AIDS Daily Summary February 24, 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 ************************************************************ "Doctor Says He Treated Louganis Without Gloves Because of Time" "Tolerance, Not Blame, for Louganis" "Condom Use Increases Among Youths, Study Says" "House GOP Targets $17 Billion in Cuts" "Clintonites Fight a Regulatory Freeze by Pushing 'Horror' Stories" "Pharmacia Inc. Announces Clinical Trials for Tuberculosis Prevention; Study to Target People with HIV and the Underserved" "Two AIDS Bills in Washington State Concern Health Authorities, Educators" "Pacific Legal Foundation Sues to Strike Down Sacramento County's Needle Exchange Program" "Patent Office Expedites AIDS, Cancer Inventions" "The 100 Smartest New Yorkers" ************************************************************ "Doctor Says He Treated Louganis Without Gloves Because of Time" Washington Post (02/24/95) P. D1; Knight, Athelia James C. Puffer, chief physician for the U.S. Olympic team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, said that when he stitched Greg Louganis' bleeding head after the diver hit his head on the springboard, protective gloves were not "immediately available," and that he had to act quickly so that the diver could continue to compete. Louganis revealed this week that he has AIDS, and that he knew he was HIV-positive before the 1988 games. He did not tell Puffer or the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). "I had to make a quick decision as to whether I was going to close the wound or wait for gloves to be found and risk not being finished in sufficient time for him to compete his last dive...The risk, while there, was minimal," explained Puffer. He added that Louganis informed him several months ago that he was HIV-positive during the 1988 Olympics. Puffer has been tested and found to be HIV-negative. National and international Olympic officials said on Thursday that they do not expect any changes in their guidelines as a result of Louganis' disclosure. "There is no HIV testing," said Mike Moran, a spokesman for the USOC. "Athletes can go to their own physician" to take the test, "but those test results are confidential." Related Story: New York Times (02/24) P. B7 "Tolerance, Not Blame, for Louganis" New York Times (02/24/95) P. B7; Vecsey, George Instead of asking whether Greg Louganis did the right thing by concealing his HIV-positive status, the real question should be whether government and health authorities worked hard enough in facing AIDS during the early years of the epidemic, writes George Vecsey for the New York Times. The stigma surrounding AIDS has led to a long reign of hysteria that would have kept anyone quiet, he contends. Although the risk from an athlete bleeding on someone is minute, Louganis will be remembered because Dr. James Puffer--who did not know until a year ago that Louganis was infected at the time of the 1988 Olympics--treated him without gloves. The doctor's minimal risk would not happen today because medical staff wear thick latex gloves while treating athletes with cuts. Gary Briggs, trainer for the Cleveland Cavaliers, sprays his hands with Derma Shield, a foam that protects for four hours. Briggs said he would not expect an athlete to tell him if he were HIV-positive. Vecsey said that instead of criticizing Louganis, he would prefer to think of him for his grace and his dignity rather than for a snap decision made in a moment of terror. Let the attention to Greg Louganis help us all confront and defeat AIDS, he concludes. "Condom Use Increases Among Youths, Study Says" Washington Post (02/24/95) P. A4 Although high school students are now more likely to use a condom than they were years ago, nearly half say they did not use one the last time they had sex, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Thursday. A total of 53 percent of the 16,000 students surveyed had engaged in sexual intercourse at least once, and 18.8 percent had had sex with at least four different partners. "We're very concerned that the percentage of young people who are engaging in intercourse remains so high," said Lloyd Kolbe, the CDC's adolescent and school health director. In 1993, 52.8 percent of students said they had used a condom the last time they had sex, compared to 46.2 percent when a similar study was conducted in 1991. "In this era, with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection so prevalent," Kolbe said, "we're concerned that [52.8 percent is] not nearly enough." Related Story: New York Times (02/24) P. A14 "House GOP Targets $17 Billion in Cuts" Wall Street Journal (02/24/95) P. A12; Rogers, David After two days of working with the federal budget, the Republicans have produced a spending-cut bill that seeks to recover almost $17 billion from prior funding for Democratic-backed domestic programs. The sweeping cuts from labor, housing, health, and education programs are accompanied by provisions aiming to restrict regulatory units such as the Environmental Protection Agency. About $276 million of the cuts would come from targeted initiatives to address problems of lead-based paint and housing for people with AIDS. Related Stories: New York Times (02/24) P. A14; Washington Post (02/24) P. A1 "Clintonites Fight a Regulatory Freeze by Pushing 'Horror' Stories" Wall Street Journal (02/24/95) P. A1; Shafer, Ronald G. As a House vote approaches on a GOP-proposed regulatory freeze, the White House is urging agencies to cite ill effects. The Department of Transportation, for example, has issued 10 pages of endangered rules, such as one requiring airline first-aid kits to include latex gloves to prevent AIDS spread. The GOP has called the alarms a pro-regulatory ruse. "Pharmacia Inc. Announces Clinical Trials for Tuberculosis Prevention; Study to Target People with HIV and the Underserved" PR Newswire (02/23/95) Pharmacia Inc. has announced the beginning of two clinical trials for Mycobutin, the only available treatment in the United States for the prevention of disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). MAC is the fastest growing bacterial opportunistic infection in AIDS patients. The first trial will compare Mycobutin's short-term impact on tuberculosis (TB) prevention with one year of standard TB preventative therapy in patients who have tested positive for both HIV and TB. The other trial will evaluate Mycobutin's efficacy in preventing TB in anergic injection drug users. "Two AIDS Bills in Washington State Concern Health Authorities, Educators" Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (02/22/95); Porterfield, Elaine Public health authorities, civil libertarians, and educators are concerned about two AIDS-related bills before the Washington state legislature. One bill would require AIDS testing of anyone arrested for suspicion of prostitution or patronizing a prostitute. State Rep. Pat Scott introduced the bill at the request of police vice officers in Everett, saying that police are frustrated at repeatedly arresting certain people for prostitution knowing they have AIDS. The bill also contains a provision that anyone who has AIDS and engages in prostitution can be charged with second-degree assault, a felony. The other bill, which would remove oversight of public school AIDS education from the state Department of Health, would eliminate an important safeguard to public health, said Greg Smith, legislative liaison for the state Department of Health. "We think that medical accuracy in AIDS education material is extremely important in fighting the AIDS epidemic," he said. "Pacific Legal Foundation Sues to Strike Down Sacramento County's Needle Exchange Program" Business Wire (02/22/95) The needle exchange program in Sacramento County violates California laws which prohibit the furnishing of needles for purposes of drug use, according to legal documents filed Wednesday by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). Attorneys for PLF have sought to intervene in a lawsuit recently filed by county officials who are trying to obtain court approval of the program. On Nov. 29, 1994, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the program in concept, saying that a clean needle supply would stem the spread of AIDS among injection drug users. "A lawful and more compassionate approach to reducing the spread of AIDS among addicts is to get them to stop using needles, clean or dirty," said PLF's Director of Litigation Anthony T. Caso. Under the California Health and Safety Code, it is a misdemeanor to provide hypodermic needles without a prescription under circumstances where one should reasonably know that they will be used to inject a controlled substance into the body. "Patent Office Expedites AIDS, Cancer Inventions" AIDS Treatment News (02/10/95) No. 216, P. 1; James, John S. On Feb. 3, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Commissioner Bruce Lehman told AIDS Treatment News that the PTO will now allow AIDS and cancer patent applications to receive top priority review. The new status is applicable only if the patent applicant requests it, and if the request is approved by the PTO. The new rule will be important in instances where a drug developer or other inventor has a high-priority invention and wants to move it quickly. The new system will accelerate development of the drug, as well as facilitate the discovery of other treatments because companies often keep their research secret until the patent is granted. Many medical patents, however, are deliberately delayed by the companies that apply for them because if the patent is approved for marketing, the 17-year patent term will start running. By the time, the drug or medical device is approved, part of the 17 years will have already passed. The recently approved GATT treaty (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) should reduce such problems by shifting the U.S. patent term to 20 years from the date of filing, not 17 years from the date of issuance. "The 100 Smartest New Yorkers" New York (01/30/95) Vol. 28, No. 5, P. 39; Kaminer, Ariel; MacFarquhar, Larissa; Schillinger, Liesl Included in New York magazine's list of the 100 smartest New Yorkers are epidemiologist Don DesJarlais and activist Larry Kramer. In 1985, DesJarlais was the first to publicly state that distributing clean needles to intravenous drug addicts would slow the spread of AIDS. He helped establish needle-exchanges and bleaching centers around the country, in Europe, and in Asia. The results of his Syringe Exchange Evaluation project, which were released this fall, showed that needle-exchange programs reduce infection rates, and they do not attract new users. Kramer is best known as the man who founded ACT UP and co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis. He is currently working on a novel that, unfinished, is already a couple of thousand of pages.