                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 14, 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
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Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Irish Priest's Tale Stirs Furor about AIDS and Unprotected Sex"
"Health Board to Quiz Priest over AIDS Avenger"
"AIDS Treatment Gets City Backing"
"And a Child Leads Them"
"'Confirmatory' Trials: Symptom Reduction As Efficacy Measure"
"Management of the Hematological Manifestations of HIV and AIDS"
"UK Multidrug Resistant TB"
"Rap to the Rescue"
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"Irish Priest's Tale Stirs Furor about AIDS and Unprotected Sex"
New York Times (09/14/95) P. A12;  Clarity, James F.
     A Roman Catholic priest has sparked a wave of concern about AIDS 
in Ireland.  Rev. Michael Kennedy, a priest in the town of 
Dungarvan, claims that an HIV-infected woman tried to avenge her 
illness by having unprotected intercourse with numerous Irishman,
infecting at least 14 of them with HIV.  "I haven't seen anything
like it," said Sharon Oye, director of the Dublin Aids Alliance. 
"The mania is media driven, but it is expressing concerns of the 
people."  In spite of medical authorities' assertions that they 
doubt such transmission occurred, the story has been prominent in
Irish media.  Hundreds of residents have called radio shows 
expressing their fear, anger, sympathy, and condemnation of the 
woman, as well as criticism of how Kennedy revealed the 
situation.  According to Oye, 1,570 people in Ireland are 
infected with HIV and 484 have AIDS, though she believes the 
actual rate is two to three times greater because many people 
conceal their illness.
      
"Health Board to Quiz Priest over AIDS Avenger"
Reuters (09/13/95)
     Officials from Ireland's health board questioned Irish priest 
Rev. Michael Kennedy on Wednesday about his claims that a 
spiteful woman infected dozens of men with HIV.  This was the 
second meeting between the priest and the health board since 
Kennedy warned his congregation last Sunday that the woman said 
she had infected as many as 80 local men out of revenge.  
According to Kennedy, one local youth came to him because he was 
afraid he had contracted HIV.  The youth's infection was then 
confirmed in London.  Four of his friends also said they were 
infected--denying that they were injection drug users, but 
admitting that they had all slept with the same woman.  Board 
officials, however, say there are no indications of an increase 
in HIV cases in the region.
      
"AIDS Treatment Gets City Backing"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/13/95) P. 1B;  Lindecke, Fred W.;  
Young, Virginia
     St. Louis officials have asked AIDS service providers to continue
treating patients even though Missouri has reported a shortage of
funds.  "No one has to worry at this point," said Deborah 
Butler-McGruder, grant administrator of AIDS money for the city. 
Coleen Kivlahan, Missouri's health director, announced on Monday 
that the state's portion of the AIDS treatment program had more 
than $1 million in debts and no money to pay them because of 
inadequate controls on how the $2.2 million federal grant was 
spent.  Kivlahan stopped payments and ordered an internal audit 
on Sept. 7 when a supervisor informed her that three employees 
who oversee the program had not noticed for a year that the 
program was paying out more than it could afford.  Meanwhile, 
some AIDS service agencies say their clients are being rejected 
from dental examinations and cannot fill prescriptions.  
Butler-McGruder, however, claims St. Louis still has funds from 
its portion of the Ryan White AIDS grants to pay its bills.
      
"And a Child Leads Them"
Los Angeles Times (09/13/95) P. B2;  James, Ian
     During the past few years, 11-year-old Leo Beckerman has helped 
raise thousands of dollars in the annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles.  
Last year, for example, he and about 70 children in "Kids Who 
Care"--a group he and six of his friends established--brought in 
$15,000.  With the encouragement of his mother, who has a friend 
on the AIDS Project Los Angeles board, Beckerman began his 
fund-raising crusade at age seven, never having met anyone who 
was actually infected with HIV.  He raised $2,000 that first 
year.  Beckerman said that starting such a campaign has changed 
him, raising his awareness of the rejection that many people with
HIV experience because of their illness and sexual orientation.  
This year, "Kids Who Care" wants to have as many as 100 youth 
walkers in the 6.2 mile annual event in Hollywood.
      
"'Confirmatory' Trials: Symptom Reduction As Efficacy Measure"
AIDS Treatment News (08/18/95) No. 229, P. 1;  James, John S.
     The critical problem with current efficacy trials is the 
definition of clinical proof or confirmation as requiring an 
endpoint of death or progression to an AIDS-defining infection, 
writes John S. James for AIDS Treatment News.  Instead, James 
proposes a trial design which uses symptom reduction as a primary
indicator for assessing drug efficacy.  This type of trial would 
be a clinical one which recruits volunteers who have one or more
of the designated indicator symptoms.  The symptoms would be 
HIV-related, easily measurable, and unlikely to improve on their 
own or with standard treatment.  The subjects would be randomized
into an antiviral treatment group or into a placebo or comparison
group, but both groups would continue their existing treatment 
throughout the trial.  Within weeks, such trials could offer 
statistical proof of any clinical benefit of the antiviral 
regimen.  At the end of the trial, all subjects would be offered 
the most effective treatment and followed indefinitely.  
Symptom-reduction trials would be useful because they can gauge 
the efficacy of antiviral, immune-based, or other kinds of 
therapy, James concludes.
      
"Management of the Hematological Manifestations of HIV and AIDS"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (07/95-08/95) 
Vol. 6, No. 4, P. 9;  Ownby, Kristen Kane
     Hematological disorders or cytopenia-related problems,  
frequently encountered by people with HIV or AIDS, are caused by 
reduced production of precursor cells in the bone marrow, 
increased peripheral destruction of the differentiated cells, and
ineffective hematopoiesis.  People with AIDS are at risk for 
developing several opportunistic infections (OIs), including 
Mycobacterium avium complex and cryptococcus, as their immune 
systems begin to fail.  Such infections can induce or worsen 
existing cytopenias.  However, several of the drugs used to treat
and prevent OIs can cause drug-induced cytopenia.  Sulfanamides, 
for example, have a direct cytotoxic effect on precursor cells in
the bone marrow.  Other factors, such as poor nutritional intake 
and reduced or abnormal absorption of the gastrointestinal tract,
can also exacerbate or cause cytopenias.  The first step in the 
medical management of myelosuppression is identifying the 
underlying cause of the cytopenia.  If, for example, the 
cytopenia is drug-induced, a physician can lower the dose of the 
offending treatment.  Nutritional deficiencies can be corrected 
with injections of vitamin B12.  Using the correct medical 
treatments, interventions, and patient education may prevent the 
potentially fatal effects of hematological abnormalities.
      
"UK Multidrug Resistant TB"
Lancet (09/02/95) Vol. 346, No. 8975, P. 632
     England has experienced its first outbreak of hospital-acquired 
multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.  The outbreak, which involved 
one index and four secondary cases, took place in an HIV unit in 
London.
      
"Rap to the Rescue"
Vibe (10/95) Vol. 3, No. 8, P. 38;  Hample, Henry
     UrbanAID 4 LIFEbeat, a day-long AIDS benefit concert scheduled 
for Oct. 5 at New York's Madison Square Garden, is the hip hop 
community's response to AIDS.  Most of the money raised from the 
event, which was created after rapper Eazy-E announced in March 
that he was dying of AIDS, is expected to come from $100,000 in  
corporate sponsorships, although additional revenue should come 
from an album of concert highlights.  The resulting funds will be
distributed by LIFEbeat to urban AIDS organizations.  In 
addition,  Sheik has donated 1 million condoms to further promote
the event's message.
      
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