                     AIDS Daily Summary
                  Thursday, September 26, 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 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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"Persistent Doctor Alters AIDS Therapy"
"Load to Get Heavier for Moveable Feast"
"HIV Home Set Afire"
"Malvern Firm Starts Testing Humans for a Herpes Vaccine"
"Schering Buyback Plan Approved by Board; Drug Rights Acquired"
"Italian Dies of Drugs Overdose in AIDS Unit"
"Nearly 9,000 Argentineans Infected With AIDS"
"Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe-AIDS Babies"
"Funding Renewed for Rural AIDS Center"
"Condom Marketer Targets the World"
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"Persistent Doctor Alters AIDS Therapy"
Wall Street Journal (09/26/96) P. B1; Tanouye, Elyse
     John W. Mellors, an infectious disease specialist at the 
University of Pittsburgh, is leading studies to prove that the 
amount of HIV in the blood directly impacts an AIDS patient's 
health.  The viral load test, which allows doctors to measure the
amount of virus in the blood, is central to new combination 
therapies that aim to lower a patient's viral load.  Mellors 
launched a study in 1983 to study viral load and its relationship
with disease progression.  It now includes about 2,000 patients, 
and is still continuing.  Mellors found that newly-infected 
people with high levels of virus died within five years, those 
with intermediate levels lived longer, and those with low levels 
lived at least 10 years.  His results helped explain the varying 
survival of AIDS patients that doctors had seen for years.  
Doctors now have a tool to determine how aggressively to treat
HIV-infected patients, and to monitor how well a drug regimen is 
working.
     
"Load to Get Heavier for Moveable Feast"
Baltimore Sun (09/26/96) P. 1B; Imhoff, Ernest F.
     Moveable Feast, a service organization in Baltimore that prepares
and delivers meals to homebound people with AIDS, expects to see 
its number of clients grow by 100 to 150 next year.  Last year it
served 137,000 free meals to 550 people, and this year it has 700
clients.  James H. Williams, executive director of Moveable 
Feast, said the agency has been able to serve everyone who has 
been referred to it, but that the demands are becoming more 
difficult to meet.  Most of the 70 volunteers and 10 staff 
members for the organization are gay white males, while 80 
percent of the clients are African-American, and 40 percent are 
women.  Williams pointed out the need to seek a broader support 
base and to help the African- American community.
     
"HIV Home Set Afire"
Houston Chronicle (09/25/96) P. 15A
     A home for people with HIV in rural Paicol, Columbia was set on 
fire by arsonists Monday night as a father and son slept inside. 
They were unhurt.  The house is operated by a Roman Catholic 
group that provides shelter to poor people with HIV in Colombia. 
The community had threatened to force the residents out for 
months, fearing that people with HIV could contaminate the water 
supply and crops by bathing in a stream that flows into the town.
     
"Malvern Firm Starts Testing Humans for a Herpes Vaccine"
Philadelphia Inquirer (09/26/96) P. D1; Shaw, Donna
     Apollon Inc., the biotechnology company that became the first 
earlier this year to test a DNA-based AIDS vaccine in healthy 
people, announced on Wednesday that it has initiated clinical 
trials for a herpes vaccine being developed in collaboration with
Wyeth-Ayerst, a subsidiary of American Home Products.  According 
to Apollon, the experimental vaccine--developed with an Apollon 
drug-delivery technology called "facilitated DNA 
injection"--contains genetic material that helps produce a viral 
protein, known as gD2, in the cells of those who receive the 
product.  Researchers hope the protein will stimulate an immune
response to the herpes simplex virus, which would protect a 
healthy person against infection with the virus, reduce or 
eliminate symptoms in a person already infected, or possibly 
reduce the chance that an infected person will transmit the 
disease.  Separate testing on people with genital herpes is 
scheduled to begin before the end of this year.  Apollon is also 
testing its drug-delivery technology in potential vaccines and 
therapies for HIV and T cell lymphoma.
     
"Schering Buyback Plan Approved by Board; Drug Rights Acquired"
Wall Street Journal (09/26/96) P. C16
     Drug company Schering-Plough will buyback as much as $500 million
of its common stock.  The repurchase program could comprise just 
over 2 percent of the company's common stock, and the shares will
be used for corporate intentions such as employee benefit plans, 
Schering said.  Schering-Plough also announced the purchase of 
the European marketing rights to a cancer drug, Caelyx, from 
Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Menlo Park, Calif., for an upfront fee of
$5.3 million and an additional $27 million more if specific 
clinical and sales "milestones" are achieved.  The drug is
authorized in European Union member nations for the treatment of 
Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer commonly seen in AIDS cases, and it is
sold under the name Doxil in the United States.  Sequus will 
maintain U.S. marketing rights to the drug.
     
"Italian Dies of Drugs Overdose in AIDS Unit"
Reuters (09/25/96)
     One Italian patient died and two others required emergency 
medical treatment on Wednesday after overdosing on heroin in the 
AIDS unit of a hospital in Naples.  Another patient in the unit 
had set fire to bedding in a protest on Tuesday to draw attention
to what he alleged was open access to patients for drug pushers. 
The three patients had injected themselves with heroin in a 
bathroom, but police did not determine if it was brought to the 
hospital by a visitor or if one of the patients had left the unit
to buy the drug.
     
"Nearly 9,000 Argentineans Infected With AIDS"
Xinhua News Agency (09/25/96)
     The number of registered AIDS patients in Argentina has reached
8,678, and an estimated 11,500 others are infected with HIV, the 
National Program to Combat AIDS reported.  The province of Buenos
Aires has the most AIDS cases, with 3,340.  Most young patients 
contracted the virus through intravenous injection, while most 
older people were infected through homosexual contact.  In 
general, 47 percent of the cases were transmitted sexually, 44 
percent through blood, and 6 percent from mother to fetus.
     
"Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe-AIDS Babies"
PANA Wire Service (09/25/96)
     A Zimbabwean physiotherapist reported Tuesday that more 
information is needed about the growth and development problems 
of children born to HIV-positive mothers to allow doctors to 
provide better treatment.  Speaking at a meeting of physical 
therapists, Lorna Maurer of the University of Zimbabwe said that 
children born to HIV-positive mothers need special medical 
attention paid to their growth and development.  She reported 
that a study has shown that such children have problems in 
walking and crawling, and that speech abnormalities are more 
common in the group.
     
"Funding Renewed for Rural AIDS Center"
American Medical News (09/16/96) Vol. 39, No. 35, P. 18
     The AIDS rate in rural areas of the United States rose 80 percent
between 1991 and 1995, compared to increases of 47 percent in 
metropolitan areas and 64 percent in small metro areas.  
According to William Yarber, of Indiana University's Rural Center
for the Study and Promotion of HIV/STD Prevention, AIDS is often
ignored in rural towns, contributing to the problem.  The center
will receive $264,000 under a provision of the agricultural
appropriations bill, expected to be signed by President Clinton.

"Condom Marketer Targets the World"
Advertising Age (09/16/96) Vol. 67, No. 38, P. 40; Wentz, Laurel
     The Internet presence of London International Group (LIG), the
world's largest condom marketer, will be handled by AKQA, a
London new media agency and Web developer.  LIG's marketing
efforts focus mostly on establishing a global market for Durex
condoms.  By the end of the year, AKQA will establish one site
for Durex that will have different areas for each country, using
promotions targeted to specific nations.  A representative from
AKQA said the material on the World Wide Web site will be
completely new and different from previous Durex marketing
materials.  Durex's Web site is located at http://www.durex.com.
