                     AIDS Daily Summary
                        May 1, 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 National AIDS 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this 
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC 
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this 
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
     
     
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"Bill Would Order AIDS-Virus Testing to Protect Babies"
"AIDS Fight Is Skewed by Federal Campaign Exaggerating Risks" 
"Scientists Hone Knowledge of How Virus Spreads"
"AIDS Acrimony"
"Spread of AIDS Alarms Chinese"
"Gay Rights Group Lauds AMA Call for Sexual History Queries" 
"Don't Play Catch-Up With TB"
"B.C. to Pay for New AIDS Drug"
"Hit Hard Early or Delay? New Drugs Cloud Options" 
"Homemade Tattoos Transmitting HIV"
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"Bill Would Order AIDS-Virus Testing to Protect Babies" 
New York Times (05/01/96) P. A1;  Fisher, Ian
     Congressional leaders have tentatively agreed on a provision
that would make mandatory HIV testing of newborns a stipulation 
for states to receive federal AIDS funding under the Ryan White 
CARE Act if health officials cannot reduce the number of infected 
babies by other means.  Under the act, health care providers 
would be required to advise pregnant women to be tested for HIV. 
It would call for states to take a series of steps toward 
mandatory testing of infants, but only of those born to women 
whose HIV status is not known.  Testing would become mandatory 
for the children of those women if the number of infected 
children was not reduced by counseling by the year 2000.  AIDS 
activists have opposed the mandatory testing of infants, but are 
expected to support the overall bill and try to repeal the
testing measure later.  Mandatory testing of newborns has been 
controversial, raising fears of discrimination.  New York, like 
other states, has routinely tested newborns anonymously, but new 
regulations there will allow mothers to learn their infant's test 
result.  Related Story: Baltimore Sun (05/01) P. 4A
     
"AIDS Fight Is Skewed by Federal Campaign Exaggerating Risks" 
Wall Street Journal (05/01/96) P. A1;  Bennett, Amanda;  Sharpe, 
Anita
     Although the nine-year-old federal America Responds to AIDS 
campaign warns that anyone can get AIDS, the effort is having a 
potentially detrimental impact on funding for AIDS prevention.  
While 83 percent of all reported AIDS cases are among homosexuals 
and injection drug users, no federal funding is specifically 
allocated for these groups.  Needle exchange programs, seen as 
effective against the spread of HIV, are denied federal funding. 
Moreover, much of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention's $584 million AIDS-prevention funding is directed at 
heterosexual women, college students, and others who face a 
relatively low risk of infection.  Experts argue that more money
is needed for prevention among high-risk groups.  The CDC's 
Helene Gayle notes that "increasingly, it's important to shift 
strategies to meet the epidemic," and reports that the agency is 
giving communities more say in how to spend federal AIDS money.  
Political and social forces that shaped the policy made in 1987 
are still making it difficult for the government to alter its 
prevention efforts.
     
"Scientists Hone Knowledge of How Virus Spreads" 
Wall Street Journal (05/01/96) P. A6
     While AIDS experts once thought the disease would become an 
epidemic among non-drug-using heterosexuals, there is now 
consensus that this is unlikely.  Lyle Petersen, former chief of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's branch that 
estimates the prevalence of HIV, says that "over 90 percent of 
the population is heterosexual, and most people at zilcho or very 
low risk."  HIV is not transmitted heterosexually as easily as it 
is transmitted through anal sex or through shared needles.  For 
both men and women, it is much easier to transmit other serious 
sexually transmitted diseases than to pass on HIV.  People with
venereal diseases, however, are more likely to become infected 
with HIV if exposed.  Sexual contact with a large number of 
people in a short period, as occurred in gay bathhouses early in 
the epidemic, seems to be necessary for widespread transmission. 
AIDS has spread more rapidly among the heterosexual population in 
Africa and Asia, due to more widely practiced prostitution.  Some 
scientists say the United States may be vulnerable to strains of 
HIV that are more easily spread through heterosexual contact.
     
"AIDS Acrimony"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (05/01/96) P. B1;  Boxall, 
Bettina;  Meyer, Josh
     The gap in federal AIDS funding for San Francisco and Los
Angeles has spurred a political debate and lobby to change the 
formula such funding is based on.  The Ryan White Care Act has 
favored regions hardest hit in the early years of the epidemic, 
sending more money to San Francisco and New York than to Los 
Angeles, even though there are now several thousand more people 
with AIDS in Los Angeles County than in San Francisco. 
Reauthorization of the funding act may include provisions helpful
to Los Angeles.  Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) organized a 
formal protest in Congress, but noted "I can't just represent Los 
Angeles alone.  I have to stand for what's fair."
     
"Spread of AIDS Alarms Chinese"
Washington Post (05/01/96) P. A21;  Mufson, Steven
     The number of reported HIV infections in China is relatively
small, with 2,594 people known to be infected and 80 known AIDS 
cases.  But health experts say the virus is spreading rapidly, and 
estimate that the actual number of cases is as high as 100,000.  
Two-thirds of the reported cases are in the southern province of 
Yunnan, where drug use has brought HIV across the borders from 
Burma, Laos, and Thailand.  China recently committed $60 million to 
set up six border check-points along the Yunnan border.  Reasons 
for the rapid spread of the virus in China include ignorance, as 
well as the government's reluctance to talk about sex or promote 
condom use.  Poor blood screening and unhygienic procedures at 
hospitals are also to blame.  China's economic reforms have also 
contributed to the virus' spread, with foreign trade increasing and 
prostitution resurging.  The government seems to be dealing with
AIDS more openly, and last year hosted a major conference on AIDS 
awareness day.
     
"Gay Rights Group Lauds AMA Call for Sexual History Queries" 
Washington Times (05/01/96) P. A5
     The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association applauded the
American Medical Association's recommendation Tuesday that all 
doctors ask their patients for a detailed sexual history, saying 
the move would help stop discrimination.  The AMA report points 
out specific health problems experienced by homosexuals, 
including HIV, adolescent suicide, and ovarian cancer.
     
"Don't Play Catch-Up With TB"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (05/01/96) P. A10
     In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times Washington Edition,
the authors urge the United States to take action to fight 
tuberculosis, which was declared a global emergency by the World 
Health Organization three years ago.  According to the editors, 
U.S. public health officials must not be complacent about the 
disease, which resurged in the mid-1980s.
     
"B.C. to Pay for New AIDS Drug"
Toronto Globe and Mail (04/30/96) P. A10;  Coutts, Jane
     British Columbia will be the first Canadian province to pay
for the protease inhibitor saquinavir, and will spend up to $5 
million in the coming year to buy the drug for about 500 people 
who have HIV but not AIDS.  A U.S. study has questioned the 
clinical benefits of the drug, the first protease inhibitor to be 
approved in Canada.
     
"Hit Hard Early or Delay? New Drugs Cloud Options" 
AIDS Alert (04/96) Vol. 11, No. 4, P. 40
     The development of protease inhibitors and new knowledge of
the dynamics of HIV infection have prompted the call for early 
treatment, although researchers say more data is needed.  "Now 
that we know the virus is constantly reproducing itself--unlike 
what we thought in the old days...it makes sense to hit hard and 
hit early," said Michael Sheran, an AIDS doctor at Saint 
Vincent's Hospital in New York.  Doctors are concerned, however, 
that people will develop resistance to the drugs.  John Mellors,
of the University of Pittsburgh, favors early treatment to delay 
disease progression.  In making treatment decisions, clinicians 
consider a patient's CD4 cell count, viral load, and quality of 
life while on the drug.  Melanie Thompson, of the AIDS Research 
Consortium in Atlanta, says more research is needed on protease 
inhibitors to advocate early or delayed treatment and that cases 
should be evaluated individually.  Patients seem more willing to 
take protease inhibitors than they were to take nucleoside 
analogues, though some are waiting for new drugs and more 
information before starting treatment.
     
"Homemade Tattoos Transmitting HIV"
POZ (04/96) No. 13, P. 24
     A recent report on deaths in Florida prisons revealed that
AIDS is the leading killer among inmates and that AIDS-related 
deaths rose from 34.7 percent to 52.3 percent between 1987 and 
1992.  In 1995 the figure was 58 percent.  While rape is 
portrayed in television as the main risky behavior of inmates, a 
Florida Corrections Department expert said that intravenous drugs 
and homemade tattoo needles pose the same amount of risk.  In
Florida, inmates are educated about AIDS, and educational videos
are shown in waiting rooms.  Those participating in high risk
behaviors are encouraged to get tested.
