                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      February 15, 1996

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"New York to Screen Boxers for H.I.V."
"Military HIV Ban Defended by Gingrich"
"Today's Debate: Mandatory AIDS Testing"
"Women-Friendly AIDS Protection"
"HIV Deadly Weapon?"
"Lawyer Gets Virulent in Case of HIV Cop"
"Voices: Should Professional Athletes Be Required to Be Tested 
for the AIDS Virus?"
"IV Drug Use Compromises Integrity of Cell Membranes Prior to HIV
Infection"
"Modified Microbe May Boost TB Vaccine"
"The Challenge of Maternal-Infant Transmission of HIV"
************************************************************

"New York to Screen Boxers for H.I.V."
New York Times (02/15/96) P. B17;  Sandomir, Richard
     The New York State Athletic Commission announced Wednesday that 
boxers would be screened annually for HIV before fighting.  
Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona are the only other states
to currently require testing.  The commission said it is 
implementing the test as a result of the finding that heavyweight
Tommy Morrison has HIV.  Floyd Patterson, the commission 
chairman, said, "because of the very nature of boxing, the risk of
HIV transmission from blood-to-blood contact is there.  We must 
do everything we can to protect the health and well-being of 
those who compete in New York."  Past chairman Randy Gordon said 
he pushed for the mandate for seven years and was told that it 
would require new legislation.  The new policy may be the result 
of broader interpretation of existing law under New York Gov. 
George E. Pataki.  The American Civil Liberties Union has argued 
that the policy must be supported by medical evidence that boxers
are at risk for HIV transmission, something which is currently 
being debated among experts.  Related Stories: Washington Post 
(02/15/96) P. D4; USA Today (02/15/96) P. 1C
      
"Military HIV Ban Defended by Gingrich"
Washington Post (02/15/96) P. A7;  Yang, John E.
     Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) found fault with 
President Clinton and basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson 
for supporting a repeal of a new policy that would force the 
discharge of all HIV-positive military members.  Gingrich charged
on Wednesday that Clinton and Johnson do not understand combat, 
although Gingrich obtained deferments from military service 
himself.  Gingrich said that "no one who has ever studied 
seriously how bad combat can get wants to have a person in your 
unit who's HIV-positive because you have a real danger of 
transferring blood."  Current military policy, however, already 
prevents people with HIV from serving in combat.  Gingrich made 
the comments in response to a letter from Johnson, who asked for 
support for Clinton's attempts to repeal the provision.
      
"Today's Debate: Mandatory AIDS Testing"
USA Today (02/15/96) P. 10A
     A USA Today editorial, followed by a response from Bill Eastman 
of the California Athletic Commission, addresses the issue of 
mandatory HIV testing for athletes.  The editorial calls the 
demands for mandatory testing "irrational."  The editors claim 
that the risk of HIV transmission in the ring is trivial compared
to the risk of brain damage and that boxing officials should 
focus more on the HIV risks boxers face outside the ring, such as
unsafe sex and shared needles.  In opposition, Eastman notes that
HIV testing is a safety issue, that mucous and blood are commonly
commingled between boxers in the ring.  Even though the risk is 
low, he says, testing would offer protection.  He says each sport
should be considered individually.  In California, a law to 
require the test for boxers has failed before but will now find 
support, Eastman predicts.
      
"Women-Friendly AIDS Protection"
USA Today (2/14/96) P. 9D;  Painter, Kim
     Scientists attempting to develop microbicides--vaginal creams or 
gels that women can use to protect themselves from AIDS and other
sexually transmitted diseases--have several promising leads.  
Research is ongoing for products that might directly eliminate 
bacteria and viruses as well as others that might make the 
vaginal environment more able to resist infection.  According to 
Sharon Hillier of the University of Pittsburgh, the aim is to 
discover "low-tech, user-friendly" compounds that are inexpensive
and can be used without a partner's knowledge.  Hillier is 
examining a vaginal suppository containing lactobacilli--bacteria
that are found naturally in the vagina and are related to strains
found in yogurt--while other researchers are working on products 
that would alter the acid balance of the vagina or coat cells to 
prevent infection.  Related Story: Boston Globe (02/14) P. 56
      
"HIV Deadly Weapon?"
Houston Chronicle (02/14/96) P. 24A
     In a rape trial in Austin, Texas, prosecutors in an aggravated 
sexual assault trial are trying to show that Jose Fonseca 
Najera's HIV-positive status constitutes a "deadly weapon."  
Police say the 16-year-old girl who Najera is accused of raping 
died of exposure three days after Najera forced her and a 
15-year-old boy to spray each other with a hose and then locked them
outside overnight in near-freezing conditions.
      
"Lawyer Gets Virulent in Case of HIV Cop"
Miami Herald (02/14/96) P. B1;  Balmaseda, Liz
     Miami Beach lawyer Joel Hirschhorn is threatening to sue the city
for exposing Wyn Morris to HIV by allowing an HIV-positive police
officer to serve.  Ambrose Sims arrested Hirschhorn's client on 
Dec. 20 for battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, 
after Morris became angry when her car was towed from a 
drive-through teller lane at a bank.  Thus far, Hirschhorn has 
attempted to damage Sim's record through allegations and reports 
to his personnel file.  He has also charged that Sim's mind has 
been affected by HIV drugs.
      
"Voices: Should Professional Athletes Be Required to Be Tested 
for the AIDS Virus?"
USA Today (02/14/96) P. 12A
     USA Today conducted a poll of its readers regarding the HIV 
testing of professional athletes in response to the news that 
boxer Tommy Morrison tested positive for the virus.  Milt 
Richards of Albany, N.Y. said the tests should not be required,
unless the "medical community can document the need for such 
testing for medical reasons."  Eleven-year-old Kim Judd of 
Vernon, Wis. thinks the test should be mandatory as a matter of 
responsibility.  Meanwhile, Ken Rice of Dellwood, Mo. said the 
test should not be required because athletes should be given the 
same rights as the rest of the public.  Wanda Molina of Arecibo, 
P.R. said for sports where a lot of blood is shed, like boxing, 
the test is needed, but not in other sports.  R. Scott Van Dyke 
of Tulsa, Okla. said the test should be required for all sports.
      
"IV Drug Use Compromises Integrity of Cell Membranes Prior to HIV
Infection"
Reuters (02/14/96)
     Researchers in Switzerland have reported that intravenous drug 
use "compromises the biochemical and structural integrity of the 
membrane surface" of blood cells even before HIV infection.  The 
researchers studied the blood cells of 101 injection drug users, 
including 91 who were HIV-positive, as well as the blood of a 
control group HIV-negative IV drug users.  The scientists found 
that both groups had abnormal surface enzyme kinetics in their 
peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
      
"Modified Microbe May Boost TB Vaccine"
Science (01/26/96) Vol.271, No.5248, P. 447;  Roush, Wade
     A relatively harmless mycobacterium, bacille Calmette-Guerin 
(BCG), has been widely used as a vaccine against the tuberculosis 
(TB) organism because the similarity between their proteins 
appears to arm the body's immune system against a TB attack.  BCG
does not always remain protective, and now intercellular 
messengers called cytokines may be used to bolster the immune 
system.  Researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical 
Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have engineered BCG to 
express several mouse cytokines that stimulate immune cells to 
attack an invader.  They report that giving mice the engineered 
bacterium greatly improved their cells' immune responses to TB.  
Other researchers are praising the achievement, which raises the 
hopes for an improved TB vaccine, and could lead to better cancer
therapies as well.  While the procedure has been proven to work, 
Kenneth Stover, a molecular microbiologist at the Seattle firm 
PathoGenesis, says that "it's potentially exciting.  There is 
definitely room for an improved BCG vaccine, and this may be a 
much cheaper, safer way to do it than adding cytokines as drugs."
      
"The Challenge of Maternal-Infant Transmission of HIV"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (01/96-02/96) 
Vol.7, No.1, P. 47;  Gallagher, Maureen A.;  Klima, Carrie
     The AIDS Clinical Trials Group has published results of a study 
showing that women and infants taking AZT had a significantly 
lower rate of HIV transmission from mother to infant.  However, 
nurses Maureen A. Gallagher and Carrie Klima contend that the 
weaknesses of the study must be considered when applying these 
results.  When first tested, 8.3 percent of the infants born to 
women who received AZT were infected with HIV, compared to 25.5 
percent in the placebo group.  Due to this preliminary finding, 
an independent safety board recommended that no additional women 
be enrolled and that AZT be offered to all those in the study who
were eligible for the drug.  Some aspects of the study, including
the long-term effects of the drug, are still unknown.  Dr. Ronald
Bayer has voiced concern about the lack of information about the 
long-term use of AZT among the 70 percent to 80 percent of 
children who were exposed to AZT but would not have been born 
with HIV.  The results of the study also generate ethical 
questions about the womens' and infants' rights, mandatory  HIV 
testing, and equal access to health care.  HIV-infected pregnant 
women should be properly counseled on transmission of HIV to the 
infant, and the use of AZT to control transmission, the authors 
conclude.
      
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