                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      March 6, 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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"Debate Over Teaching AIDS Prevention"
"Chiron's Eye Implant Device Is Approved for AIDS Care"
"General Denounces AIDS Policy as Unfair"
"Clinton Seeks Relief Funds for Disasters, AIDS Drugs"
"State Doctors Reject Policy on Reporting HIV"
"Chronicle: Two Friends Turn Their Grief into Action and Find 
Compassion Along the Way"
"Ontario Probes Hepatitis Outbreak"
"New HIV Vaccine to be Tested On Humans in Sweden"
"A "Complement-ary" AIDS Vaccine"
"HIV Prevention for Intravenous Drug Users"
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"Debate Over Teaching AIDS Prevention"
Baltimore Sun (03/06/96) P. 7A
     Teenagers are infected with HIV at an average rate of more than 
one an hour, according to a new report released by the White 
House Office of AIDS Policy.  The report urges strong AIDS 
education for children so they know how to protect themselves 
later when they have sex or experiment with drugs.  "Kids are 
dying because adults are arguing about what to tell them about 
AIDS," said Miguel Bustos, one of the report's authors.  Most 
U.S. schools provide some AIDS education, but many do not allow 
discussion of sexual intercourse, homosexuality, bisexuality, and
condoms.  Conservative groups have criticized AIDS education, 
saying that advising teens about using condoms condones teen-age 
sex.  The report, however, said that "discussion of the facts 
concerning such matters is not inconsistent with also encouraging
abstinence of delayed sexual activity."  It recommended HIV 
counseling for teens without parental consent, free or low-cost 
HIV tests for teens, and a board of HIV-positive teens to advise 
on government services for teens.  Related Story: USA Today 
(03/06) P. 3D
      
"Chiron's Eye Implant Device Is Approved for AIDS Care"
New York Times (03/06/96) P. D5;  Fisher, Lawrence M.
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave approval on Tuesday to
the Chiron Corporation to begin marketing a device that is 
implanted in the eyes of AIDS patients to help them fight an 
infection that causes blindness.  The device, called Vitrasert, 
was approved for use with ganciclovir, an antiviral drug for 
treating cytomegalovirus retinitis, which affects about 40 
percent of AIDS patients.  Ganciclovir is marketed by Hoffmann-La
Roche Inc. and is sold under the name Cytovene.  The Vitrasert 
device should improve the delivery of ganciclovir, which is now 
administered through costly and unpleasant intravenous infusions.
Related Story: Wall Street Journal (03/06) P. B4
      
"General Denounces AIDS Policy as Unfair"
New York Times (03/06/96) P. A14
     Gen. John Shalikashvili, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday that discharging 
military personnel because they have HIV is unfair and wastes 
money spent on their training.  Shalikashvili said that the 
policy is "wasteful because we do have individuals who are in 
their middle ranks in whom we have invested some training and 
they have considerable experience and so they do contribute."  
Under the new provision, which was sponsored by Rep. Robert 
Dornan (R-Calif.), 1,049 service members with HIV would be 
discharged within five months.  Related Story: Philadelphia 
Inquirer (03/06) P. A10
      
"Clinton Seeks Relief Funds for Disasters, AIDS Drugs"
Philadelphia Inquirer (03/06/96) P. A11
     President Clinton asked Congress on Tuesday for $52 million to 
help states provide medicine to AIDS patients and $914.3 million 
to help victims of natural disasters.  The White House said that 
while AIDS research has led to promising medicines, the high cost
of the drugs has made them unavailable to many people who need 
them.  The $52 million would go to states to help about 55,000 
AIDS patients who do not have prescription drug coverage or who 
cannot afford the full regimen of AIDS medicines themselves.
      
"State Doctors Reject Policy on Reporting HIV"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (03/06/96) P. A1;  Shuit, 
Douglas
     The California Medical Association has rescinded its year-old 
policy of mandatory reporting of people who test positive for 
HIV.  The new policy promises cooperation with public health 
officials in developing an HIV reporting policy that "preserves 
patient-physician confidentiality."  The policy was changed out 
of the fear that people at risk for HIV  would not be tested if 
they knew their name would be reported to officials.  When the 
group made the reporting mandatory last year, the decision was 
criticized by AIDS organizations.  State law says that doctors 
must report any cases of AIDS, tuberculosis, and syphilis, but 
not HIV infection.  Supporters of mandatory reporting say that it
is the only way to ensure that a person's partners are notified, 
but physicians now say that the risks of reporting outweigh the 
benefits.  Studies have shown that mandatory reporting does deter
people from being tested.  Twenty-five states now require 
confidential reporting of HIV-infected individuals.
      
"Chronicle: Two Friends Turn Their Grief into Action and Find 
Compassion Along the Way"
New York Times (03/06/96) P. D22;  Brozan, Nadine
     Maternity-wear manufacturer Dana Cappiello lost her friend 
Anthony Torrieri to AIDS three years ago and found that some 
people did not understand her grief.  "Family and people I 
thought were his friends said: 'He was gay. Didn't you expect him
to die of AIDS?'" she explained.  As a result, Cappiello and 
friend Kathy Scutchfield created the Until There's a Cure 
Foundation to raise money for AIDS causes.  The two make 
bracelets that are sold in stores across the country, including 
Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and the Body Shop.  On Tuesday, the women
attended a press conference in Washington at which a government 
report "Youth and HIV/AIDS: an American Agenda," was released.  
The $140,000 report was prepared by the White House Office of 
National AIDS Policy, but Cappiello noted that she and 
Scutchfield "gave $100,000 because there was not enough 
Government funding."
      
"Ontario Probes Hepatitis Outbreak"
Toronto Globe and Mail (03/05/96) P. A3;  Immen, Wallace
     Ontario is investigating an outbreak of hepatitis B in patients 
tested at clinics in the Toronto area.  Thirty patients were 
infected with the virus from improperly sterilized needles used 
in brain-scanning tests at three clinics supervised by one 
doctor, Richard Shabas, Ontario's chief medical officer for 
health reported.  Thousands of patients at those clinics and one 
other will be asked to get tested for hepatitis or other 
blood-borne diseases.  The patients had all received EEGs, a 
brain-activity test that uses about 20 needle electrodes.  EEG 
machines that use surface electrodes are replacing those that use
needles, but smaller clinics use the older equipment.  The 
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario issued formal 
guidelines last year on sterilizing needle electrodes that 
recommend cleaning them with soap and water to remove all 
residue, and then sterilizing them with heat or gas.
      
"New HIV Vaccine to be Tested On Humans in Sweden"
Reuters (03/05/96)
     A new genetic HIV vaccine, hoped to be able to strengthen the 
immune system, will soon be tested on humans in Sweden.  The 
tests, to be administered at the Karolinska Institute, are set to
begin in about a month on nine people in the early stages of HIV 
infection.  Animal tests have shown that the immune system reacts
positively to similar genetic vaccines.  The vaccine consists of 
single genes from HIV which are injected into a patient's muscle,
activating the immune system to attack the virus.  The results of
the study could tell researchers if it is possible to improve the
immune system in people with HIV.
      
"A "Complement-ary" AIDS Vaccine"
Nature Medicine (02/96) Vol.2, No.2, P. 153;  Dierich, Manfred P.
;  Stoiber, Heribert;  Clivio, Alberto
     Human complement, the antimicrobial enzyme system found in 
plasma, causes the rejection of xenotransplants.  Human cells are
protected from this reaction, and it has been suggested that the 
same device that protects human cells could be employed to 
protect transplanted organs.  Pigs are now being raised that have
a human transgene for a protein that regulates human complement 
activation and is supposed to protect the pig's cells from attack
by human complement.  HIV-1 has been using human complement and 
anticomplement strategies for its own purposes and, Dierich and 
colleagues suggest, it may be possible to use this strategy 
against the virus in a vaccine.  When a new virus is created, it 
acquires part of the host cell membrane, including complement 
proteins, thereby allowing it to use the host cells' own defense 
against the host complement system.  Efforts toward an HIV 
vaccine so far have focused on eliciting an effective immune 
defense, but a more promising target would be antibodies for the 
gp41 and gp120 sites relevant to complement activation.  
Vaccinating a person with the proper gp41 proteins could result 
in antibodies against the complement binding sites for HIV-1, the
researchers conclude.
      
"HIV Prevention for Intravenous Drug Users"
Lancet (02/10/96) Vol.347, No.8998, P. 401;  Epstein, Adrienne
     In a letter to the editor of the Lancet, Adrienne Epstein of the 
HIV Health Services Unit at Massachusetts Department of Public 
Health advocates needle exchange programs to help control the 
spread of HIV.  Epstein discusses a conference at which health 
officials, pharmacists, police officers, and outreach workers 
from the New England states met to develop strategies to make 
clean syringes available to injection drug users.  The group 
focused on implementing needle-exchange programs and 
decriminalizing the possession of syringes.  All states agreed 
that providing sterile syringes and education about how to avoid 
infection was the best strategy to combat HIV transmission.  In 
addition, a National Academy of Science report advocates 
needle-exchange programs and measures to decriminalize purchasing
and owning syringes.  Epstein notes that the conference 
emphasized the need to educate the community about the positive 
impact of such programs.
      
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