                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 21, 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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"AIDS Drug Also Fights Hepatitis B"
"U.S. Agency Targets Minnesota Young Adults with AIDS-Prevention 
Ads"
"Blue Cross May Force Illness-Prone New Yorkers into Managed Care
Plans"
"Venture into the Transplant Unknown"
"Vatican Publishes Sex Guide for Good Catholics"
"More than Half a Million AIDS Cases Reported in U.S."
"Sequus Pharmaceuticals Initiates Commercial..."
"A Short-Term Study of the Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Efficacy
of Ritonavir, an Inhibitor of HIV-1 Protease"
"Potential AIDS Drug Targets Different Viral Enzyme"
"Doctors Who Treat AIDS Support Each Other"
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"AIDS Drug Also Fights Hepatitis B"
Washington Post (12/21/95) P. A9
     Researchers report in today's issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine that the recently approved AIDS drug 3TC appears to 
suppress the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in people with chronic 
infections.  Currently, the only available treatment for 
hepatitis B is interferon, which can eliminate the virus in some 
33 percent of patients but must be taken for several months and 
produces several unpleasant side effects.  In this most recent 
study, Jules L. Dienstag of Massachusetts General Hospital and 
other scientists found that a three-month course of 3TC, which is
also known as lamivudine or Epivir, can permanently eliminate HBV
in about 20 percent of the patients and has few side effects.  
According to Jay Hoffnagle of the National Institutes of Health, 
the next will be to determine whether a combination of 3TC and 
interferon increase the possibility of curing hepatitis B.  
Related Stories: New York Times (12/21) P. A26; Wall Street 
Journal (12/21) P. B9; Washington Times (12/21) P. A5
      
"U.S. Agency Targets Minnesota Young Adults with AIDS-Prevention 
Ads"
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/21/95);  Skog, Jason
     The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
launched a new national safe sex ad campaign aimed at young 
people in late November, called "Respect Yourself, Protect 
Yourself."  The series of radio and television spots show young 
adults speaking candidly about AIDS, sex, and abstinence.  CDC 
spokesman Michael Greenwell notes, "The biggest challenge is 
making the messages appropriate to reach these people."  
Educators claim these ads are much needed in the Northland, 
Minn., where few people know someone with AIDS or have the 
disease themselves.  AIDS is the leading cause of death among 25-
to 44-year-olds nationally, though HIV and AIDS are only fifth on
the cause of death list in the Northland.  The plan there is to 
have the CDC message reinforced locally, which may require a more
conservative method or emphasizing abstinence more.  Still, Dr. 
Georgia Keeney, an associate professor in health education at the
University of Minnesota-Duluth, believes that being direct is the
best way to talk about AIDS.  "I don't care how you get 
sex-educated, you need to get the message," she says.
      
"Blue Cross May Force Illness-Prone New Yorkers into Managed Care
Plans"
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/21/95)
     Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, New York state's largest 
insurer, may cancel thousands of individual and family Tradition 
Plus health insurance policies that enable some of the sickest 
people to select their own physicians and hospitals.  Consumer 
advocates claim that the insurer's forced move of these people 
into managed care plans could hurt the patients, many of whom 
have long-term relationships with their health-care professionals
and facilities.  Ruth Finkelstein, spokeswoman for New Yorkers 
for Accessible Health Care, noted that the 60,000 customers 
affected by the change have serious health problems and that many
need specialists.  Finkelstein also said that these patients have
ten times the incidence of AIDS and three times the incidence of 
cancer and heart disease than the population as a whole.  Empire 
CEO Michael Stocker said that coverage under one of the company's
new managed care plans would be virtually the same, but the 
lifetime cap would shift for some patients from $1 million to 
$500,000.
      
"Venture into the Transplant Unknown"
Washington Times (12/21/95) P. A18;  Ambrose, Jay
     The promise of last week's baboon bone marrow transplant into an 
AIDS patient is that scientists not only attempted to produce 
essentially a second immune system, but they also aspired to 
learn more about cross-species medicine, writes columnist Jay 
Ambrose in the Washington Times.  A key risk involved is that 
baboons carry many viruses that are harmless to primates, yet are
potentially dangerous to humans.  Extreme caution has been 
exercised from the very beginning of this experiment, Ambrose 
notes.  Still, Ambrose suggests that before further 
experimentation is allowed, the public should be involved in the 
procedures with a public discussion and perhaps even a major 
conference on the issue.
      
"Vatican Publishes Sex Guide for Good Catholics"
Reuters (12/20/95);  Webber, Jude
     The Vatican has put out a new sex education guide for parents 
that says that safe sex is "immoral and dangerous policy."  The 
handbook notes, "Without wanting to take away from them their 
rightful autonomy, parents must know how to say 'no' to their 
children when it is necessary."  The 60-page book, which was 
compiled by the Pontifical Council for the Family, implores 
parents to keep children away from society's "negative 
influences" and "banalisation of sex" by teaching sex education 
at home.  The Vatican also restated Pope John Paul's thoughts on 
AIDS.  "Parents must refute the promotion of so-called 'safe sex'
or 'safer sex,' a dangerous and immoral policy, based on the 
illusory theory that a condom can provide sufficient protection 
against AIDS," the guide said.
      
"More than Half a Million AIDS Cases Reported in U.S."
Houston Chronicle (12/20/95) P. 4D
     Federal health officials have recorded more than 500,000 cases of
AIDS as of last month.  Sixty-two percent of those individuals 
have died.  The largest proportion of the cases is among men who 
have sex with men, but the figure is decreasing.  Other 
categories that combined now account for more cases than men who 
have sex with men include injection drug users and people 
infected via heterosexual sex.  "The increase in AIDS cases 
resulting from heterosexual transmission also is reflected in the
increase in cases reported among women," the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention said in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report.  The disease also continues to disproportionately affect 
some races and ethnicities.  AIDS cases are six times higher 
among American blacks and three times greater among Hispanics 
than among whites.  Whites represent less than 50 percent of all 
AIDS cases in the country.
      
"Sequus Pharmaceuticals Initiates Commercial..."
Business Wire (12/20/95)
     Sequus Pharmaceuticals reported on Wednesday that it has begun 
shipping DOXIL to wholesalers and distributors, following FDA 
marketing clearance of the drug.  According to I. Craig 
Henderson, chairman and CEO of Sequus, "We began receiving orders
from the field as soon as we announced FDA market clearance of 
DOXIL and we are currently filling those orders."  DOXIL has been
approved for the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients 
who are intolerant to conventional therapies or for whom those 
therapies are ineffective.
      
"A Short-Term Study of the Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Efficacy
of Ritonavir, an Inhibitor of HIV-1 Protease"
New England Journal of Medicine (12/07/95) Vol. 333, No. 23, P. 
1528;  Danner, Sven A.;  Carr, Andrew;  Leonard, John M; et al.
     A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase I and II 
study of 84 HIV-infected individuals with CD4 levels greater than
50 revealed that the HIV-1 protease inhibitor ritonavir was 
well-tolerated and had potent anti-HIV activity.  Danner et al. 
report that during the initial four weeks of the study, which was
supported by Abbott Laboratories, the four different ritonavir 
dosage groups had similar increases in CD4 counts and reductions 
in the log number of copies of HIV-1 RNA per milliliter of 
plasma.  The three lower dosage groups, however, returned to base
lines after 16 weeks.  At the 32-week mark, the seven patients 
receiving the highest dosages had an average 230-cell increase in
their CD4 levels, and an average 0.81-log reduction in the plasma
concentration of HIV-1 RNA.  Side effects included nausea, 
circumoral paresthesia, and elevated levels of hepatic enzymes.  
The researchers concluded that these early results with ritonavir
monotherapy indicate high levels of antiviral and 
immunostimulatory activity, though further studies are required 
to determine ritonavir's efficacy in combination with other 
drugs.
      
"Potential AIDS Drug Targets Different Viral Enzyme"
Chemical & Engineering News (11/27/95) Vol. 73, No. 48, P. 24
     Unlike most other AIDS drugs, which block either reverse 
transcriptase or protease, a potential AIDS therapy called AR-177
inhibits integrase, which HIV uses to insert its genetic code 
into the DNA of the host cell, according to Aronex 
Pharmaceuticals' Robert F. Rando and others.  Aronex's 
oligonucleotide is made up entirely of deoxyguanosine and 
thymidine.  The 17 nucleotides are connected by phosphodiester 
except at the ends, where phosphorothioate bonds are used to 
reinforce the compound against attack from cellular enzymes.  The
researchers claim that the molecule folds into a sturdy 
three-dimensional structure that seems to promote its means of 
action and lengthy half-life.  Phase I clinical trials of AR-177 
were initiated in October.
      
"Doctors Who Treat AIDS Support Each Other"
American Medical News (12/11/95) Vol. 38, No. 46, P. 28
     Eight Dallas doctors have established a support group to help 
them deal with the stress of treating dying patients.  "If I 
didn't have this group, I do think that I may not have been able 
to stay involved with treating AIDS patients as long as I have," 
says Dr. Brady Allen, who has seen 300 people die from 
AIDS-related causes.  Psychologist Stacy Broun explains that the 
group helps its patients deal with the large number of deaths, as
well as the extreme pain many patients experience and the social 
stigma surrounding the disease.  Co-leader Angela Kavas notes 
that the group gives the doctors a necessary forum in which to 
discuss their fears, anger, and frustration.
      
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