls did not want to use condoms, and 42 percent of that number say they had unprotected sex. "Is HIV the Cause of AIDS?" Lancet (11/18/95) Vol. 346, No. 8986, P. 1371; Duesberg, Peter H. In a letter to the editor of the Lancet, Professor Peter Duesberg responds to a commentary in which editor Richard Horton asks Duesberg--who does not believe that HIV causes AIDS--to "concede defeat" in light of yet another connection between the virus, years of life, and death. Duesberg notes, however, that Darby et al.--the authors of the study to which Horton refers--do not detail the "specificity" of death that separates hemophiliacs with antibodies to HIV from those without. He also lists 10 points which he claims Horton asks him to stop questioning in view of the study. The University of California at Berkeley professor states that he will concede if Horton disproves two predictions. The first is that two groups of hemophiliacs, who vary only in antibody to HIV, but have the same lifetime consumption of factor VIII and other medications, will end up having the same risk of AIDS. The second prediction is that in two groups of HIV-infected hemophiliacs matched for lifetime dosage of factor VIII, with one group treated with such anti-AIDS drugs as zidovudine and the other group not treated at all, the medicated group will have a ten-fold greater mortality than the second group. "All About AIDS" Science (11/10/95) Vol. 270, No. 5238, P. 919 A plethora of calls from people who question whether HIV causes AIDS or need to reinforce their arguments to skeptics has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to create a pamphlet on the subject. "We found ourselves constantly trying to send people references," said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci. "We decided to put it all in one document." The 61-page booklet, entitled "The Relationship Between the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," notes that "if public health messages on AIDS prevention are diluted by the misconception that HIV is not responsible for AIDS, otherwise preventable cases of HIV infection and AIDS may occur, adding to the global tragedy of the epidemic."