AIDS Daily Summary February 28, 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 ************************************************************ "On Tour, Louganis Welcomes Support" "Promising Tests Reported for New TB Vaccine" "Technology & Telecommunications: Barr Laboratories Inc." "New Picture of Who Will Get AIDS Is Crammed with Addicts" "Swimming Pools Don't Pose Risk of AIDS" "Across the USA: Florida/New York" "Hemophiliacs See Betrayal" "H.I.V.-Positive and Careless" "Tepid Endorsement for HIV Vaccine Trial" "GAO Report Cites Barriers to AIDS/HIV Care" ************************************************************ "On Tour, Louganis Welcomes Support" Washington Post (02/28/95) P. E5; Weiszer, Marc On Monday, diver Greg Louganis used the term "unbelievable" to describe public response to his disclosure that he has AIDS. "I've been really overwhelmed by the last few days," said Louganis, who is on a 13-city tour to promote his autobiography, "Breaking the Surface." When asked if he wished he had revealed his HIV status to the doctors who treated him after he struck his head on the board at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Louganis said "hindsight is 20-20." Since the announcement last week, however, Park Seh Jik, the Seoul Olympic organizing committee chairman; Gunnar Werner, the secretary of FINA, swimming and diving's world governing body; and a member of the Canadian national diving team have criticized Louganis for not disclosing his illness before he competed. Related Story: Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (02/28) P. B10 "Promising Tests Reported for New TB Vaccine" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (02/28/95) P. A1; Maugh II, Thomas H. Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a prototype vaccine that prevents tuberculosis (TB) in animals that they say has great potential for use in humans. Because the new vaccine contains no live bacteria, it has many advantages over BCG, the existing vaccine. BCG is not generally used in the United States because it poses a major health risk to AIDS patients and others with compromised immune systems, and because it interferes with public health programs for tracking TB infections. Dr. Marcus A. Horowitz and his colleagues at the UCLA School of Medicine said the new vaccine, which is based on purified proteins from BCG, is at least as effective as the current vaccine in preventing TB in guinea pigs, but should have none of BCG's risks. Horowitz said he hopes to begin human trials of the vaccine in as little as two years. Related Story: USA Today (02/28) P. 1D "Technology & Telecommunications: Barr Laboratories Inc." Wall Street Journal (02/28/95) P. B5 Barr Laboratories Inc. has announced FDA marketing approval for its generic version of AZT, assuming the company resolves patent disputes. Barr must wait until Burroughs Wellcome Co.'s patents for AZT expire in 2005, or manage to overturn them in court. Related Story: Investor's Business Daily (02/28) P. A9 "New Picture of Who Will Get AIDS Is Crammed with Addicts" New York Times (02/28/95) P. C3; Kolata, Gina A new study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that almost 75 percent of the 40,000 new HIV infections last year were among drug addicts. Although many of the addicts are intravenous drug users, an increasing number are crack cocaine addicts who are contracting HIV through unprotected sex, often with multiple partners. "Maybe as much as half of the new infections among heterosexuals are occurring in relation to crack cocaine," said Dr. Scott Holmberg, a CDC epidemiologist who conducted the study. Experts warn that the data do no mean that the virus is no longer a threat to Americans who do not use drugs, and stress that men and women should practice safe sex. Dr. Don C. Des Jarlais, an AIDS expert who directs the chemical dependency unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, said the fear of telling the truth about the epidemic is "one reason we have our priorities so out of order." Two years ago, Des Jarlais argued that attempts to fight the epidemic should have a tighter focus. Des Jarlais also said that it is critical that "legal access to sterile needles should be implemented on a nationwide basis." "Swimming Pools Don't Pose Risk of AIDS" Washington Post (Health) (02/28/95) P. 5; Squires, Sally Public health officials say that the risk of contracting AIDS from swimming pools is virtually nonexistent. "We have over 440,000 persons reported with AIDS in the United States since the epidemic began, and none of those have been associated with exposure to pools or any other sports-related contact," said John W. Ward, chief of HIV/AIDS Surveillance for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ward said that, similarly to household bleach, chlorine also inactivates HIV. He added that the divers and swimmers who were in the pool after diver Greg Louganis' accident during the 1988 Summer Olympics were not at risk. "Across the USA: Florida/New York" USA Today (02/28/95) P. 6A In Jacksonville, Fla., three patients treated at the University Medical Center last weekend received prank phone calls, telling them they had tested HIV-positive. And in Albany, N.Y., thousands of people converged on the Capitol. One group of protesters sought additional money for AIDS treatment. "Hemophiliacs See Betrayal" Richmond Times-Dispatch (02/27/95) P. A1 A class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago claims that four drug companies knowingly distributed blood clotting products that were tainted with HIV. The lawsuit also states that the National Hemophilia Foundation, a research and information group partly financed by blood-product manufacturers, misled the public about the severity of the AIDS threat. The defendants claim they acted properly, and that blood was screened for HIV as soon as the test was available in 1985. "We thought we did a pretty good job but, in retrospect, it didn't stop an enormous tragedy from occurring," said Susan Herschel, an attorney for Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. and its Armour Pharmaceutical Co. subsidiary. Last August, a group representing HIV-infected hemophiliacs and their survivors rejected a $160 million settlement offer from Rhone-Poulenc and Baxter International Inc. "H.I.V.-Positive and Careless" New York Times (02/26/95) P. 15; Signorile, Michelangelo These days, there are many reports about the breakdown in safe sex among gay men, writes Michelangelo Signorile in an op-ed column in the New York Times. The reports are not surprising, Signorile writes, because he himself has engaged in unsafe sex and is now uncertain about his HIV status, but scared of being tested. He questions the message that most AIDS organizations have been sending. They have refused to focus on the specific responsibilities of HIV-infected men, and they have not been alert to the needs of HIV-negative men, who often feel guilty because they are still healthy and are in denial about their vulnerability. "A lot of the politics of it have been about a fear of stigmatizing positive people. It's an attempt to equalize all people in this fight, but it's a lie, because those of us who are infected have very different responsibilities that those who are not infected," said AIDS activist Greg Scott. Signorile feels he owes it to himself and his partners to know his HIV status. If positive, he has a responsibility not to put others at risk, and to understand that not all HIV-negative people are able to cope with the responsibilities of safer sex. The gay community has the power to change the course of the AIDS epidemic as it faces the challenge and changes the things that are in its control, concludes Signorile. "Tepid Endorsement for HIV Vaccine Trial" Science (02/17/95) Vol. 267, No. 5200, P. 966 An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently decided that although the vaccine made by the Immune Response Corporation (IRC) holds limited promise, it is safe enough to use in a three-year study involving more than 3,000 participants. The vaccine--the brainchild of Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine--is a whole, killed version of HIV minus its surface protein. The IRC scientists and researchers told the panel how the vaccine had boosted the immune system and decreased HIV levels of patients in small-scale studies. Many panel members, however, were skeptical. "My instincts tell me it will not show efficacy," said virologist Stanley Lemon of the University of North Carolina. The committee finally approved the trial because the vaccine does not appear to produce serious side effects. "GAO Report Cites Barriers to AIDS/HIV Care" Nation's Health (02/95) Vol. 25, No. 2, P. 3 Although women, minorities, and injection drug users appear to have good access to federally funded AIDS and HIV support services, some barriers exist when those populations seek care, a General Accounting Office report found. Substance abuse and homelessness were the greatest barriers reported to researchers who surveyed workers and patients in clinics across the country that receive Ryan White Care Act funds. The researchers reported overall good access and use of Ryan White funded mental-health services, housing services, case management, transportation, primary care, and counseling, according to "Ryan White Care Act: Access to Services by Minorities, Women, and Substance Abusers." In some cases, women, minorities, and drug users took advantage of medical and support services at higher rates than the general HIV-infected population.