                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       August 12, 1994

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

"AIDS Conference Concludes Without Promise of Hope"
Baltimore Sun (08/12/94) P. 4A
     A summary of the 3,500 reports presented this week at the 10th 
International Conference on AIDS yielded the same gloomy 
conclusion: There is no cure, no vaccine, and no effective 
treatment for AIDS--and there won't be any time in the near 
future.  "Anyone with HIV won't find much solace in this 
meeting," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American 
Foundation for AIDS Research.  Organizers of the Yokohama, Japan,
conference warned the 12,000 participants from the beginning not 
to expect any great revelations, and rightly so.  If any one 
theme emerged from the conference, it was the need to return to 
the blackboard, to the basics of HIV and the body's response to 
it.  Related Stories: Philadelphia Inquirer (08/12) P. A2; New 
York Times (08/12) P. A1; Investor's Business Daily (08/12) P. A1
      
"AIDS Summit Ends With a Last Look at Weight of Prejudice"
USA Today (08/12/94) P. 3D;  Levy, Doug
     The 10th International Conference on AIDS concluded Thursday in 
Yokohama, Japan, as participants reflected on the scientific and 
social progress--and lack thereof--since the AIDS onslaught began
in 1981.  As conference-goers inside of the Pacifico Yokohama 
conference center discussed avenues to end discrimination against
AIDS patients, only two Japanese people outside braved the 
potential for discrimination and publicly acknowledged their 
infection.  Japan reports only hundreds of AIDS cases.  In the 
closing ceremonies of the conference, ACT UP activist Andrew 
Velez led a brief demonstration targeting nations who deny entry 
to HIV patients.
      
"Companies Unprepared to Cope With Aids"
Financial Times (08/12/94) P. 12;  Cramb, Gordon
     Most multinational companies are not properly equipped to deal 
with AIDS in the workplace, according to a Harvard survey of 27 
large firms with headquarters in 15 nations.  The study found 
that nearly all of the companies had discussed the issue with 
managers, and two-thirds had implemented AIDS prevention programs
for employees.  Application of these policies, however, was 
largely delegated to local managers, who were not systematically 
trained.  In addition, many large Western firms appeared to be as
motivated by fear of potential litigation as by concern for 
employees.
      
"AIDS Programs to Spur Global Condom Demand"
USA Today (08/12/94) P. 1D;  Levy, Doug
     Based on predictions that the global demand for condoms will 
increase as more countries launch AIDS prevention campaigns, 
World Health Organization researcher Dr. Patrick Friel calculates
that health programs throughout the world will need between 860 
million and 2 billion condoms per year over the next decade.  
Current condom use among the general population, however, is 
increasing only about four percent annually, says Catherine 
Taylor of condom manufacturer London International Group.  "It's 
not growing as it should be," she laments, noting that even those
who are educated about the benefits of condoms do not use them.  
"What we see is that condoms are used as contraceptives, not to 
reduce sexually transmitted diseases," agrees Hein Stigum of 
Norway's National Institute of Public Health.
      
"Drug Users to Begin Exchanging Needles"
Baltimore Sun (08/12/94) P. 1B;  Banisky, Sandy
     After years of heated controversy and debate, a needle exchange 
program is set to begin this morning in Baltimore, Md., where 
AIDS is spreading rapidly among the city's 48,000 intravenous 
drug users.  About one-fourth of the addicts are HIV-positive, 
and three-quarters of new AIDS cases in Baltimore last year were 
caused by injection drug use.  IV-drug users who become infected 
can then transmit the virus to their sex partners, and pregnant 
HIV-positive women can give birth to infected babies.  By 
distributing clean needles in exchange for each used one turned 
in, health authorities hope to curb the rate of infection 
stemming from shared, dirty syringes.  Users will have to 
register, but with an assigned number only--not a name or 
address.  Staff at Johns Hopkins will check needles to determine 
if addicts who began the program uninfected remain disease-free, 
and check to see if returned needles contain the DNA of more than
one individual--meaning the needle was shared.  The three-year 
pilot program will cost the city $165,000 annually.
      
"Radio's Rave Reception for Reba's Angle on AIDS"
USA Today (08/12/94) P. 4D;  Zimmerman, David
     "She Thinks His Name Was John," country singer Reba McEntire's 
new song about a woman dying from AIDS, was considered to be 
released as a single, but the record is still becoming a hit.  
The song, which reflects the musings of a desperately ill woman 
obsessed with the memory of a one-night stand she had years 
before, was launched after radio stations in Houston, Dallas, 
Detroit, and San Francisco received favorable response from 
listeners.  "We had phenomenal response and had people crying on 
the phones," testified Dene Hallam of Houston's KKBQ-AM.  "John" 
moves next week to No. 27 on Billboard's country singles chart.
      
"Libel Lawsuit Target Says She Meant No Harm"
Richmond Times-Dispatch (08/11/94) P. B4
     Doris Sheppard, a Dublin, Va., woman targeted in a $10 million 
libel lawsuit by Pulaski dentist Gus Vlahos, says she meant no 
harm by showing colleagues and family members a flier falsely 
claiming he has AIDS.  Sheppard's attorney, Jimmy Turk, says his 
client was shocked at the repercussions she faces because she 
showed the document--which she found in her home-delivery 
newspaper box--to a few people.  The flier was written on what 
turned out to be fake letterhead from a local hospital--at which 
Vlahos has never been a patient.  The dentist also has medical 
records to prove that he does not have AIDS.  It is still a 
mystery who typed and circulated the false memo.
      
"Agouron Pharmaceutical Inc. Shares Rise After Favorable Report on AIDS Drug"
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News (08/11/94)
     Agouron Pharmaceuticals shares climbed about 18 percent after the
company announced that the compound AG1343 could disrupt HIV 
replication and appears to stop the replication of HIV strains 
that have otherwise been found drug-resistant.  Agouron expects 
human testing to begin in this year's final quarter.  In spite of
the announcements of Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Viagene Inc., and
Immune Response Corp. of positive test results for their own 
HIV-related drugs, these companies' stocks performed modestly on 
the stock market
      
"Verigen Presents Clinical Studies for an HIV Treatment"
PRNewswire (08/11/94)
     Richard Thorn, senior director of research and development at 
Verigen Inc., presented data this week at the 10th International 
Conference on AIDS indicating some success in the testing of 
Verigen's intravenously formulated immunoglobulin G (IgG) 
therapeutic PASSHIV-1.  The evidence shows that this therapy is 
not a cure but is well tolerated during repeated administration 
and could have important clinical, antiviral, and immunological 
effects.  All of the patients in the study have shown improvement
when on the drug for two or three months in at least one clinical
symptom, with no adverse clinical signs linked with retreatment. 
CD4 cell counts remained largely unchanged over a three- to 
six-month period, and patients with p24 antigen demonstrated an 
immediate clearance over a two- to three-month period.
      
