                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       March 10, 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
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Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Learning from the Tragedy of AIDS"
"Across the USA: South Dakota"
"U.S. Government Begins Testing Celgene's..."
"Bleckner's Melodrama; a Minimalist's Quietude"
"The Reliable Source: Louganis Threatened"
"Chronicle: Harold H. Koh"
"Child AIDS Victims in Romania Face Prejudice"
"Hemet Schools Scrap Classes in Sex Education"
"Mechanism of Inhibition of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase by 
Nonnucleoside Inhibitors"
"Changes in Taste Associated with Intravenous Administration of 
Pentamidine"
"Fire In Our House"
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"Learning from the Tragedy of AIDS"
Philadelphia Inquirer (03/10/95) P. A4;  Shaw, Donna
     On Wednesday, Donald Francis, a retired epidemiologist with the 
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified 
in Canada before the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System.  
One of the first scientists to study AIDS, Francis testified that
the CDC made a mistake in not being more forceful in the early 
days of AIDS.  He admitted that the exact cause of AIDS had not 
been identified in the early years of the epidemic.  He noted, 
however, that lack of public knowledge had not prevented public 
health officials from taking strong measures to block other 
threats, such as Legionnaires' disease and toxic shock syndrome. 
Francis also said that there was little hesitation among 
government officials to issue early, written warnings to 
health-care workers about tainted blood.  That effort began in 
November 1982, long before HIV was identified.  The warnings came
just four months after the National Hemophilia Foundation first 
informed its members that the CDC had found three HIV-infected 
hemophiliacs.  Francis said that he and Bruce Evatt, the 
foundation's main contact at the CDC, were shocked to see that 
the foundation's newsletter urged people to continue using Factor
VIII.  The newsletter said that although a virus might be causing
the disease, there was little risk and that the "CDC is not 
recommending any change in blood product use."  Francis claimed 
that he and Evatt never said any such thing.
      
"Across the USA: South Dakota"
USA Today (03/10/95) P. 6A
     South Dakota has the lowest rate of AIDS cases in the United 
States, according to a state report.  In 1994, 24 new cases of 
HIV infection were reported.
      
"U.S. Government Begins Testing Celgene's..."
PR Newswire (03/09/95)
     Celgene Corp. has announced that it is joining forces with the 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)  to
test Synovir, or thalidomide, for treatment of HIV/AIDS.  Phase I
studies will be sponsored and conducted by NIAID.  Dr. Gilla 
Kaplan of The Rockefeller University, a Celgene collaborator, 
originally demonstrated thalidomide's in vitro efficacy against 
HIV.  The principal investigator of the trial, which will be 
conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, is Dr. Hedy Teppler 
of Thomas Jefferson University.
      
"Bleckner's Melodrama; a Minimalist's Quietude"
New York Times (03/10/95) P. C23;  Kimmelman, Michael
     Two artists, whose works are being exhibited at the Guggenheim 
Museum in New York City, both deal with real-life issues, such as
AIDS.  Ross Bleckner has combined Op Art effects with themes 
involving death and dying.  Bleckner has reinforced the view that
his work's melancholia is a sincere reaction to AIDS by filling 
his dimly lighted pictures with urns, candelabra, flowers, and 
other funerary motifs, as well as giving them titles that 
explicitly refer to AIDS and death.  Felix Gonzalez-Torres 
allusively explores themes--such as Minimalism, AIDS, and the 
metaphoric possibility of light--that Bleckner investigates as 
well.  Bleckner's work, however, has received more attention, not
only because he is a prominent society figure, but because his 
work appears to address big and timely concerns involving the 
vitality of abstract painting and the relationship between 
real-life issues and art.
      
"The Reliable Source: Louganis Threatened"
Washington Post (03/10/95) P. C3;  Romano, Lois
     Because of the threats that Greg Louganis has received since 
revealing he has AIDS, Lambda Rising--a Washington, D.C., 
bookstore that caters to the gay community--said that extra 
security precautions were taken at the Olympic diver's book 
signing on Wednesday.  Nearly 2,000 people waited in the wind and
pouring rain to see Louganis--and 300 ended up being turned away.
"I have been stressing security at all the stores he has been 
going to," said Tom Perry, publicity manager for Random House.  
"There's always that lunatic fringe."  Louganis' autobiography, 
"Breaking the Surface," is already in its seventh printing, with 
255,000 copies in circulation.
      
"Chronicle: Harold H. Koh"
New York Times (03/10/95) P. B2;  Brozan, Nadine
     Harold H. Koh, a professor of international law at Yale Law 
School, and about 500 other guests tonight will pay tribute to 
Michael Ratner, former legal director of the Center for 
Constitutional Rights in New York, for his work battling human 
rights violations around the world.  Koh and Ratner worked 
closely when they led a group of Yale law students in an effort 
to release HIV-positive Haitians being held at Guantanamo Bay in 
Cuba.  "That was a true labor of love," said Koh.  "He brought 
hundreds of Haitians from Guantanamo to the United States who 
would still be sitting there."
      
"Child AIDS Victims in Romania Face Prejudice"
Reuters (03/09/95);  Dascalu, Roxana
     In Butimanu, Romania, frightened villagers have ostracized 
five-year-old Sorina Preda--who is dying of AIDS--and her mother,
Geta, who is HIV-positive.  "I'm a nobody now.  I used to earn 
some money working on people's land, or helping them at autumn 
harvest.  Now nobody wants to hire me," said the 25-year-old 
Geta.  Last year, doctors informed the mother of three that she 
was infected with HIV and that her daughter Sorina had AIDS.  
Geta believes that she contracted the virus during one of her 
five abortions and that Sorina became infected when she had a 
blood transfusion in the hospital.  The Preda family survives on 
a state child allowance worth 19,000 lei, or about $10 a month.  
The family depends of the Romanian AIDS charity ARAS, whose 
volunteers drove to Butimanu one Saturday with cakes and presents
for Sorina's fifth birthday.  ARAS is also helping Iasmina 
Calinciuc and her mother in Iasi, Romania.  The Calinciucs are 
suing the local hospital and the Ministry of Health because they 
claim that Iasmina became HIV-infected in Iasi Hospital in 1992. 
This is Romania's first AIDS court case and lawyers hope it will 
set a precedent for other children who have become infected.
      
"Hemet Schools Scrap Classes in Sex Education"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (03/09/95) P. B1;  Gorman, 
Tom
     Due to a costly lawsuit challenging the use of a sex education 
curriculum that advocates abstinence and avoids mention of 
contraception, trustees of California's Hemet Unified School 
District have opted to eliminate the program.  On Tuesday, the 
school board voted 4-to-3 to teach only the state-mandated AIDS 
health education. The board said it would rather offer no sex 
education to seventh- and ninth-graders than offer a program that
involves discussions of contraception.  The district was sued in 
October by parents who said three programs--"Sex Respect," 
"Teen-Aid," and "Choosing the Best"--violated state curriculum 
guidelines.  They also claimed that the programs were distorted 
and contained misinformation and inaccuracies. The lawsuit was 
supported by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the
civil liberties advocacy group People for the American Way.  
Although sex education is not mandatory in California, most 
school districts offer it in some form, and most include some 
discussion of contraception.
      
"Mechanism of Inhibition of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase by 
Nonnucleoside Inhibitors"
Science (02/17/95) Vol. 267, No. 5200, P. 988;  Spence, Rebecca 
A.;  Kati, Warren M.;  Anderson, Karen S. et al.
     Spence et al. studied the mechanism of inhibition of HIV-1 
reverse transcriptase by three nonnucleoside inhibitors.  
Nevirapine, O-TIBO, and CI-TIBO each bind to a hydrophobic pocket
in the enzyme-DNA complex near the active site catalytic 
residues.  The researchers used pre-steady-state kinetic analysis
to determine the mechanism of inhibition by these noncompetitive 
inhibitors.  Analysis of the pre-steady-state burst of DNA 
polymerization showed that the inhibitors blocked the chemical 
reaction, but did not interfere with nucleotide binding or the 
nucleotide-induced conformational change.  In the presence of 
saturating concentrations of the inhibitors, however, the 
nucleoside triphosphate bound tightly but nonproductively.  The 
findings suggest that an inhibitor that combines the 
functionalities of a nonnucleoside inhibitor and a nucleotide 
analog could bind very tightly and specifically to reverse 
transcriptase and could be very useful in the treatment of AIDS.
      
"Changes in Taste Associated with Intravenous Administration of 
Pentamidine"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (01/95-02/95) 
Vol. 6, No. 1, P. 43;  Glover, Jennifer;  Dibble, Suzanne;  
Miaskowski, Christine
     In an attempt to describe the incidence of taste changes 
associated with intravenous pentamidine isethionate (IV PENT) 
treatment and to determine the factors that affect the taste 
changes, Glover et al. studied 18 adult males with AIDS who were 
receiving outpatient treatment for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
(PCP) with IV PENT.  All of the participants reported an 
unpleasant taste after treatment.  While 89 percent described the
taste as metallic, 67 percent experienced a bitter taste.  The 
participants said that factors such as sweet foods and drinks, 
juice, and chocolate improved the unpleasant taste.  The items 
most frequently cited as making the taste worse were milk and tap
water.  The study suggests that taste changes associated with IV 
PENT occur and produce accompanying decreases in food intake and 
appetite.  Healthcare providers caring for patients receiving IV 
PENT should assess for alterations in taste and inform patients 
of them, as well as the concomitant decrease in appetite.
      
"Fire In Our House"
MayDay Media (03/09/95)
     Despite the wealth of information supporting needle exchange
programs and their ability to prevent HIV,many exchanges remain
illegal and underfunded.  The AIDS epidemic continues and people
are dying. "Fire in Our House" is a 10-minute video that
illustrates the impact that needle exchange programs have had on
addicts, their families and communities.  As a strategic tool
that personalizes the terms of the debate, "Fire in Our House"
increases public awareness about needle exchange, influences
policies and inspires grassroots mobilization. The cost of the
tape is $15.00.  For a free preview of "Fire in Our House" and
Viewer's Guide, contact: MayDay Media, 1077 30th St. N.W., Suite
102, Washington, DC 20007, (202) 338-1094, Fax (202) 342-2660.
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