                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 02, 1994


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


"Herpes Drug Lengthens AIDS Patients Lives--Study"
Reuters (05/02/94)
     High doses of Acyclovir, a drug used to treat herpes infection, 
can significantly prolong the survival of people with AIDS, 
according to a study by one of Australia's leading research 
institutions for the disease.  The 1992 study indicated that 
compared to placebos, Acyclovir could lengthen survival time in 
AIDS patients.  "The study has shown that Acyclovir can extend 
life by around six months, a significant advantage in this 
serious disease," said David Cooper, director of the National 
Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the 
University of New South Wales.  The Health Department of the 
Australian government is considering licensing Acyclovir as a 
therapeutic drug in the battle against AIDS.
      
"Congress--AIDS"
Associated Press (05/02/94);  Kramer, Gene
     Arguing that the United States must continue to provide 
leadership in the global battle against AIDS, the Clinton 
administration wants to head off any move by Congress to withdraw
U.S. financial aid to other countries fighting the epidemic.  
According to State Department Counselor Timothy E. Wirth, who 
appealed to Congress last week, any cessation of U.S. aid would 
encourage other nations to take AIDS less seriously and trigger 
"a crumbling of commitments made around the world" to support 
measures to check the spread of AIDS.  He noted that the $120 
million in U.S. foreign aid currently allocated for global AIDS 
prevention represents more than half of all assistance to 
developing nations.  More than 15 million people around the world
have contracted HIV, said Wirth, and that number is expected to 
reach 30 to 40 million by the end of the decade.
      
"Call Him Activist, By Any Name"
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/02/94) P. B2;  Collins, Huntly
     A few months ago, Luke Michael Montgomery officially had his 
legal name changed to Luke Sissyfag.  The homosexual young man, 
although not himself infected with HIV, has made AIDS his 
personal crusade.  He has recently gained national attention for 
his repeated disruptions of public appearances by President 
Clinton.  The president has not been the sole target of 
Sissyfag's wrath; he has badgered other public officials and even
other AIDS activists for not doing enough to halt the epidemic.  
"I don't care what anybody says, the AIDS activist movement is 
dead--dead on arrival," Sissyfag declares.  "We need to revive 
it."   His strategy for doing just that is to run for mayor of 
Washington, D.C., an announcement he intends to make on May 31.  
His campaign slogan will be "AIDS Is The Issue."  Sissyfag does 
not expect to win, but to make a point.  "What I really hope to 
do is energize the community," he explains.  The 20-year-old 
activist insists that AIDS activism must focus on a solitary 
goal: finding a cure.  "Not needle-exchange, not prevention, but 
a cure," he stresses.
      
"Univax Biologics Takes On an AIDS Battle"
Washington Post (Business) (05/02/94) P. 5;  Day, Kathleen
     Univax Biologics is one of about a dozen companies across the 
nation that are scrambling to develop a vaccine to protect people
who have never been exposed to HIV, and an immunization to 
prevent people who have been exposed from getting AIDS.  The 
Rockville, Md., biotech firm says it has made significant 
progress in both areas, and that its research is encouraging.  In
collaboration with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Univax
hopes to initiate testing within a year for an immunization that 
would provide people with long-term inoculation.  Designed to 
protect individuals never exposed to the virus, the vaccine is 
based on Walter Reed's simian AIDS research.  This "active" 
inoculation works by activating the body's natural defenses.  In 
conjunction with biotech giant Genentech Inc., of South San 
Francisco, Univax is also working on a passive inoculation that 
it hopes will protect people who have already been exposed to 
HIV.  While the chances for success are slim in AIDS research, 
and Wall Street remains skeptical, the potential prize will mean 
a big payoff for the company that successfully develops a 
vaccine.  Analysts say the market for a vaccine to protect people
never exposed to HIV is worth $1 billion or more per year, and 
the market for an immunization that can inoculate a person within
18 hours of exposure has a potential market of $100 million.
      
"AIDS by Insemination"
Associated Press (05/01/94);  Hastings, Deborah
     More than a dozen years into the AIDS epidemic, the increasingly 
popular artificial insemination business continues to go 
unregulated and unmonitored even though its very business is 
semen, long known to be one of the primary modes of HIV 
transmission.  Only a handful of states--including New York, 
California, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan--require sperm donors to
undergo HIV testing.  Although medical and public health experts 
concede that there is a group of tens of thousands of 
heterosexual women who have never publicly been warned about 
their risks for AIDS, they contend that the risk is, in fact, 
low.  "All women should be aware that this could be a potential 
hazard and that they should be tested," says Dr. Lauren Mascola, 
head of infectious diseases for the Los Angeles Health 
Department.  "In general, the risk is low."  The Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention documents the cases of five women 
in the United States who have been infected with HIV through 
artificial insemination with donor sperm.  Two of the five have 
filed lawsuits.  "We think adequate safeguards are in place now,"
says CDC spokesman Kent Taylor, adding that mass testing of women
who received donor sperm is probably not warranted.  Those 
guidelines include testing donors for HIV, quarantining frozen 
semen for six months, then retesting the donor.
      
"AIDS Activists"
Associated Press (04/30/94);  Gleason, Bucky
     During a two-day conference this weekend in Philadelphia, AIDS 
activists vowed to reorganize and find avenues to get the 
government to fight harder against the disease that has killed 
more than 220,000 Americans.  Activists expressed concern that 
people may be tired of hearing news about AIDS, and that too many
may still believe that the disease affects only homosexuals and 
intravenous drug addicts.  "People tend to turn a deaf ear to 
what's happening," said David Acosta, a member of the AIDS 
Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP).  "There's still the 
mentality that patients bring it on themselves."  ACT-UP, which 
was founded in New York City in 1987, has seen the great power it
once wielded dwindle in the face of leadership that has, 
literally, died.  Many of the group's loudest voices have been 
succeeded by leaders who abandon the confrontational strategies 
and civil disobedience that once characterized the group.  "We 
need to define goals and begin to coalesce across the country.  
We need to target," Acosta said.  "We're still a formidable 
force, and we're not going anywhere."  The conference also 
addressed the need for national health care and ways of housing 
AIDS patients.
      
"Hotel's HIV Fears Cloud Gay Games"
Crain's New York Business (04/11/94) P. 4;  Gault, Ylonda
     Kenneth Walles, General Manager and Vice President of New York's 
Hotel Pennsylvania, headquarters for Gay Games IV, says fear of 
exposure to HIV has made his employees wary of serving the gay 
visitors.  During the event, scheduled for June 18-26, the hotel 
will occupy 75 percent of its 1,700 rooms with homosexual guests.
Walles is concerned that many of the property's 600 staff members
may call in sick the week of the competition, leaving the 
financially strapped hotel in a bind.  While no others have 
publicly expressed concern, Walles insists that several 
colleagues have similar worries, and he does not want his hotel 
singled out for "negative publicity because of a common concern."
Amid increasing excitement for the event and the $100 million it 
is expected to bring to New York, Walles asked the Hotel 
Association of New York to outline a formal policy on the matter.
"I don't know if it [the policy] should be that workers wear 
gloves or what," says Walles.  The association declined his 
request, saying that matters of guest relations and operations 
are left to the discretion of individual property managers.  Gay 
groups quickly offered to help.  "We'd be happy to provide 
training sessions for the workers and provide medical experts to 
deal with the issues," says Marlin Collingwood, director of 
communications for the event's organizers.
      
"Twentieth-Century Plagues"
Newsweek (04/18/94) Vol. 123, No. 16, P. 56;  Seligmann, Jean;  
Cowley, Geoffrey
     The latest in a series of discouraging reports about AIDS 
research came in the form of the Concorde trial, a Anglo-French 
study of the antiviral drug AZT.  The study, which published 
preliminary results a year ago, followed 1,749 asymptomatic HIV 
patients.  It reported that, after one year, patients receiving 
AZT fared better than those receiving a placebo.  After three 
years, however, there was no benefit from the drug, as 18 percent
of both groups had developed symptoms of AIDS.  In terms of 
mortality, 8 percent of the AZT patients died, compared with only
6 percent of the placebo sample.  The study is scheduled to 
continue for another 15 months.  Although AZT has been shown to 
fend off the worst stages of AIDS disease in patients already 
exhibiting symptoms, it is accompanied by adverse side effects, 
including nausea, vomiting, and anemia.  Ian Weller, the senior 
British member of the Concorde research team, says that taking 
AZT is not worth those risks for asymptomatic HIV patients.
      
"AIDS Federal Lobbying: Washington, May 22-24; Local Districts 
May 29-June 6"
AIDS Treatment News (04/15/94) No. 197, P. 8
     This year's AIDSWatch lobbying days are scheduled for May 22-24 
in the nation's capital, and are "dedicated to securing greater 
AIDS program funding in Congress during the appropriations cycle,
with a focus on health care that will be beneficial for people 
living with HIV disease."  Organizers hope to see representation 
from every Congressional district.  Those who cannot be in 
Washington for the federal events can help on the local level by 
lobbying their U.S. Representatives and Senators during the 
congressional recess.  The project is being coordinated by the 
National Association of People With AIDS and sponsored by leading
AIDS service organizations such as AmFar, AIDS Action Council, 
AIDS Project Los Angeles, the National Minority AIDS Council, and
the Whitman-Walker Clinic, among others.
      
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