                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 8, 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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"AIDS Drug Combination"
"Roche Upbeat on New Treatment for AIDS" 
"Minority Coalition Targets 'AIDS Ride'"
"Infant at Hospital Stuck With HIV-Infected Needle" 
"Interleukin-2 Therapy for HIV Warrants Expanded Trials" 
"Kenyan Government Bans Sales of Anti-AIDS Drug"
"Asian Youth Educated to Combat AIDS" 
"Woman With TB Committed to Hospital"
"Quality of Life and Coping Styles of HIV-Positive Women With 
Children"
"Review Calls Avanti Safe; Expert Questions Validity" 
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"AIDS Drug Combination"
Washington Post (05/08/96) P. A2
     Hoffman-La Roche has announced that its protease inhibitor 
saquinavir, when used in combination with ddC, prolongs the lives 
of patients.  Saquinavir has been considered the weakest of the 
three approved protease inhibitors, and only Abbott Laboratories' 
Ritonavir has been proven to lower the risk of death until now.  
Roche has requested that the Food and Drug Administration 
consider adding the new information to saquinavir's label.  The 
73-week study found the combination of saquinavir and ddC to be 
more effective than either drug alone.  Related Story: USA Today 
(05/08) P. 4D
     
"Roche Upbeat on New Treatment for AIDS" 
Financial Times (05/08/96) P. 16;  Green, Daniel
     Hoffman-La Roche Chairman Fritz Gerber said that Invirase is
expected to become one of the "top drugs" of several product 
releases planned by the company.  Roche reported Tuesday that 
Invirase, when used with its older AIDS drug Hivid (ddC), reduced 
the rate of deaths by more than two-thirds compared to Hivid alone 
and resulted in a decline in AIDS-defining symptoms.  Roche 
expects Invirase, which has been approved in the United States for 
use in combination therapy and advanced HIV infection, to be 
approved in Canada and Europe later this year.  Franz Humer, 
director of Roche's pharmaceuticals division, said he expected 
annual sales of Invirase to reach at least $160.9 million within 
five years.
     
"Minority Coalition Targets 'AIDS Ride'"
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/08/96) P. B1;  Collins, Huntly
     A controversy has erupted in the Philadelphia AIDS community
over which AIDS groups will receive proceeds from a 
Philadelphia-to-Washington, D.C., bike ride.  The event is expected 
to raise $5 million for groups in both cities.  But a coalition of 
minority AIDS groups has charged that it will not share in the 
profit of the white-run AIDS fundraiser and has called for a 
boycott of the event.  The minority groups have also said that they 
can fight the city's AIDS epidemic, largely affecting African 
Americans and Latinos, better than the AIDS groups run by whites.  
The AIDS organizations under attack note that the majority of their 
clients are blacks and Latinos.
     
"Infant at Hospital Stuck With HIV-Infected Needle" 
Chicago Tribune (05/07/96) P. 1-7;  Fegelman, Andrew
     While receiving treatment for a respiratory infection at
Wyler Children's Hospital in Chicago, a four-month old girl was 
stuck with an HIV-infected needle earlier this year.  While the 
girl has tested negative for HIV, doctors have recommended that 
she receive anti-HIV medical treatment as a precaution.  The 
girl's parents have sued the University of Chicago Hospitals and 
Clinics, which operates the hospital.  The girl, a twin born on 
Jan. 7 and brought to Wyler on Jan. 30, was to be discharged on 
Feb. 12, when a nurse found a hypodermic needle stuck in the 
child's leg.  Blood extracted from the needle tested positive for 
HIV, but hospital officials said the chance of infection is 
small.
     
"Interleukin-2 Therapy for HIV Warrants Expanded Trials" 
Reuters (05/07/96)
     A study testing periodic infusions of the cytokine
interleukin 2 (IL-2) in patients with progressive HIV infection 
has shown that the treatment is promising enough to merit a 
larger study.  The results of the Phase II trial were presented 
at Biomedicine '96, a combined meeting of scientific societies, 
by H. Clifford Lane of the National Institute of Allergy and 
Infectious Diseases.  The IL-2 therapy has the potential to 
increase and maintain CD4 cell counts in patients with 
progressive HIV infection, Lane said.  A related study found that 
asymptomatic people with HIV can safely receive low doses of IL-2 
without toxic side effects for at least six months.
     
"Kenyan Government Bans Sales of Anti-AIDS Drug" 
Reuters (05/08/96)
     Concerned about the controversy surrounding a drug touted as
an AIDS cure, the Kenyan government has banned sales of the 
herbal drug Pearl-Omega until the Ministry of Health's Pharmacy 
and Poisons Board issues its report.  The board met with 
Professor Arthur Obel, who claims discovery of the 
as-of-yet-unapproved drug, on Tuesday.  Kenya has one of the 
highest AIDS rates in sub-Saharan Africa.
     
"Asian Youth Educated to Combat AIDS" 
Xinhua News Agency (05/07/96)
     A group of 10,000 young people in China and other Asian
countries are preparing to fight the spread of HIV.  The 
peer-group educators will be trained in the coming years to be 
part of the First-Ever Cross Border AIDS Prevention Program.  Led 
by the Asian Red Cross and Red Crescent AIDS Task Force, a manual 
on reproductive health and AIDS has been created to be used for 
the young people's training.  The campaign will also focus on 
reducing the spread of HIV in women, who are vulnerable to the 
virus because they must depend on their partners to take safe sex 
precautions.  An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people in China have 
HIV.
     
"Woman With TB Committed to Hospital" 
United Press International (05/07/96)
     A woman with tuberculosis (TB) was ordered to be committed
to a hospital Monday at the request of St. Louis County Assistant 
Counselor Don Williams.  The court order was requested after she 
refused to take her TB medication three times.  The woman, who 
also has syphilis and HIV, wore a face mask to court.  While 
people with contagious diseases have the right to refuse 
treatment, health officials noted that authorities also have the 
right to force them to undergo treatment to protect others.
     
"Quality of Life and Coping Styles of HIV-Positive Women With 
Children"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (03/96-04/96) 
Vol. 7, No. 2, P. 28;  Rose, Molly A.;  Clark-Alexander, Barbara
     The growing AIDS epidemic among women disproportionately
affects racial and ethnic minorities, especially in the northeast 
and southern United States.  Mothers infected with HIV face 
especially daunting physical, emotional, social, and spiritual 
problems.  Moreover, many women are not aware they have HIV until 
their infants test positive.  Dr. Molly A. Rose, of the Medical 
College of Pennsylvania, and Barbara Clark-Alexander, of the 
University of South Florida, conducted a study of 52 HIV-positive 
mothers between the ages of 18 and 39 to determine their 
perceived quality of life and their coping strategies.  The women 
scored highest in the social and physical quality of life 
subscales and lowest in the psychological subscale.  Among the 
coping styles employed, confrontive was used most frequently and 
was significantly related to physical quality of life.  Passive 
coping was related to total and physical quality of life, while 
emotive coping was related to total, psychological, and physical 
quality of life.  The low scores in the psychological quality of 
life scale suggest that the psychological aspects of HIV and AIDS 
should be a major focus of patient care, especially as the 
disease progresses.
     
"Review Calls Avanti Safe; Expert Questions Validity" 
AIDS Alert (04/96) Vol. 11, No. 4, P. 45
     A review of company studies of the Avanti polyurethane
condom suggests that it slips and breaks less often or with the 
same frequency as latex condoms.  Results of another study of the 
plastic condom, sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health 
and Human Development (NICHHD), are expected later this spring.  
The government study was requested by the Food and Drug 
Administration after previous studies showed high breakage rates 
with the new condom.  Approved in 1991 for latex-sensitive 
individuals, Avanti is the only male condom, other than lamb skin, 
available for the estimated 1 percent to 2 percent of the general 
population that is sensitive to latex.  Experts expect more people 
to develop greater sensitivity to latex with repeated exposure.  
Meanwhile, the maker of Avanti, London International Group of 
Cambridge, England, reported that the condoms broke at a rate of 
0.9 percent and that latex condoms broke at a rate of 2.1 percent.  
These study results contradicted pilot NICHHD studies, however, and 
the FDA later asked the company and the NICHHD conduct new 
research.  Several other plastic condoms have been submitted to the 
FDA for approval, and a thicker version of Avanti was approved last 
year.
     
     
