AIDS Daily Summary December 15, 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 ************************************************************ "Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant" "Patient Faced Risks for AIDS Causes" "Fund That Denied Benefits for AIDS Settles EEOC Suit" "State Aid for Gallo Urged" "Work on Mild H.I.V. Type May Aid Search for AIDS Vaccine" "AIDS Patient Expecting to Die Stole from Job" "Westside: AIDS Facility for the Homeless Opens" "Tight Budget Forces End of AIDS Journal" "Scope of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States" "U.S./China AIDS Research Proposed" ************************************************************ "Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant" Washington Post (12/15/95) P. A1; Schwartz, John; Weiss, Rick On Thursday night, AIDS patient and activist Jeff Getty received baboon bone marrow cells in an effort to boost his immune system. Earlier this week, Getty noted that the procedure was risky and had dubious potential for success. Yet he also said that there are few treatments for late-stage AIDS patients, and that he was willing to risk his life "to try to get some answers." Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Pittsburgh were to inject a combination of baboon "stem" cells that develop into integral parts of the immune system and "facilitating" cells that are believed to suppress the natural tendency to reject foreign cells. If all goes well, the cells will eventually settle into Getty's bone marrow and begin to function. Getty would not be cleared of HIV, but the researchers theorize that once the baboon cells were established, they would do the work that Getty's own immune system cannot. Results of the transplant will not be known for several months. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (12/15) P. A1; New York Times (12/15) P. A1; USA Today (12/15) P. 1A; Los Angeles Times (12/15) P. B1 "Patient Faced Risks for AIDS Causes" New York Times (12/15/95) P. A37 AIDS patient Jeff Getty has been described as a man of both passion and extremes. Evidence of this is seen in his request to be injected with the bone marrow of a baboon in an attempt to boost an immune system ravaged by AIDS. Getty's battle to receive the transplant, a process that could either help or hurt him, is his most recent move in a personal campaign for increased access for AIDS patients to as-of-yet unapproved drugs. "Fund That Denied Benefits for AIDS Settles EEOC Suit" Wall Street Journal (12/15/95) P. B10; Felsenthal, Edward In one of the largest settlements ever in a lawsuit against a health plan for denying AIDS coverage, the Mason Tenders District Council Welfare Fund agreed to pay $1 million to 14 people with AIDS or their survivors. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had charged that the employee-benefit fund for New York construction and asbestos workers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to cover AIDS treatments. In the lawsuit, the fund argued that it had to cap AIDS benefits because of losses from large health care bills and a scarcity of construction jobs. The issue remains unresolved because the Mason Tenders settled without a court ruling, but the enormity of the settlement will probably spur other workers to sue. Related Story: New York Times (12/15) P. D4 "State Aid for Gallo Urged" Baltimore Sun (12/15/95) P. 1C; Frece, John W. Government and business leaders from Maryland urged approval on Thursday of state funding for Dr. Robert C. Gallo's planned institute of Human Virology. House Appropriations Chairman Howard P. Rawlings and Senate Budget and Taxation Chairwoman Barbara A. Hoffmann anticipated that their committees would approve the initial $3 million needed for the project, which will cost Maryland taxpayers some $24 million in the end. "The implications for humankind are phenomenal," noted Hoffmann. "Any state that gets this team and this institute is going to be automatically in the forefront of the cutting edge of science and technology." The primary goal of the center, which will be part of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, will be to develop "better therapy for HIV-infected people," Dr. Gallo said, adding that research will also focus on viruses that cause some cancers and neurological disorders. Related Story: Washington Post (12/15) P. A10 "Work on Mild H.I.V. Type May Aid Search for AIDS Vaccine" New York Times (12/15/95) P. A38; Hilchey, Tim Mount Sinai Medical Center researchers say they have identified a relatively mild strain of HIV that can inhibit reproduction in a more virulent strain. In the Journal of Molecular Medicine, Dr. Jay Rappaport--an associate professor of immunobiology at Mount Sinai--and others, including researchers at the National Institutes of Health, report that in the laboratory, HIV-2 inhibited HIV-1 at its ends, in regions known as the long terminal repeats. Dr. Rappaport suggested that HIV-2 may interfere with the molecular interactions that must occur in those regions before mass replication of HIV-1 is possible. He noted, however, that the inhibitory effect "may be a direct effect of the HIV-2 virus or it could be a result of some interaction with the cell itself that activates a cellular mechanism that inhibits HIV-1 replication." In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Z.N. Bernemean of Ziekenhuis University in Belgium warned that there was still a great deal unknown about the interaction between the two strains of HIV. "AIDS Patient Expecting to Die Stole from Job" Washington Times (12/15/95) P. C7 A former claims clerk for Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield pleaded guilty to seven felony charges, including grand larceny, computer fraud, and forgery. AIDS patient Lloyd Mitchell Weaver Jr. informed police that he thought he would die before he was arrested. Weaver used some $560,000 in stolen Trigon funds to buy numerous luxury items, and now faces up to 80 years in jail. "Westside: AIDS Facility for the Homeless Opens" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (12/15/95) P. B3 The Hollywood Community Housing Corp. opened a complex on Tuesday that will house homeless HIV and AIDS patients. Residents of the home, known as Itis, will receive job training and placement, as well as medical care. Jack Gardner, executive director of the Hollywood Community Housing Corp. observed that the home will allow people with HIV and AIDS to live with dignity. The nonprofit housing corporation renovated the complex's 16 bungalows, which dated from the 1920s, using $1.2 million is grants and loans from sources including the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. "Tight Budget Forces End of AIDS Journal" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/14/95) P. 9C The Journal for Moving On, a volunteer-produced magazine for people with HIV and AIDS in Missouri, has suspended publication due to a lack of funding. Matt Wagner, executive director of the Moving On Coalition, said that the decision to halt publication was the result of statewide AIDS funding difficulties. The bimonthly journal reached more than 2,000 people, primarily those located in outstate Missouri where AIDS services are scarce. The journal provided lists of local and regional resources and nutritional advice, but the Moving On Coalition noted that it had to shift its priorities and suspend publication when a state-run, federally funded AIDS grant ran out ahead of schedule. Although the federal funds did not finance the journal, the grant's depletion meant that the coalition had to reorganize its budget to focus on other areas. "Scope of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States" Science (11/24/95) Vol. 270, No. 5240, P. 1372; Rosenberg, Philip S. In the journal Science, Philip S. Rosenberg reports that a deconvolution method called backcalculation was used to estimate the nation's age-specific HIV infection rates as of January 1993. Using this technique, there were an estimated 630,000 to 897,000 HIV-infected children and adults--including up to 150,000 women--at that time. Among white males, particularly those over the age of 30, the estimated rate of infection decreased significantly over time. However, incidence of HIV seems to have remained steady among both women and minorities. Prevalence was greatest among young adults in their late twenties and thirties and among minorities, the study concluded. According to Rosenberg, if HIV infection rates continue at the levels indicated by these models, the virus should be regarded as an endemic infection that will touch successive groups of young people. "U.S./China AIDS Research Proposed" AIDS Treatment News (11/17/95) No. 235, P. 2; James, John S. There is increasing professional and community support for a proposed joint U.S./Chinese research collaboration in San Francisco. If any such work takes place, it should prove very useful to AIDS research. China, for example, has conducted extensive research in Tanzania, working with local professionals to develop combinations of Chinese herbs to be used in AIDS treatment. This research, however, is mostly unknown in this country. The planned research would take place in existing San Francisco area acupuncture clinics. An Oct. 2 resolution from the city's Board of Supervisors backed the plan, and numerous community groups--including the AIDS & Chinese Medicine Institute, the Asian AIDS Project, and ACT UP/Golden Gate--have sent letters supporting it as well.