                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      November 14, 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
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Lifeline: AIDS Activist Dies"
"Flu Shot May Backfire on People with AIDS"
"New AIDS Czar Claims Power to Achieve Results"
"Russia Plans to Impose HIV Tests on Foreign Visitors"
"Antibody Advances AIDS Research"
"Some Blood Tests Miss Rare HIV Strain, Experts Say"
"Lower Socioeconomic Status and Shorter Survival Following HIV 
Infection"
"Random Samples: Beefing Up HIV Antibodies"
"Thai Women Can Be Educated to Reject Prostitution"
"Not Your Ordinary Driving Test"

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"Lifeline: AIDS Activist Dies"
USA Today (11/14/94) P. 1D;  Vigoda, Arlene
     AIDS activist Pedro Zamora died of the disease on Friday at age 
22.  Zamora became infected with HIV through unprotected sex when
he was 17.  He testified at a congressional hearing and appeared 
in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention television 
commercial about AIDS.  "Knowing that I could die has been 
scary," he said in the ad. "But what's even worse is knowing that
my friends didn't learn a thing from all this.  They're still 
doing what I did that got me infected."  Zamora was also featured
on MTV's "The Real World".  Related Stories: Richmond 
Times-Dispatch (11/12) P. B2; Baltimore Sun (11/12) P. 1D
      
"Flu Shot May Backfire on People with AIDS"
Baltimore Sun (11/12/94) P. 3A
     Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco's 
(UCSF) Medical Center have found that flu shots may backfire on 
AIDS patients.  The shots may raise the level of HIV in their 
blood without protecting them from the flu.  Most participants in
the UCSF study had three times the normal amount of HIV in their 
blood for a short time after getting vaccinated.  The researchers
said that the flu vaccine activates the same immune-system cells 
that contain HIV, causing it to multiply as the cells divide.  
"We don't know what happens when a person gets infected with the 
flu.  The infection may cause an even higher viral load," said 
Dr. Bruce Walker, an AIDS immunologist at Harvard University.  
Dr. James Kahn of the UCSF Medical Center suggested that the 
study may lead to improved methods of vaccination, such as 
patients taking anti-AIDS drugs when getting vaccinations.
      
"New AIDS Czar Claims Power to Achieve Results"
Washington Times (11/11/94) P. A4;  Price, Joyce
     Patsy Fleming has been appointed as the new director of AIDS 
Policy.  She replaces Kristine M. Gebbie, who was forced out in 
August by AIDS advocacy groups who claimed that she was 
ineffective and lacked power.  In appointing Fleming, President 
Clinton requested a detailed report on the rapid increase of AIDS
among adolescents.  When asked how she plans to slow the rate of 
adolescent HIV infection, Fleming told reporters that prevention 
was the area that needs the most work.  She believes that teens 
should "delay having sex as long as possible to protect 
themselves" from HIV.  While Fleming pledged to be an activist 
director, groups such as ACT-UP Washington were disappointed.  
"For the first two years of the Clinton presidency, AIDS has been
on the back burner.  Now it's in the deep freeze," said Wayne 
Turner, spokesman for that organization.  Many AIDS activists 
have urged that the "AIDS czar" position be made a Cabinet-level 
position, which will not be the case.  Related Story: St. Louis 
Post-Dispatch (11/11) P. 4A
      
"Russia Plans to Impose HIV Tests on Foreign Visitors"
Financial Times (11/11/94) P. 1;  Freeland, Chrystia
     Under new legislation expected to be adopted soon in Moscow, all 
foreigners entering Russia will be required to either take HIV 
tests at the border or produce medical certification showing that
they have not been exposed to HIV.  This would be the strictest 
law of its kind to be adopted by a large and influential country,
and could potentially discourage business travelers and tourists.
A western diplomat said Thursday that the European Union, the 
United States, Canada, and Japan were considering a joint appeal 
to Russian President Boris Yeltsin to urge him to veto the 
legislation.  The legislation, which is scheduled for a third 
reading in the State Duma, is expected to be passed in the lower 
house.  It would then have to be endorsed by the Federation 
Council, the upper house, and signed by President Yeltsin.
      
"Antibody Advances AIDS Research"
Washington Times (11/11/94) P. A3
     Researchers announced Thursday that they have cloned an AIDS 
antibody that may prove useful in the search for a vaccine and 
may lead to a way of preventing maternal-infant HIV transmission.
The monoclonal antibody, which is derived from the bone marrow of
an AIDS patient, neutralized HIV-1 more than 70 percent of the 
time in a series of tests on samples from both adult and infant 
AIDS patients.  It is hoped that this antibody can be combined 
with other antibodies or drugs to combat all forms of HIV.
      
"Some Blood Tests Miss Rare HIV Strain, Experts Say"
Reuters (11/10/94)
     Dr. Gerald Schochetman, of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention reported that in 10 different tests to screen blood, 
several did not detect the rare strains of HIV that infected nine
participants.  The implication, then, is that infected blood 
could enter public blood banks.  "Infections by highly divergent 
strains of HIV-1, first detected in central Africa and grouped 
provisionally as group O, have not been reliably detected by 
certain European HIV screening tests," wrote Schochetman in the 
Lancet medical journal.  He noted that experts should be careful 
that, in changing the tests to screen for the rare group O, the 
efficacy to screen for other strains is not reduced.
      
"Lower Socioeconomic Status and Shorter Survival Following HIV 
Infection"
Lancet (10/22/94) Vol. 344, No. 8930, P. 1120;  Hogg, Robert S.; 
Strathdee, Steffanie A.;  Craib, Kevin J. P. et al
     The relationship between socioeconomic status and survival were 
studied to determine why some HIV-infected individuals live 
longer than others.  A total of 394 homosexual men diagnosed with
HIV during 1982-1984 participated in the study.  The men were 
divided into two groups according to annual income--those who 
made more or less than Canadian $10,000.  The participants were 
followed for an average of 9.5 years after the estimated date of 
infection.  A significantly higher mortality rate was found in 
low-income men than in those with high-income, which is 
consistent with observations of larger populations and other 
diseases.
      
"Random Samples: Beefing Up HIV Antibodies"
Science (10/21/94) Vol. 266, No. 5184, P. 366
     Two recent studies suggest that passive immune therapy could help
patients diagnosed with AIDS.  In the therapy, plasma from people
with high levels of anti-HIV antibodies--but no symptoms of 
AIDS--is transfused to AIDS patients.  The first study, conducted
by Levy and colleagues at HemaCare Corp., administered varying 
doses of plasma pooled from HIV-positive donors.  During the 
year-long study, only one of the 21 patients who received 
full-dose plasma died, whereas three of 21 on the half-dose and 
six of the 30 controls--who received injections of serum 
albumin--died.  Transfusionist Jean-Jacques Lefrere of Saint 
Antoine Hospital in Paris conducted the second study with 82 
advanced AIDS patients.  One half of the participants were given 
plasma from HIV-infected individuals every two weeks for a year, 
while the other half was given seronegative plasma.  Sixty-six 
percent of the control group developed AIDS-related illnesses, 
but only 39 percent of the treated group developed them.  It is 
not clear why the transfusions seem to work, but both teams 
emphasize that further trials are necessary.
      
"Thai Women Can Be Educated to Reject Prostitution"
Asian Wall Street Journal (10/31/94) Vol. 16, No. 44, P. 14;  
Wongburanavart, Chakrapand
     Despite the fact that AIDS is a serious problem in Thailand, 
parents continue to sell their daughters into prostitution.  
Statistics show that over half of the 600,000 reported cases of 
AIDS and HIV in Thailand are found in prostitutes and common 
laborers.  One way to stop the prostitution is to find other 
opportunities for women to make money.  Thai Woman of Tomorrow 
has awarded 1,000 scholarships of $120 to the high-risk group of 
sixth grade girls in the Pha Yao and Chiang Rai provinces.  
Surveys show that almost 90 percent of the prostitutes had only a
sixth-grade education or lower when they began.  This year, the 
program has trained 500 girls as dressmakers, health care 
assistants, jewelry makers, or secretaries.  Over 200 have 
graduated and many have found work in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  
The program attempts to educate parents about the conditions 
their daughters face when they are sold into prostitution.  Also,
both parents and daughters are shown videotapes about the dangers
of HIV and AIDS.
      
"Not Your Ordinary Driving Test"
Advocate (11/01/94) No. 667, P. 22
     On Sept. 30, Lee County, Fla., became the first county in the 
state to offer voluntary HIV testing as part of its driver's 
license application procedure.  "It's our belief the only way to 
combat this disease in an effective prevention program is to get 
out to the population," said Mark Geisler, executive director of 
the Lee County AIDS task force.
      
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