                     AIDS Daily Summary
                        May 3, 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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"Senate Sends AIDS Care Compromise to President"
"EPA Orders Water Systems to Monitor for Parasite" 
"Mom's Privacy or Baby's Welfare?"
"Biogen Inc.: Decision Upheld in Dispute With SmithKline on Fees" 
"Panels Challenge Clinton on Defense"
"Congress Expected to Reverse AIDS Cut"
"Stoffa to Stand Trial in Theft From AIDS Agency"
"Agency Opens City Office for AIDS Support Services"
"Adaptive Evolution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Type 1 During 
the Natural Course of Infection"
"RGP-160 Treatment Vaccine (VaxSyn): Canadian Study Finds No 
Benefit"
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"Senate Sends AIDS Care Compromise to President" 
New York Times (05/03/96) P. A22
     The Senate passed a bill on Thursday to extend federal AIDS 
funding for five years and to urge voluntary HIV testing of 
pregnant women.  The measure calls for mandatory HIV testing of 
newborns if the voluntary testing does not curb rates of 
mother-to-child transmission.  The bill has been sent to 
President Clinton, who has expressed support for the measure.  
The funding provision will guarantee that rural areas of the 
United States see increases in their share of the $738 million 
for the treatment and support services.  The issue of mandatory 
testing of newborns has been debated since July, with leaders in 
the Senate opposing the measure.  The bill provides $10 million
to help states implement guidelines for the voluntary HIV 
counseling, testing, and treatment of pregnant women.  By the 
turn of the century, states would have to show a 50 percent 
reduction in HIV-infected newborns, that 95 percent of pregnant 
women are tested, or implement mandatory HIV testing of infants 
whose mothers' HIV status is unknown.  Related Story: Houston 
Chronicle (05/02) P. 18A
     
"EPA Orders Water Systems to Monitor for Parasite" 
Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A3
     The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered the
largest U.S. water systems to monitor and keep records on 
cryptosporidium, a microbial parasite that can be deadly in 
individuals with poor immunity, such as people with AIDS.  
Currently, there are no federal standards related to 
cryptosporidium in drinking water.  The National Association of 
People With AIDS said Thursday that its investigation of 31 water 
systems revealed that many had inadequate cryptosporidium 
surveillance and public notification programs.  The advocacy group 
named Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Dallas; Minneapolis; Newark; and
St. Petersburg, FL, as areas of particular concern, though it said 
that only in Seattle, Tampa, and Milwaukee are immunocompromised 
individuals at risk.  The new EPA ruling covers 300 large 
metropolitan water systems, and the EPA said that about one-third 
of them already check for the parasite.
     
"Mom's Privacy or Baby's Welfare?"
Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A20
     In a Washington Post editorial, the authors argue that the
new congressional decision to urge voluntary HIV testing of 
pregnant women does not go far enough to protect newborns.  The 
editors claim that a newborn's welfare should be more important 
than a mother's privacy and that all infants should be tested at 
birth, with results disclosed to both parents and primary care 
givers.  This would ensure that HIV-infected babies receive the 
special care that they need.  The editors also note that while 
the compromise is a positive step, it does not help babies born 
to mothers who object to the test and do not want to know their 
own HIV status.

"Biogen Inc.: Decision Upheld in Dispute With SmithKline on Fees" 
Wall Street Journal (05/03/96) P. B4
     A U.S. District Court judge has upheld an arbitration
panel's decision in favor of Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen in the 
debate between it and Britain's SmithKline Beecham.  The dispute 
concerned the rate of royalties SmithKline was to pay to Biogen 
from the U.S. sales of SmithKline's hepatitis B vaccine.  
SmithKline had appealed a 1995 arbitration panel's decision in 
favor of Biogen, but as it continued to pay the higher rate during 
the arbitration and appeal process, the ruling will not result in 
additional payments to the U.S. firm.
     
"Panels Challenge Clinton on Defense"
Washington Post (05/03/96) P. A6;  Graham, Bradley
     Congressional defense committees passed bills this week to 
authorize an increase of $12.9 billion in military spending over 
the $254.4 billion in the administration's request for 1997.  House 
Republicans included a range of conservative social policies in 
their bill, including re-introduction of discharge of all military 
members with HIV and a proposed ban on gays in the military.  The
Senate committee did not include the more controversial social 
issues, sponsored by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Calif.) and other 
conservatives, and they could fall away between congressional 
deliberations.
     
"Congress Expected to Reverse AIDS Cut" 
Boston Globe (05/02/96) P. 12;  Black, Chris
     As part of the Ryan White CARE Reauthorization Act, Congress
is expected to reverse a proposed cut of $600,000 in 
Massachusetts AIDS funding and give the state a funding increase 
of 30 percent.  The state would receive $9.3 million, or $2.1 
million more than last year, due to a higher overall 
appropriation for AIDS funding and a change in the funding 
formula.  The money is spent on AIDS drugs, home care, and other 
services for people with HIV.  It had been thought that AIDS 
funding would be cut by $600,000 because reauthorization of the 
bill had been delayed.  The funding formula was altered to 
provide more money for areas hardest hit by AIDS, rather than 
areas with high overall population.

"Stoffa to Stand Trial in Theft From AIDS Agency" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/02/96) P. B2
     A Common Pleas Court judge on Wednesday rejected Francis J. 
Stoffa Jr.'s request that charges of stealing thousands of 
dollars from a private Philadelphia AIDS agency be dismissed on 
grounds of insufficient evidence.  Stoffa, the former executive 
director of Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives and its 
AIDS Task Force, will stand trial charged with multiple counts of 
theft, forgery, securing execution of documents by deception, 
credit card fraud and tampering with public records.  He 
allegedly took cash from the agency's AIDS donations box, used an 
agency credit card for personal expenses, wrote checks to himself 
from AIDS funds, diverted cash for his own use, and used a credit 
card forged in the name of another agency board member.
     
"Agency Opens City Office for AIDS Support Services" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/03/96) P. B2
     The Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater
Philadelphia has opened an AIDS program to provide counseling, 
support, referral, and educational services to people with AIDS
and their friends and family.  Karen Landy, a student at 
Reconstruction Rabbinical College who has worked with AIDS 
patients since 1989, is the coordinator of the Center City 
program.  A similar program is operated out of the agency's 
Melrose Park office.
     
"Adaptive Evolution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Type 1 During 
the Natural Course of Infection"
Science (04/26/96) Vol. 272, No. 5261, P. 537;  Wolinsky, Steven 
M.;  Korber, Bette T. M.;  Neumann, Avidan U.; et al.
     The rates of disease development and the survival times of 
different individuals with HIV vary widely.  One theory thought 
to explain the differences is that the loss of CD4 cells in 
people with HIV-1 is primarily the result of increasing antigenic 
diversity that exceeds the immune system's ability to regulate 
the virus.  Steven Wolinsky, of the Northwestern University 
Medical School, and colleagues tested this theory by measuring 
the levels of HIV-1 RNA and tracking the viral sequence changes 
that occurred along with immune response in six HIV-1 infected 
subjects.  Blood samples from the patients were evaluated every
six months.  While the researchers found no association between 
humoral immune response and the rate of progression to AIDS, they 
did find that a HIV-1 specific human leukocyte antigen 
class-I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response was 
associated with slow rather than rapid rates of disease 
development.  This contradicts the theory that the 
immunopathogenic effects of CTLs are responsible for the decline 
in CD4 cells.  The researchers also report that greater antigenic 
diversity, an immunopathologic effect of CTLs, or dominance of a 
viral strain, is not related to the rate of disease progression.
     
"RGP-160 Treatment Vaccine (VaxSyn): Canadian Study Finds No 
Benefit"
AIDS Treatment News (04/19/96) No. 245, P. 3
     A three-year, multi-center trial of recombinant GP-160 found
that the vaccine offered no clinical benefit in 278 volunteers 
already infected with HIV.  The Canadian study was completed last 
November, but the results were withheld until a similar trial in 
the United States was completed in March.  A commentary in AIDS 
Treatment News says the vaccine's failure shows that more
research into HIV pathogenesis is needed.  The authors suggest
that studies of long-term nonprogressors and people who remain
uninfected even after repeated exposures to HIV may help to learn
what kinds of immune responses are protective.
