                     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


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"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"
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"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.
      
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