                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 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
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant"
"Patient Faced Risks for AIDS Causes"
"Fund That Denied Benefits for AIDS Settles EEOC Suit"
"State Aid for Gallo Urged"
"Work on Mild H.I.V. Type May Aid Search for AIDS Vaccine"
"AIDS Patient Expecting to Die Stole from Job"
"Westside: AIDS Facility for the Homeless Opens"
"Tight Budget Forces End of AIDS Journal"
"Scope of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States"
"U.S./China AIDS Research Proposed"
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"Dying AIDS Patient Gets Baboon Marrow Transplant"
Washington Post (12/15/95) P. A1;  Schwartz, John;  Weiss, Rick
     On Thursday night, AIDS patient and activist Jeff Getty received 
baboon bone marrow cells in an effort to boost his immune system.
Earlier this week, Getty noted that the procedure was risky and 
had dubious potential for success.  Yet he also said that there 
are few treatments for late-stage AIDS patients, and that he was 
willing to risk his life "to try to get some answers."  
Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco 
and the University of Pittsburgh were to inject a combination of 
baboon "stem" cells that develop into integral parts of the 
immune system and "facilitating" cells that are believed to 
suppress the natural tendency to reject foreign cells.  If all 
goes well, the cells will eventually settle into Getty's bone 
marrow and begin to function.  Getty would not be cleared of HIV,
but the researchers theorize that once the baboon cells were 
established, they would do the work that Getty's own immune 
system cannot.  Results of the transplant will not be known for 
several months.  Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (12/15) P. 
A1; New York Times (12/15) P. A1; USA Today (12/15) P. 1A; Los 
Angeles Times (12/15) P. B1
      
"Patient Faced Risks for AIDS Causes"
New York Times (12/15/95) P. A37
     AIDS patient Jeff Getty has been described as a man of both 
passion and extremes.  Evidence of this is seen in his request to
be injected with the bone marrow of a baboon in an attempt to 
boost an immune system ravaged by AIDS.  Getty's battle to 
receive the transplant, a process that could either help or hurt 
him, is his most recent move in a personal campaign for increased
access for AIDS patients to as-of-yet unapproved drugs.
      
"Fund That Denied Benefits for AIDS Settles EEOC Suit"
Wall Street Journal (12/15/95) P. B10;  Felsenthal, Edward
     In one of the largest settlements ever in a lawsuit against a 
health plan for denying AIDS coverage, the Mason Tenders District
Council Welfare Fund agreed to pay $1 million to 14 people with 
AIDS or their survivors.  The Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission had charged that the employee-benefit fund for New 
York construction and asbestos workers violated the Americans 
with Disabilities Act by refusing to cover AIDS treatments.  In 
the lawsuit, the fund argued that it had to cap AIDS benefits 
because of losses from large health care bills and a scarcity of 
construction jobs.  The issue remains unresolved because the 
Mason Tenders settled without a court ruling, but the enormity of
the settlement will probably spur other workers to sue.  Related 
Story: New York Times (12/15) P. D4
      
"State Aid for Gallo Urged"
Baltimore Sun (12/15/95) P. 1C;  Frece, John W.
     Government and business leaders from Maryland urged approval on 
Thursday of state funding for Dr. Robert C. Gallo's planned 
institute of Human Virology.  House Appropriations Chairman 
Howard P. Rawlings and Senate Budget and Taxation Chairwoman 
Barbara A. Hoffmann anticipated that their committees would 
approve the initial $3 million needed for the project, which will
cost Maryland taxpayers some $24 million in the end.  "The 
implications for humankind are phenomenal," noted Hoffmann.  "Any
state that gets this team and this institute is going to be 
automatically in the forefront of the cutting edge of science and
technology."  The primary goal of the  center, which will be part
of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, will be to
develop "better therapy for HIV-infected people," Dr. Gallo said,
adding that research will also focus on viruses that cause some 
cancers and neurological disorders.  Related Story: Washington 
Post (12/15) P. A10
      
"Work on Mild H.I.V. Type May Aid Search for AIDS Vaccine"
New York Times (12/15/95) P. A38;  Hilchey, Tim
     Mount Sinai Medical Center researchers say they have identified a
relatively mild strain of HIV that can inhibit reproduction in a 
more virulent strain.  In the Journal of Molecular Medicine, Dr. 
Jay Rappaport--an associate professor of immunobiology at Mount 
Sinai--and others, including researchers at the National 
Institutes of Health, report that in the laboratory, HIV-2 
inhibited HIV-1 at its ends, in regions known as the long 
terminal repeats.  Dr. Rappaport suggested that HIV-2 may 
interfere with the molecular interactions that must occur in 
those regions before mass replication of HIV-1 is possible.  He 
noted, however, that the inhibitory effect "may be a direct 
effect of the HIV-2 virus or it could be a result of some 
interaction with the cell itself that activates a cellular 
mechanism that inhibits HIV-1 replication."  In an accompanying 
editorial, Dr. Z.N. Bernemean of Ziekenhuis University in Belgium
warned that there was still a great deal unknown about the 
interaction between the two strains of HIV.
      
"AIDS Patient Expecting to Die Stole from Job"
Washington Times (12/15/95) P. C7
     A former claims clerk for Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield pleaded 
guilty to seven felony charges, including grand larceny, computer
fraud, and forgery.  AIDS patient Lloyd Mitchell Weaver Jr. 
informed police that he thought he would die before he was 
arrested.  Weaver used some $560,000 in stolen Trigon funds to 
buy numerous luxury items, and now faces up to 80 years in jail.
      
"Westside: AIDS Facility for the Homeless Opens"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (12/15/95) P. B3
     The Hollywood Community Housing Corp. opened a complex on Tuesday
that will house homeless HIV and AIDS patients.  Residents of the
home, known as Itis, will receive job training and placement, as 
well as medical care.  Jack Gardner, executive director of the 
Hollywood Community Housing Corp. observed that the home will 
allow people with HIV and AIDS to live with dignity.  The 
nonprofit housing corporation renovated the complex's 16 
bungalows, which dated from the 1920s, using $1.2 million is 
grants and loans from sources including the Los Angeles Community
Redevelopment Agency.
      
"Tight Budget Forces End of AIDS Journal"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/14/95) P. 9C
     The Journal for Moving On, a volunteer-produced magazine for 
people with HIV and AIDS in Missouri, has suspended publication 
due to a lack of funding.  Matt Wagner, executive director of the
Moving On Coalition, said that the decision to halt publication 
was the result of statewide AIDS funding difficulties.  The 
bimonthly journal reached more than 2,000 people, primarily those
located in outstate Missouri where AIDS services are scarce.  The
journal provided lists of local and regional resources and 
nutritional advice, but the Moving On Coalition noted that it had
to shift its priorities and suspend publication when a state-run,
federally funded AIDS grant ran out ahead of schedule.  Although 
the federal funds did not finance the journal, the grant's 
depletion meant that the coalition had to reorganize its budget 
to focus on other areas.
      
"Scope of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States"
Science (11/24/95) Vol. 270, No. 5240, P. 1372;  Rosenberg, 
Philip S.
     In the journal Science, Philip S. Rosenberg reports that a 
deconvolution method called backcalculation was used to estimate 
the nation's age-specific HIV infection rates as of January 1993.
Using this technique, there were an estimated 630,000 to 897,000 
HIV-infected children and adults--including up to 150,000 
women--at that time.  Among white males, particularly those over 
the age of 30, the estimated rate of infection decreased 
significantly over time.  However, incidence of HIV seems to have
remained steady among both women and minorities.  Prevalence was 
greatest among young adults in their late twenties and thirties 
and among minorities, the study concluded.  According to 
Rosenberg, if HIV infection rates continue at the levels 
indicated by these models, the virus should be regarded as an 
endemic infection that will touch successive groups of young 
people.
      
"U.S./China AIDS Research Proposed"
AIDS Treatment News (11/17/95) No. 235, P. 2;  James, John S.
     There is increasing professional and community support for a 
proposed joint U.S./Chinese research collaboration in San 
Francisco.  If any such work takes place, it should prove very 
useful to AIDS research.  China, for example, has conducted 
extensive research in Tanzania, working with local professionals 
to develop combinations of Chinese herbs to be used in AIDS 
treatment.  This research, however, is mostly unknown in this 
country.  The planned research would take place in existing San 
Francisco area acupuncture clinics.  An Oct. 2 resolution from 
the city's Board of Supervisors backed the plan, and numerous 
community groups--including the AIDS & Chinese Medicine 
Institute, the Asian AIDS Project, and ACT UP/Golden Gate--have 
sent letters supporting it as well.
      
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