                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       April 11, 1996
     
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 National AIDS 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this 
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC 
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
     
     
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"Study Discounts Risk of Contracting TB on Airliners" 
"Cambridge Biotech to Transfer Assets in Regrouping Plan" 
"Across the USA: Pennsylvania"
"Hospital Sued Over AIDS Test"
"Emergence of a More Lethal Mutant HIV-1 Possible" 
"CDC Gives Good Grade to Saliva Diagnostic Systems..."
"Senegalese Women's Group Combats AIDS Through Training" 
"Ultrafem to Proceed to Clinical Trials With BufferGel Technology
to Offer Women Protection Against AIDS"
"Baboon Graft Fails, But Patient Thrives" 
"From Freedom to Fear: When AIDS Hits China"
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"Study Discounts Risk of Contracting TB on Airliners" 
Washington Post (04/11/96) P. A5
     Although thousands of American airline passengers could be 
exposed to tuberculosis (TB), the risk is probably very low 
because fewer than 1 percent of people who come into contact with
the TB bacteria this way become infected.  Researchers at the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described one 
such incident in today's issue of the New England Journal of 
Medicine.  A Korean woman with active TB frequently coughed 
during a flight from Baltimore to Hawaii in 1994.  The CDC found 
that four other people, who were sitting within a few rows of 
her, became infected during the trip from Chicago to Hawaii.  
Since the incident was reported last year, the CDC has received 
reports of 30 other air passengers with TB.  The agency estimates
that those cases represent one in every 9 million U.S. 
passengers, and that they may have exposed as many as 10,000 
other travelers to TB during their flights.
     
"Cambridge Biotech to Transfer Assets in Regrouping Plan" 
Wall Street Journal (04/11/96) P. A10
     Cambridge Biotech Corp. announced that it will transfer a
part of its business to a new company and sell the remainder to 
two concerns, in a plan to emerge from bankruptcy-law protection.
The new company, Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, will develop products
to stimulate the immune system for treating cancer and infectious
diseases.  Cambridge Biotech will sell its retroviral 
diagnostics, including tests for such diseases as AIDS, to 
bio-Merieux Vitek Inc., for $6.5 million.
     
"Across the USA: Pennsylvania"
USA Today (04/11/96) P. 8A
     Hundreds of AIDS activists, educators, union workers, and 
advocates for the homeless protested Pennsylvania Gov. Tom 
Ridge's budget in Philadelphia and Harrisburg by smashing an 
effigy of him on Wednesday.  The protesters took issue with 
planned cuts in health care programs.
     
"Hospital Sued Over AIDS Test"
United Press International (04/10/96)
     The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit in federal
court Wednesday charging that a suburban Chicago hospital tested 
a 33-year-old man for HIV without his consent.  The suit, against
Alexian Brothers Medical Center of Elk Grove Village, alleges 
that the facility and Dr. Joseph A. Lagatutta violated state and 
federal law by testing the man for HIV without informing him or 
asking for his consent.  The man, who was admitted for minor 
surgery, discovered that he had been tested when he found charges
for the test on his hospital bill.  The suit charges that the 
hospital subjected the man to emotional distress, anxiety, 
embarrassment, and humiliation, as well as potential 
discrimination.
     
"Emergence of a More Lethal Mutant HIV-1 Possible" 
Reuters (04/10/96)
     The discovery of a highly deadly strain of simian 
immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in an animal model suggests the 
possibility of the emergence of a similar strain of HIV-1.  
Harold M. McClure and colleagues at the Yerkes Regional Primate 
Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta studied a SIV 
variant that resulted in a lethal infection of a macaque used as 
a model for HIV-1 infection.  He said that HIV-1 is known to 
replicate quickly and to change its genetic composition easily 
and frequently.  McClure says the emergence of changes that would
result in a more highly pathogenic or more readily transmittable 
HIV-1 strain "seem unlikely ... but [is] certainly possible."
     
"CDC Gives Good Grade to Saliva Diagnostic Systems..." 
Business Wire (04/10/96)
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has
reported that the Sero-Strip HIV 1/2, a rapid low-cost HIV 
antibody test developed by Saliva Diagnostic Systems Inc. (SDS), 
is as accurate as other, licensed HIV tests.  The agency said the
test, which does not require refrigeration or automated 
equipment, is useful for various field settings.  The CDC bought 
additional tests for research in Atlanta and Kenya.  SDS says 
similar findings around the world have led to increased sales of 
the test in Brazil, Turkey, England, and the Middle East.
     
"Senegalese Women's Group Combats AIDS Through Training" 
PANA News Service (04/10/96)
     A Senegalese women's group has been running a training and 
education project for nearly two years to slow the spread of HIV 
and other sexually transmitted diseases among illiterate and 
semi-literate women.  The group has reached 800 women in three 
densely populated areas of the country, using visual aids, a 
training manual, and educational materials written in Wolof, 
Senegal's widely spoken language.  The program targets urban and 
rural women and youths of both sexes with little or no training, 
widows, and single working women.  A study conducted before the 
project established what was known about AIDS, as well as the 
practices and attitudes in the area.  At that point, some people 
did not believe AIDS existed because they had not known a person 
who had it.  Uneducated married women and young women were found 
to be especially vulnerable to HIV because they do not have 
control over the sexual practices of their husbands or sexual 
partners.
     
"Ultrafem to Proceed to Clinical Trials With BufferGel Technology

to Offer Women Protection Against AIDS"
Business Wire (04/10/96)
     Ultrafem Inc. announced that its product, BufferGel, a
vaginal microbicide for the prevention of HIV and other sexually 
transmitted diseases, has been cleared by the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) for Phase I clinical trials.  The trials
will be sponsored by HIVNET, a network formed by the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that supports trials
for vaccines and other preventive measures to stop the spread of
HIV.  BufferGel is the first AIDS prevention technology to be
chosen by HIVNET for clinical trials.   The company is also
working with ReProtect, LLC on a product that would combine
BufferGel and a feminine hygiene product for contraception,
prevention of diseases, and delivery of vaginal drug therapy to
treat yeast infections and other conditions.
     
"Baboon Graft Fails, But Patient Thrives"
Nature Medicine (03/96) Vol. 2, No. 3, P. 259;  Taylor, Robert
     The baboon bone marrow transplant received by AIDS patient
Jeff Getty last December, in the hopes that the baboon's 
HIV-resistant immune cells would take hold in his body, failed to
have the intended effect.  The baboon cells did not harm Getty, 
however, and he is actually healthier now than before the 
procedure.  Getty's doctors, Steven Deeks of the University of 
California at San Francisco and Suzanne Ildstad of the University
of Pittsburgh, say the experiment was successful at showing the 
safety of the procedure.  Other methods to improve immunity in 
people with HIV include treatment with regulatory cytokines; ex 
vivo culture and reinfusion of a patient's T-cells, possibly with
genetic engineering to make them more resistant to the virus; and
thymus tissue transplants from human donors.  The thymus, often 
seriously damaged by HIV, is the organ where T-cells mature 
throughout childhood and adolescence.  While drugs can allow 
T-cell counts to partly recover, thymus transplantation may 
replenish lost T-cells.  Human trials of the procedure should 
begin at Duke University this spring.
     
"From Freedom to Fear: When AIDS Hits China"
Newsweek (04/01/96) Vol. 127, No. 14, P. 49;  Cowley, Geoffrey;  
Laris, Michael;  Hager, Mary
     Compared with other Eastern countries, China has experienced
only a minor AIDS epidemic.  Only 80 AIDS cases and 2,600 HIV 
infections were recorded as of last fall, and the health 
officials' estimate of 100,000 infections is still a tiny
fraction of Thailand's estimated 1 million or India's 4 million
cases.  Economic growth, social change, and an unstable blood
supply could pose serious problems for the country, however.  The
first Chinese to contract HIV were drug users in the southern
Yunnan province, where HIV was passed with heroin across the
borders from Burma, Laos, and Thailand.  Now HIV is spreading via
heterosexual contact, while free markets and open borders are
bringing AIDS to coastal cities.  Chinese peasants' increasing
mobility from rural to urban areas, and their participation in
the sex trade has, also contributed to the problem.  Venereal
diseases often go untreated, and thus increase the risk of HIV
infection.  Furthermore, the blood supply is risky because donors
are paid for their blood, and screening and sterilization
standards are at best sporadic.  In an attempt to avert a
full-blown epidemic, Beijing has undertaken a five-year
prevention plan incorporating education, treatment of sexually
transmitted diseases, and improved blood screening and
sterilization of medical devices.
     
     
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