                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 27, 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
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Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Epitope Inc.: Stock Jumps 34 Percent on News FDA Approved HIV 
Test"
"Fears, Suits and Regulations Stall Contraceptive Advances"
"The Overselling of Gene Therapy"
"AIDS Cases Reported in Two Beijing Colleges"
"India Urged to Seek New Ways to Combat Oldest Job"
"Elusive HIV-Suppressor Factors Found"
"Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Infects Endothelial and 
Spindle Cells"
"HCFA to Help Women Protect Infants from HIV"
"Living on the Edge"
"Health Insured?"
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"Epitope Inc.: Stock Jumps 34 Percent on News FDA Approved HIV 
Test"
Wall Street Journal (12/27/95) P. 14
     Epitope Inc., Beaverton, Ore., received an approvable letter from
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the marketing of 
the company's Western blot confirmatory test for use in HIV-1 
testing with its OraSure oral-specimen-collection product.  
Following that news, the company's shares soared $4.50, or 34 
percent, to $17.875.  Epitope said that the FDA letter indicates 
that the agency will approve the test upon submission of 
additional data.  The Western blot test is an HIV-testing method 
that is wholly based on an oral specimen.  Related Stories: USA 
Today (12/27) P. 1D; Investor's Business Daily (12/27) P. B8
      
"Fears, Suits and Regulations Stall Contraceptive Advances"
New York Times (12/27/95) P. A1;  Lewin, Tamar
     There are several factors involved in the delay in creating new 
contraceptive devices, family planning experts say.  Lawsuits, a 
lengthy government approval process, and fears on the part of 
both consumers and drug companies have led experts to predict 
that it will be years before any new methods are made available 
in the United States.  Many public health experts are worried 
about the lack of momentum in contraceptive research because some
of the available products have disturbing side effects and many 
do not help prevent sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV.  
"A lot of companies have dropped out," notes Dr. Nancy Alexander,
chief of the contraceptive development branch of the National 
Institute of Child Health and Development.  Currently, research 
is being conducted on a number of barrier methods that would 
include both spermicides and chemicals that could block viruses 
like HIV and herpes.
      
"The Overselling of Gene Therapy"
Washington Post (12/26/95) P. A23;  Greenberg, Daniel S.
     In an editorial in the Washington Post, Daniel S. Greenberg, 
editor and publisher of Science & Government, discusses the 
recent criticism of gene-therapy by a committee of physicians and
scientists appointed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 
The NIH report, directed to researchers and biotechnology 
companies, decried the overselling of gene therapy, which has so 
far produced no actual cures and a lot of positive press 
coverage.  Like the NIH scientists, Greenberg believes the 
dangers of overselling gene therapy include a misled public and 
the possibility of a later backlash against further support for 
gene therapy.  He warns the public to "be wary of claims of 
medical miracles, regardless of their origin."
      
"AIDS Cases Reported in Two Beijing Colleges"
Reuters (12/25/95)
     Ten students at two colleges in Beijing have AIDS, according to 
the Yangcheng Evening News.  "It is extremely urgent to spread 
the program of prevention of AIDS on China's university 
campuses," the paper quoted AIDS expert Zeng Yi as saying.  The 
10 students were found positive in spot tests, though it is not 
clear whether they have HIV or AIDS.  More than 50 percent of 
China's AIDS cases are among people aged 20-29, while those aged 
16-19 represent nearly 9 percent.
      
"India Urged to Seek New Ways to Combat Oldest Job"
Reuters (12/26/95);  Vaughan, Lisa
     An increasing number of women in India are turning to 
prostitution in order to survive, social workers and activist 
claim.  Jyotsna Chatterji, director of the Delhi-based Joint 
Women's Program, told a conference on women in prostitution that 
the pressures of liberalization, urbanization, and migration are 
stimulating the sex trade.  India must therefore find new methods
to deal with the problems of women and children in prostitution. 
Activist K.K. Mukherjee said that some 200 Indian women and girls
go into prostitution each day.  Health workers noted that 
prostitution is also a primary method of HIV transmission in the 
country.  Representatives of grassroots organizations said that 
the focus should be on helping to rehabilitate prostitutes with 
employment, health, and education.
      
"Elusive HIV-Suppressor Factors Found"
Science (12/08/95) Vol. 270, No. 5242, P. 1560;  Balter, Michael
     Former National Cancer Institute researcher Robert Gallo recently
announced that a team led by himself and Italian scientist Paolo 
Lusso found three closely related polypeptides that shut down 
production of many strains of HIV-1, HIV-2, and SIV in laboratory
cultures.  The three so-called chemokines--known as RANTES, 
MIP1-(alpha), and MIP1-(beta)--work together to produce the Levy 
effect, named after virologist Jay Levy who first reported that 
these cells can suppress HIV replication.  There has been 
considerable enthusiasm for Gallo's discovery, yet Levy himself 
has voiced his dissent.  "I'm gratified that people are turning 
to look at what we have been working on," Levy said.  "But if 
they say it's the factor I've been working on for the past five 
years, they've got the wrong ones."  Levy and other researchers 
showed in 1989 that CD8 cells suppressed replication by secreting
a "factor," which no one has been able to identify.  In a recent 
interview with Science magazine, Levy noted that he had 
previously tested the three proteins as potential "factor" 
candidates and had rejected them.  Still, Levy agreed that the 
three chemokines may be useful in antiviral therapy for 
HIV-infected individuals.  Gallo claims his discovery is in fact 
Levy's factor because his team followed Levy's published 
protocols in preparing their own experiments.
      
"Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Infects Endothelial and 
Spindle Cells"
Nature Medicine (12/95) Vol. 1, No. 12, P. 1274;  Boshoff, Chris;
Schulz, Thomas F.;  Kennedy, Margaret M.; et al.
     Sequences of a new human herpesvirus, called Kaposi's 
sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV)/human herpesvirus-8, have 
been identified in HIV-related and classical Kaposi's sarcoma.  
To identify the cell types infected in KS tumor tissue with this 
virus, Boshoff et al. used polymerase chain reaction in situ 
hybridization (PCR-ISH) in 11 subjects to prove that KSHV/HHV-8 
is located in the endothelial and spindle cells of all forms of 
KS--classical, post-transplant, and AIDS-related.  The 
researchers conclude that these findings indicate that KSHV/HHV-8
exists in the kinds of cells that are thought to represent 
neoplastic cells in KS lesions.
      
"HCFA to Help Women Protect Infants from HIV"
Nation's Health (12/95) Vol. 25, No. 11, P. 5
     The Health Care Financing Administration will work with Delaware,
Florida, New Jersey, and Rhode Island to help pregnant women 
protect their unborn children from HIV.  Using material based on 
National Institutes of Health research, the programs will attempt
to educate women about the benefits of HIV counseling and 
voluntary testing and inform HIV-infected women about AZT 
therapy, which reduces the risk of disease transmission.  The 
agency said that the four states were selected because of their 
high number of Medicaid recipients and high rates of HIV 
infection among women of childbearing age.
      
"Living on the Edge"
Advocate (12/26/95) No. 697, P. 25;  Simmons, Todd
     Australian scientists reported in November that eight Australians
failed to develop symptoms of AIDS despite having been infected 
with HIV for at least 15 years.  The researchers determined that 
the group shared a genetically flawed strain of HIV, a finding 
which could prove useful in the development of future AIDS 
treatments and potential vaccines.  Still, the majority of 
nonprogressors do not know why they remain healthy.  One 
prevailing theory is that there are mutant strains of HIV that 
cannot reproduce as well as others.  Overall, the amount of 
research conducted on nonprogression is quite small, according to
Yvonne Bryson, a pediatrician at the AIDS Institute of the 
University of California at Los Angeles.  Bryson notes that "it's
only been recently that a lot of interest has cropped up in this 
area," adding that "there is only a small percentage of 
[infected] people...who fall into this category."  But that 
figure is increasing as the epidemic continues year after year.  
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gradually 
changed its early 1980s estimate of when most individuals would 
get sick from within 12 to 18 months of infection to within 10 to
15 years.  Some researchers say that nonprogressors illustrate 
the theory that HIV itself does not cause AIDS.  Instead such 
cofactors as drug abuse or hepatitis impair the immune system, 
thus enabling HIV to cause physiological problems and then AIDS, 
they claim.  Most scientists, however, maintain that HIV will 
almost always cause AIDS--a sentiment that is evidenced in their 
preferred phrase "slow progressors," instead of nonprogressors.
      
"Health Insured?"
POZ (12/95-01/96) No. 11, P. 28;  Hanssens, Catherine
     There are numerous legal issues which can arise for an 
HIV-infected person seeking, or trying to keep, private health 
insurance.  Currently, employers and insurers are in court, 
attempting to limit the Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA's)
protections against insurance discrimination.  Both the ADA's and
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) guidelines 
state that employer-provided health benefits are included in the 
"terms, conditions, and privileges of employment" under which 
employers cannot single out HIV patients for separate treatment. 
Since the enactment of the ADA, the EEOC has successfully pursued
several cases of employer-provided health benefit plans with AIDS
limits.  The ADA also enables advocates to argue that plans which
do not cover only AIDS care are in violation of the law's  
protection against discrimination in public accommodations.  A 
New England federal appeals court ruled in 1994 that the ADA's 
public accommodations protections are not restricted to actual 
physical structures, but federal courts in Ohio and Tennessee 
have reached opposite conclusions this year.
      
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