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


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"Nation of Islam Clinic Markets AIDS 'Cure'"
"Self-Insemination May Carry Risk of HIV Infection"
"Suit Seeks Release of Babies' AIDS Test Results"
"Employee Sues City Over Job"
"Across the USA: Maine"
"Bill to Provide Private HIV Testing at Home Advances"
"AIDS Expert Grilled at Inquiry"
"AIDS Funding Change Criticized"
"Primary Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis by Fluconazole in 
HIV-Infected Patients"
"AIDS Research Priorities"
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"Nation of Islam Clinic Markets AIDS 'Cure'"
New York Times (03/15/95) P. A22
     A Nation of Islam clinic in Washington, D.C., which has received 
almost $600,000 in federal funds during the past two years, is 
dispensing an unlicensed "miracle cure" for AIDS, the Chicago 
Tribune reported on Tuesday.  The Abundant Life Clinic is run by 
Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, the Nation of Islam's chief doctor, who 
once accused the federal government of developing HIV to 
eradicate blacks.  Alim describes what he is selling as a form of
interferon, which studies have found to be ineffective in 
fighting AIDS.  In Nation of Islam publications, the clinic 
advertises that Alim has found the cure for HIV.  He said, in a 
1992 speech, that one of his pills taken daily for six months 
would cure AIDS.  In 1992, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan
said that his church had acquired the exclusive distribution 
rights in the United States for Immunex, a brand of interferon.  
However, Dr. George Carlo, acting technical director of Pharma 
Pacifica Management Ltd. of Australia, which owns the Immunex 
trademark, said, "How could anyone give them the rights to 
distribute the drug?  It's illegal to sell it in the United 
States."  Related Stories: Chicago Tribune (03/14) P. 1-1; USA 
Today (03/15) P. 3A
      
"Self-Insemination May Carry Risk of HIV Infection"
Washington Post (03/15/95) P. A3
     There is a risk of contracting HIV for women who practice 
self-insemination with sperm that has not been properly screened 
for HIV, a researcher has cautioned.  Another researcher, 
however,  said there have been no reported cases of HIV infection
through artificial insemination since 1986, and said a woman's 
risk of becoming infected in such a fashion is "probably remote."
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
recommends that semen donors be tested for HIV, it is not known 
how many actually are, said Mary E. Guinan of the CDC's HIV-AIDS 
office, writing in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association.  "Artificial insemination is safe but not completely
so," she wrote.  Still, in another study reported in the same 
journal, Maria Rosario G. Araneta found that seven of 199 women 
artificially inseminated with semen from five HIV-infected men 
between 1981 and 1985 tested HIV-positive.  The test for HIV 
antibody became available in 1985, and no cases of infection 
through artificial insemination have been reported since then, 
said Araneta, an epidemiologist with the Naval Health Research 
Center in San Diego.
      
"Suit Seeks Release of Babies' AIDS Test Results"
New York Times (03/15/95) P. B6;  Lee, Felicia R.
     The Association to Benefit Children, a New York City advocacy 
group for children, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to have all 
newborns in New York state tested for HIV and their mothers 
notified of the results.  A bill, which would require such 
testing and disclosure, is expected to go to the Senate floor 
after being approved by a health committee on Tuesday.  Gretchen 
Buchenholz, the executive director of the association, said that 
her organization's suit on behalf of HIV-infected children is an 
effort to extend their lives of the kids and prevent unnecessary 
pain.  The suit claims that the state's "blind" HIV testing is 
unfair because it is unlike the state's other mandatory testing 
of newborns for other diseases, in which case the mothers are 
informed of the results.  In its suit, the association has 
requested that all children born in New York state be tested 
within 30 days, and that an "HIV risk assessment" be made for all
children in the care, custody, and control of the state.
      
"Employee Sues City Over Job"
Philadelphia Inquirer (03/15/95) P. B1;  Rosenberg, Amy S.
     On Friday, Cecil Hankins--an African American employee of 
Philadelphia's Health Department--sued the city, claiming he was 
passed over for the job of program director of Philadelphia's 
AIDS office because "the position had been set aside for a member
of the white community."  Hankins,47, contends that the city 
lowered the education requirements for the head of the AIDS 
Activities Coordinating Committee in 1993 so that a 
"lesser-qualified white male" could be hired.  The lawsuit also 
alleges that the city has a policy within the AIDS office of 
"altering job requirements for the purpose of preventing 
qualified African Americans from advancing within the 
organization."  Richard Scott, the man who was given the 
director's position, was removed in October after leaders of 
minority groups said he was insensitive to their needs.
      
"Across the USA: Maine"
USA Today (03/15/95) P. 9A
     A bill in Maine's legislature would allow anyone exposed to 
another person's blood to demand that person be tested for HIV.  
The measure would also prohibit insurers from requiring HIV 
tests, except for those people seeking life policies of $100,000 
or more.
      
"Bill to Provide Private HIV Testing at Home Advances"
Houston Chronicle (03/14/95) P. 15A;  Tuell, Sherry Carter
     On Monday, a bill that would provide for anonymous home HIV 
testing received tentative approval, and was slated for a vote 
before the full House on Tuesday.  The bill, which is sponsored 
by Texas Rep. Glen Maxey (D.-Austin) would permit 
over-the-counter sales of home test kits to detect the virus that
causes AIDS.  Direct Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Johnson & 
Johnson, is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval to 
manufacture HIV test kits similar to those for pregnancy, blood 
sugar levels, or blood pressure levels.  Under Maxey's bill, the 
Texas Department of Health would establish and enforce standards 
of testing and counseling for the home test kit, which would cost
about $30.  An HIV test at the health department costs about $10.
The measure has drawn criticism from some AIDS activists who 
object to the telephone counseling provision.
      
"AIDS Expert Grilled at Inquiry"
Toronto Globe and Mail (03/14/95) P. A4;  Coutts, Jane
     On Monday, Canadian Red Cross lawyer Earl Cherniak repeatedly 
suggested that AIDS expert Dr. Don Francis had not been nearly as
aggressive in his recommendations for controlling AIDS as he had 
claimed.  Francis, a former epidemiologist with the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), last week said that if the 
Red Cross had incorporated his recommendations, it might have 
reduced HIV infection in Canada "by at least three-quarters, if 
not 90 percent."  He based this criticism of the Red Cross on a 
memo he wrote in January 1983, in which he said that blood banks 
should refuse donations of blood or plasma if the donors were 
intravenous drug users, promiscuous, or had sexual partners who 
were either.  During several hours of cross-examination, Cherniak
noted repeated instances in which Francis and his colleagues at 
the CDC could have pushed harder for the recommendations to be 
adopted.
      
"AIDS Funding Change Criticized"
Houston Chronicle (03/14/95) P. 13A;  Stinebaker, Joe
     Minority social service agencies in Harris County, Texas, say 
that after years of progress, they and their clients are no 
longer receiving a fair share of this year's federal AIDS 
funding.  Groups such as the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People and the Association for the 
Advancement of Mexican Americans have long relied on "minority 
set-aside" contracts with the Ryan White Council to provide 
financial, legal, and health services to county residents who 
have HIV or AIDS.  In August, an assistant county attorney 
informed the council that the "set-asides" are illegal under 
state law, effectively ending the program.  Now, as the 1995-1996
contracts are being signed, some of the minority-run agencies 
claim they are being frozen out in favor of larger, more 
established social service agencies.  Health workers, council 
members, and others says that the federal government has tied the
council's hands on how to get funds to the minority community and
then threatens punishment if the council does not improve its 
relationship with minority agencies.
      
"Primary Prevention of Cryptococcal Meningitis by Fluconazole in 
HIV-Infected Patients"
Lancet (03/04/95) Vol. 345, No. 8949, P. 548;  Quagliarello, 
Vincent J.;  Viscoli, Catherine;  Horwitz, Ralph I.
     Quagliarello et al.'s study of the use of oral fluconazole 
provides evidence for the use of the drug in preventing a first 
episode of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected people.  
During the six months before lumbar puncture--a method of 
specific diagnosis--two of the 18 subjects with cryptococcal 
meningitis and 26 of the 72 controls were exposed to fluconazole.
This finding indicates a 92 percent protective efficacy for 
fluconazole exposure.  The researchers concluded that fluconazole
decreases the risk of a first episode of cryptococcal meningitis 
in people with CD4 counts less than 250.  Because the patients 
were exposed to fluconazole for an average of 30 days, it is 
possible that a significant protective effect could be achieved 
with less than daily use.
      
"AIDS Research Priorities"
Science (03/03/95) Vol. 267, No. 5202, P. 1249;  Kramer, Larry
     In a letter to the editor published in Science, AIDS activist 
Larry Kramer uses the phrase "heartbreakingly inadequate" to 
describe the "comprehensive research plan" as presented by Dr. 
William E. Paul, director of the Office of AIDS Research at the 
National Institutes of Health, to deal with the AIDS epidemic.  
To Kramer, a plan means strategy, priorities, direction, goals, 
and results.  He questions the goals and vision of Paul's plan.  
Although Paul's strategy heralds "investigator-initiated research
proposals," the process each scientist must go through to obtain 
funding is still one "fully determined by the procedure of peer 
review as part of the entire competitive process."  Kramer 
concludes that the new Republican Congress is just beginning to 
sense what AIDS activists discovered long ago--that NIH has never
produced a cure to any major illness, and that for $14 billion 
each year, the taxpayers are getting a bad value for their money.
      
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