                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 19, 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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"House Extends AIDS Law"
"Immune Response, Thai Firm Set Pact on Vaccine for HIV"
"New AIDS Drug Shows Promise, Merck Says"
"AIDS Threat for 1 Percent of Burmese"
"Thai Police Bust Two Members of AIDS-Thieves Gang"
"AIDS Rapist Imprisoned 12 Years"
"22,000 Take Part in AIDS Walk"
"Cytomegalovirus Retinitis and Low CD4+ T-Lymphocyte Counts"
"Resistance of Microorganisms to Disinfection in Dental and 
Medical Devices"
"Opioid Use in HIV Patients with Neurological Changes"
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"House Extends AIDS Law"
New York Times (09/19/95) P. A18
     The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to extend the 
Ryan White CARE Act until the year 2000.  The legislation 
provides funding for states, cities, and health care centers to 
help treat people with AIDS.  The federal government will offer 
$633 million in grants under the law during fiscal 1995.  In 
addition, the measure would also back state programs that require
the HIV testing of infants.  The Senate has already voted to 
continue the Ryan White CARE Act.  Differences between the two 
versions must now be worked out in the final bill.  Related 
Story: Washington Post (09/19) P. A6
      
"Immune Response, Thai Firm Set Pact on Vaccine for HIV"
Wall Street Journal (09/19/95) P. B7
     Immune Response Corp. has completed a deal worth up to $25 
million with Thailand's Trinity Medical Group Co. to continue 
development of a potential HIV vaccine.  It is estimated that 
Trinity will spend $10 million to test Immune Response's vaccine 
and may make a $15 million equity investment in the Carlsbad, 
Calif., company.  The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has 
authorized a one-year, placebo-controlled clinical trial in about
300 HIV-infected persons, Immune Response said.  The trial is 
intended to "run in parallel" with clinical trials being 
conducted in the United States, including a proposed study of 
about 3,000 HIV-infected individuals that is now being considered
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a company spokesman 
said.
      
"New AIDS Drug Shows Promise, Merck Says"
Philadelphia Inquirer (09/19/95) P. A3;  Collins, Huntly
     A study of 73 patients with advanced AIDS indicates that Merck & 
Co.'s protease inhibitor Crixivan is more potent than any 
previously developed AIDS drug, said the company's director of 
clinical research Dr. Ferdinand Massari on Monday.  According to 
Merck researchers at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial
Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco, the drug significantly 
reduced HIV levels in the patients' blood and raised the number 
of T-cells.  In the study, Merck researchers compared Crixivan 
with AZT as well as a combination of the two drugs, and found 
that none of the patients taking only AZT had viral levels that 
could not be detected.  After six months, 20 percent of the 
protease inhibitor group and 40 percent of the combination group 
had no detectable levels of HIV in their blood, while both groups
also demonstrated a 40 percent to 75 percent increase in T-cells,
the scientists said.
      
"AIDS Threat for 1 Percent of Burmese"
Financial Times (09/19/95) P. 6;  Bardacke, Ted
     The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that at least 
400,000, or 1 percent, of Burma's citizens are infected with the 
virus that causes AIDS.  Several social factors make Burmese 
citizens vulnerable to HIV, including a high number of injection 
drug users, social tolerance of prostitution, and large amounts 
of cross-border trade with nearby nations, said the WHO's D.J. 
Goodwin, who also noted that condoms are costly and rare in 
Burma.  Some AIDS prevention organizations used the WHO's 
alarming statistics, which were presented at an international 
conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, to urge the 
international community to end a ban on foreign aid to the 
country, particularly humanitarian assistance.
      
"Thai Police Bust Two Members of AIDS-Thieves Gang"
Reuters (09/19/95)
     Two Bangkok men accused of committing robberies by threatening to
stab others with needles containing HIV-infected blood have been 
arrested, Thai authorities report.  The two young men were 
arrested in a Bangkok shopping center on Monday, soon after 
robbing a man, the police said.  The police believe the men are 
members of a gang that has committed several robberies of 
shopping centers and department stores using blood-filled 
syringes.  It is not yet known whether the syringes actually 
contained HIV-tainted blood or not.
      
"AIDS Rapist Imprisoned 12 Years"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/18/95) P. C4;  Claridge, Thomas
     Charles Winn, an HIV-infected man who confessed to risking a 
woman's life by raping her, has been sentenced by a Canadian 
court to 12 years in jail.  Mr. Justice David Fairgrieve of the 
Ontario Court's Provincial Division said it was "difficult to 
envisage a more dangerous threat than an unrestrained, 
unrehabilitated, HIV-positive rapist," when explaining why he 
dismissed a joint request for a seven-year sentence.  During the 
trial, in which Winn pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual 
assault, he acknowledged that he had beaten the woman in the head
and face while raping her.  Judge Fairgrieve also said Winn had 
confessed to risking the woman's life "both by ejaculating into 
her mouth and into an open facial wound caused by him and by 
ejaculating inside her vagina during the act of forced sexual 
intercourse."
      
"22,000 Take Part in AIDS Walk"
Los Angeles Times (09/18/95) P. B1;  Leeds, Jeff
     Twenty-two thousand people flooded the streets of Hollywood on 
Sunday for AIDS Walk Los Angeles, an annual event which is 
expected to generate $3.2 million this year for local AIDS 
programs.  According to organizers, attendance in the 
10-kilometer event has increased every year since it began ten 
years ago.  AIDS Walk Los Angeles, now California's largest AIDS 
fundraiser, has inspired similar benefits in San Francisco, New 
York, and other cities.
      
"Cytomegalovirus Retinitis and Low CD4+ T-Lymphocyte Counts"
New England Journal of Medicine (09/07/95) Vol. 333, No. 10, P. 
670;  Baldassano, Vincent;  Dunn, James P.;  Feinberg, Judith et 
al.
     A total of 62 HIV-infected patients with CD4 T-lymphocyte counts 
below 100 were examined before entry into a study on the 
prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-induced end-organ disease, 
report Johns Hopkins University's Baldassano et al. in a letter 
to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.  
Fifty-three patients had CD4 levels below 50, including seven who
had CMV retinitis.  Of these seven--the only ones out of the 
total 62 to have CMV retinitis--three had bilateral retinitis and
four had disease that was immediately sight-threatening.  
According to the researchers, the findings suggest that 
undiagnosed CMV retinitis is common enough to justify the routine
screening of persons with CD4 counts under 50.
      
"Resistance of Microorganisms to Disinfection in Dental and 
Medical Devices"
Nature Medicine (09/95) Vol. 1, No. 9, P. 956;  Lewis, David L.; 
Arens, Max
     Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
advises that only heat sterilization be used for all reusable 
devices entering the oral cavity, chemical disinfection is still 
widely used for reprocessing dental equipment in many parts of 
the world.  Lewis and Arens assessed the role of lubricants in 
high-level chemical disinfection procedures and that of some 
equipment in disease transmission.  The authors report in the 
journal Nature Medicine that HIV in whole-blood samples and 
Pseudomonas aeruginosa in blood and plasma survived high-level 
disinfection when lodged in lubricants used in dental equipment 
and medical equipment called endoscopes.  In addition, 
prophylaxis angles--devices which are used to clean and polish 
teeth--exhibited the potential to carry enough blood-contaminated
saliva to infect human lymphocyte cultures with HIV.  Lewis and 
Aren's findings highlight the need to heat-sterilize reusable 
dental devices, although high-level chemical disinfection is 
still advised for endoscopes.
      
"Opioid Use in HIV Patients with Neurological Changes"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (07/95-08/95) 
Vol. 6, No. 4, P. 28;  Paice, Judith A.;  Pugliese, Janet C.;  
Fitzpatrick, Joyce E.
     Paice et al. discuss the complex issue of pain in people with HIV
or AIDS.  It is often difficult or impossible to diagnose and 
treat the pain.  The matter is further complicated by the 
neurological shifts that frequently occur in HIV infection.  
Although the use of opioids is often connected with these 
neurological events, there is no evidence that HIV patients are 
more likely to experience cognitive changes related to opioids 
than other groups, such as people with cancer.  Opioid 
antagonists, meanwhile, are particularly effective when opioid 
use causes respiratory depression.  However, inappropriate use of
the commonly-used antagonist naloxone can induce a withdrawal 
syndrome and a recurrence of extreme pain.
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