                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 08, 1994

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 1994, Information,
Inc., Bethesda, MD

"FDA Closes U.S. Border to Canadian Blood Plasma"
Washington Post (09/08/94) P. A32;  Swardson, Anne
     Citing violations of American safety regulations, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration has ordered the Canadian Red Cross to 
stop sending some of its blood products to the United States for 
processing.  Even though there are no indications that Toronto 
blood bank's products ever entered the U.S. blood supply, the 
Canadian Red Cross has become the object of great criticism over 
recent months.  Last July, an FDA inspector cited 19 violations 
of U.S. safety regulations.  Any agency that sends its blood and 
blood products to the United States must meet U.S. safety rules. 
"Source plasma," which is obtained from direct blood donations, 
is now banned from entering the United States from Canada.  The 
violations include that: Canadian plasma donors were not screened
carefully to eliminate high-risk donors, and that large amounts 
of blood was mislabeled.  The Canadian Red Cross acknowledges 
"short-term problems," and says it hopes to have the ban lifted 
by December.  The Toronto violations were discovered during a 
one-year study on how Canada's blood system infected more than 
1,000 people with AIDS during the 1970s and 1980s.  Related 
Story: New York Times (09/08) P. A 18
      
"Nationline: AIDS Fight"
Investor's Business Daily (09/08/94) P. A1
     The Los Angeles City Council will vote on Tuesday on whether
to support Mayor Richard Riordan's emergency declaration to allow 
distribution of syringes to drug users.  City AIDS coordinator 
Fred Eggan says that 9 percent of the city's injection drug users
have been infected with HIV.  He calls the needle exchange 
program an attempt "to keep people alive long enough that they 
can maybe make a decision to change the way they live."
      
"Across the USA: Georgia"
USA Today (09/08/94) P. 9A
     A Georgia court has ruled that Morrison Dental Associates is 
responsible for Ron Marasco, a dentist who did not reveal that he
had AIDS.  The court awarded $850,000 to 495 patients of the 
now-deceased doctor, none of whom has tested positive for HIV.
      
"AIDS Quilt Will Be Displayed at Goucher"
Baltimore Sun (09/08/94) P. 10E;  Dorsey, John
     A student-organized project will bring more than 700 panels of
the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to Goucher College Sept. 
16-18.  Films and lectures are being held this week as part of 
the effort to improve AIDS awareness at the college and in 
society.  The quilt, started in 1987, now consists of more than 
27,000 panels from all 50 states.  The Goucher display will show 
the largest number of panels in Baltimore since the quilt was 
exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1989.
      
"Embattled Oakland University Researcher Holds News Conference"
PR Newswire (09/07/94)
     Suspended Oakland University researcher G. Rasul Chaudhry, 
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences will hold a press 
conference on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m.  Chaudhry, an internationally 
known biomedical researcher, has worked at Oakland University in 
HIV-related research since 1989.  In 1993, he was ordered to stop
his research because of possible safety violations in the 
handling and storage of infectious SIV and HIV materials.  These 
allegations have never been proven in court.  Chaudhry was 
suspended on August 11, 1994 and is awaiting the results of a 
September hearing on whether he will be reinstated.
      
"Hard-Hitting Comic on AIDS Wins Kudos from Teen-Agers"
Nikkei Weekly (08/22/94) Vol. 32, No. 1,634, P. B14
     "Jo," a popular comic in Geneva, is helping to educate young 
people about AIDS.  The comic's protagonist is an ordinary girl 
who becomes infected with AIDS and eventually dies.  At age 18, 
young Swiss receive copies of "Jo" from the municipal government 
of Geneva.  Because of its popularity, the comic is also exported
to France and Belgium.  "Jo" is based on a story created by a 
group of doctors and teachers in Geneva.
      
"Female-to-Female Sexual Contact and HIV Transmission"
Journal of the American Medical Association (08/10/94) Vol. 272, 
No. 6, P. 433;  Chu, Susan Y.;  Conti, Lisa;  Schable, Barbara A.
et al.
     A surveillance project was conducted based on interviews with 
1122 women who were reported with HIV/AIDS between January 1990 
and September 1993.  The study revealed that 61 women had sex 
with other women in the past five years and 55 of those had 
sexual contact with men during that same period.  Of that group, 
28 percent reported injecting drugs--20 of them using crack or 
cocaine.  The interviews showed that 33 of the women had a 
history of sexually transmitted disease, and 31 had exchanged sex
for money or drugs.  Eight of the 10 women who reported having 
sexual contact only with women reported intravenous drug use.  
The study supported previous findings that female sexual contact 
is a possible means of HIV transmission.  Most of the women 
interviewed (63/65) had HIV high-risk factors relating to sex 
with men or drug use.  Many of the female partners of the 
interviewees were involved in risk behavior as well.  Chu's study
demonstrates that sexual identity--i.e., lesbian, bisexual, or 
heterosexual--does not predict sexual practices and that 
inaccurate assumptions based on sexual orientation may result in 
failure to target risk behaviors.
      
"Should I Consider a Viatical Settlement?"
Advocate (09/06/94) No. 663, P. 49;  Mickens, Ed
     HIV-positive people who are considering a viatical 
settlement--selling their life insurance for cash--generally must
fulfill two conditions before a company will buy: a sound policy 
held for more than two years and a viable medical prognosis 
stating that the patient has less than two years left to live.  
Individual policies are preferred over group policies, and group 
policies will sell only if they have a rider that guarantees 
payments if disability occurs.  Sellers can receive from 50 to 80
percent of the face value, says financial adviser Per Larson, and
the shorter the seller's life expectancy, the more money the 
seller will get.  But brokers, who sell policies to investors, 
usually shave four to eight percentage points off of the sellers'
return as a commission, and some viatical firms try to take 
advantage of ignorant customers.    Some experts suggest that 
viatical settlements should be pursued as a last resort, noting 
that the money obtained from them is not exempt from taxation.  
They point out that there are other options--such as borrowing 
from family or friends using your life insurance as 
collateral--which are tax-free and can yield the entire face 
value of a policy.
      
"Yokohama Conference Overview"
AIDS Treatment News (08/19/94) No. 205, P. 1;  James, John S.
     The 10th International Conference on AIDS revealed quite a bit
of progress in research, but no definite treatment or cure for the 
disease.  Perhaps the most significant development is the testing
for HIV RNA with the quantitative PCR or the branched DNA assay, 
which can tell how much virus is in the blood plasma.  This 
method is not yet proven but, if successful, it could be an 
important tool when a patient is considering a change in 
antiviral treatment.  This kind of testing may provide 
information on how well the treatment is working.  The HIV RNA 
test might also be useful if the new treatment is not an 
antiviral, because it can measure the treatment's effectiveness 
in helping the body control the virus.  However, researchers know
far less about how to interpret the test's results in such cases.
The RNA test also gives reason for new interest in alternative 
treatments, which previously were plagued by the absence of a 
method to test its effectiveness without a huge clinical trial 
requiring unavailable resources.  Now these treatments and their 
effects can be observed in individual patients.
      
