                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       July 11, 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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"Sandoz Offers $295m for Pioneer in Gene Therapy"
"Corrections Chief Punishes 4 in Death of D.C. Jail Inmate"
"M.D.s Fail to Counsel Teens on Sex"
"Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing?"
"AIDS Tests for All Pregnant Women"
"5 Arrested Protesting Closed AIDS Meeting"
"Across the USA: South Dakota"
"Anti-AIDS Drug Promising"
"Staging System for Clinical AIDS Patients"
"Bye-Bye Bipartisanship"
"Notice of Public Meeting"
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"Sandoz Offers $295m for Pioneer in Gene Therapy"
Financial Times (07/11/95) P. 16;  Green, Daniel
     Sandoz has offered to purchase Genetic Therapy Inc. (GTI) for 
$295 million, marking its first major corporate move since the 
demerger of its Clariant chemicals division.  Sandoz Pharma Chief
Executive Daniel Vasella says, "Gene therapy will change medicine
in the next century and we want to own that technology."  GTI's 
patent covering the gene therapy on human cells removed from the 
body compliments the goals of Systemix, Sandoz's biotechnology 
partner.  Systemix is currently developing gene therapy on bone 
marrow cells to design a treatment which confers immunity to HIV.
Related Stories: New York Times (07/11) P. D4; Wall Street 
Journal (07/11) P. B3; Baltimore Sun (07/11) P. 10C; Washington 
Post (07/11) P. D1
      
"Corrections Chief Punishes 4 in Death of D.C. Jail Inmate"
Washington Post (07/11/95) P. B1;  Locy, Toni
     A physician, a physician assistant, and a nurse have all been 
suspended pending a probe of the June 6 death an inmate with AIDS
at the D.C. jail, who died while tied to a wheelchair with a 
urine-soaked sheet, said D.C. Corrections Director Margaret A. 
Moore on Monday.  Another physician assistant who worked for an 
independent contractor has been fired, Moore added.  Describing 
Richard C. Johnson's death as "inexcusable" and "inhumane," Moore
announced that she has asked the U.S. attorney's office and the 
internal affairs division of the Washington, D.C., police 
department to investigate the incident.  Johnson was serving a 
five- to 16-year sentence for various drug convictions.  AIDS had
weakened him such that he could not walk to the toilet across the
cell.  For more than a week, the prison's medical staff would not
go near him to give him his medication because of the odor.  
Moore's announcement came on the eve of a hearing before Senior 
U.S. District Judge William Bryant, who will determine whether to
place the jail's medical and mental health services in 
receivership.  Related Story: USA Today (07/11) P. 6A
      
"M.D.s Fail to Counsel Teens on Sex"
USA Today (07/11/95) P. 1D;  Elias, Marilyn
     According to a new study from the Harvard Medical School, 
teenagers want doctors to give them the facts about how to avoid 
HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.  Most physicians, 
however, do not offer such information, and the teens are often 
too embarrassed to voluntarily bring up sexual matters.  "Teens 
are starving for information on every aspect of sex, and they see
doctors as experts who can impart it," notes Dr. Lee Rawitscher. 
The survey of Boston-area high school students, reported in the 
journal Pediatrics, found that 85 percent of teenagers wanted 
doctors to give them information about HIV, though only 27 
percent had ever discussed the virus with them.  Nearly 70 
percent said they wished doctors would ask if they had practiced 
safe sex, and 70 percent said they would not feel comfortable 
bringing up sex themselves.  Rawitscher says that some doctors 
avoid sexual issues because they feel poorly informed or too 
rushed.
      
"Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing?"
Washington Post (Health) (07/11/95) P. 10;  Russell, Cristine
     Despite major public health campaigns to warn young people about 
dangerous activities, a new report from the National Center for 
Health Statistics shows that unhealthy behavior often begins 
early and reaches high levels during the teenage years.  The 
report cautions that "a substantial number of U.S. youth are 
engaging in risk-taking behaviors that can lead to chronic 
disease, injury, and death."  Among other dangers, the survey 
found that youths were at great risk for unplanned pregnancies 
and sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS.  More than 40 
percent of those surveyed reported having had more than one sex 
partner, and among those aged 18 to 21, the figure climbed to 60 
percent.  Only about half of all sexually experienced youths used
condoms the last time they had sex.  In addition, black 
adolescents were more likely to have used condoms than white or 
Hispanic adolescents.  Overall, the survey found that risky 
health habits are relatively common among youths of all ages, 
sexes, races, and educational groups.
      
"AIDS Tests for All Pregnant Women"
Washington Post (07/11/95) P. A16
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now 
recommends that doctors and hospitals advise all pregnant women, 
in addition to injection drug users and prostitutes, to be tested
for HIV.  This recommendation is primarily the result of a recent
study which found that administering AZT during pregnancy and 
delivery can reduce by two-thirds the risk of perinatal HIV 
transmission.  Because not all women will heed the counseling and
advice for the tests, however, Congress is now considering 
legislation that will require HIV testing of newborns.  This 
effort deserves support, write the editors of the Washington 
Post, because it appears that an HIV-positive infant could be 
immediately treated with AZT.  Testing could also reduce HIV 
transmission through breastfeeding, and would identify infants 
for additional health care.  These are among the reasons the CDC 
lists in support of voluntary testing of all pregnant 
women--reasons which the Post claims are sufficient to require 
the routine HIV testing of all newborns.
      
"5 Arrested Protesting Closed AIDS Meeting"
Washington Times (07/11/95) P. C6
     After trying to enter a closed meeting of the AIDS Research 
Evaluation Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research for the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH), five people were arrested 
and now face charges of trespassing.  Approximately 70 people 
gathered to protest the federal panel's first meeting being 
closed to the public, ACT UP New York said.  NIH noted that some 
members of ACT UP are on the committee, and that open meetings 
will be held in the future so that others can participate.
      
"Across the USA: South Dakota"
USA Today (07/11/95) P. 6A
     In Mission, S.D., funeral services will be held today for White 
Eagle, a tenor who performed at the 1989 inauguration of 
President Bush.  White Eagle, 43, died last Friday from 
AIDS-related complications.
      
"Anti-AIDS Drug Promising"
Washington Times (07/10/95) P. A14
     Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. reports that its drug Invirase showed 
encouraging results in tests of HIV's ability to develop 
resistance to drugs designed to kill it.  Human studies of 
Invirase indicate that HIV develops only moderate and slow 
resistance to the drug.
      
"Staging System for Clinical AIDS Patients"
Lancet (07/01/95) Vol. 346, No. 8966, P. 12;  Mocroft, Amanda J.;
Johnson, Margaret A.;  Sabin, Caroline A. et al.
     Mocroft et al. propose dividing AIDS patients into a single 
staging system that accounts for prognostic factors such as type 
and number of AIDS-related diseases and CD4 lymphocyte count.  A 
finer distinction would be useful in circumstances including 
designing entry and endpoint criteria in clinical trials, they 
note.  The researchers followed more than 350 AIDS patients in 
England and reported the occurrence of 680 AIDS-defining diseases
(ADDs).  The severity of the ADDs was defined on the basis of 
survival in the AIDS in Europe study of close to 6,600 AIDS 
patients--mild included Kaposi's sarcoma, Pneumocystis carinii 
pneumonia, and extrapulmonary tuberculosis; severe included all 
other ADDs except lymphoma, which was rated very severe.  The 
risk of death increased 15 percent for each mild condition 
experienced, by nearly 90 percent for each new severe condition, 
and by 535 percent when a lymphoma appeared.  Using the Cox 
model, the researchers concluded that patients in AIDS Grade I 
had a mean death rate of one per 10.1 years, compared with one in
2.8 years in AIDS Grade II and one in 1.1 years in AIDS Grade 
III.  The authors feel their staging system would be useful for 
patient management, clinical trial design, surveillance, and 
resource management.
      
"Bye-Bye Bipartisanship"
Advocate (07/11/95) No. 685, P. 24;  Bull, Chris
     White House AIDS policy director Patricia S. Fleming's verbal 
battle with gay Republican congressman Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) 
over Medicare reductions could make life difficult for lobbyists 
trying to establish a bipartisan coalition on AIDS issues.  In 
early June, for example, Fleming called the proposed GOP cuts in 
Medicaid spending "as much of a threat" to AIDS patients as "the 
virus in their bodies."  Gunderson responded, calling Fleming's 
remark "cruel, callous, and insensitive."  The debate focused on 
recent Republican budget proposals approved by both the House and
the Senate that would reduce medicaid funding by more than $150 
billion, and shift control of the program to individual state 
governments.  Since January, when the Republicans took control of
Congress, AIDS lobbyists have upheld a working coalition of 
Democrats and moderate Republicans.  Gunderson, for example, 
successfully blocked a proposal to eliminate the Ryan White CARE 
Act.  Fleming's debate with Gunderson, however, brought the 
coalition's different beliefs out into the open, casting moderate
Republicans who value fiscal austerity against Democrats who 
oppose almost any cuts in AIDS programs.
      
"Notice of Public Meeting"
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (07/06/95)
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will
host a public meeting to discuss the implementation and
evaluation of U.S. Public Health Service recommendations for
counseling and testing pregnant women.  The purpose of this
meeting is to obtain individual comments on the following: 
strategies to prevent HIV infection among women and children;
strategies to ensure that women and newborns who are infected are
entered into a continuum of services; and the considerations
involved in monitoring the epidemic in women and children in
general.  The meeting will be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza
Hotel, 210 Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta Georgia, on July 11 and
12, from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.  To make hotel reservations, please
contact the Westin Peachtree Plaza at (404) 659-1400.  For
additional information, call Francess Page at (202) 690-6373. 

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