                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 9, 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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"Tetanus Shots Found to Boost HIV Levels"
"N.J. Extends Time Period for Lawsuits on Plasma" 
"Voluntary H.I.V. Test Is a Victory for Babies"
"Phila. Official Hopes to Mediate Dispute Involving AIDS Groups" 
"Homes for AIDS Patients Caught in Crunch, Turf Wars"
"New Sensitivity Program Sought for AIDS Agencies" 
"How Was Baby Stuck With HIV-Tainted Needle?"
"UN Bodies Launch Program Against AIDS in Bangladesh" 
"Growth Hormone and AIDS-Related Wasting"
"Protease Inhibited"
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"Tetanus Shots Found to Boost HIV Levels" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/09/96) P. A7
     Researchers report in today's issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine that tetanus shots can cause the amount of 
HIV produced in the body to increase dramatically.  Dr. Sharilyn 
K. Stanley and colleagues at the National Institute of Allergy 
and Infectious Diseases gave tetanus shots to 13 people with HIV 
and 10 people without the virus and found that the infected 
participants' viral levels produced two to 36 times more copies 
of HIV.  The uninfected volunteers' blood samples became easier 
to infect with HIV after the injection.  Stanley said the benefit 
of immunization is greater than the risk of the short-term virus 
increase it causes.  The study found that HIV production 
increases to combat an invader but that the increase was only 
temporary, lasting about six weeks.  Related Stories: Washington 
Times (05/09) P. A11, USA Today (05/09) P. 3D
     
"N.J. Extends Time Period for Lawsuits on Plasma" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/09/96) P. A1;  Shaw, Donna
     After past opposition to a similar measure, New Jersey Gov. 
Whitman signed into law Wednesday legislation to allow people who 
received HIV-tainted plasma products more time to sue the company 
that provided the product.  The law, a first in the United 
States, gives the state's 500 hemophiliacs and others infected 
with HIV from the blood products until July 13, 1997 to sue.  
Previously, they had been restricted to a two-year statute of 
limitations.  The cut-off date is two years after the National 
Institutes of Health reported that the government and industry's 
reluctance to ensure the safety of blood products was to blame 
for the AIDS epidemic among hemophiliacs.
     
"Voluntary H.I.V. Test Is a Victory for Babies"
New York Times (05/09/96) P. A26;  Fleischman, Alan R.
     The New York Academy of Medicine applauds two recent public 
health decisions made by the New York State Department of Health 
and congressional leaders, writes Dr. Alan R. Fleischman, senior 
vice president of the academy in a letter to the editor of the 
New York Times.  The department of health made universal 
counseling of pregnant women mandatory in order to encourage 
voluntary HIV testing, while a Senate-House panel voted on 
voluntary testing of pregnant women, rather than mandatory 
testing of newborns.  Fleischman claims that HIV testing of 
mothers is preferable to testing of infants because a positive 
test of a newborn does not necessarily mean the child is 
infected.  Women who test positive for HIV, however, can be 
treated to reduce the chance of perinatal transmission.  
Fleischman points out that states will need to be monitor their 
progress in implementing HIV counseling and testing to make sure 
such measures become routine.
     
"Phila. Official Hopes to Mediate Dispute Involving AIDS Groups" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (05/09/96) P. B2;  Collins, Huntly
     Philadelphia Health Commissioner Estelle Richman said she
will try to mediate a dispute between minority and white AIDS 
organizations over how money raised from a planned 
Philadelphia-to-Washington, D.C. bike ride fundraiser will be 
distributed.  The minority groups, which charge that they are 
being cut out of the proceeds, have formed a coalition that will 
likely boycott the event.  Richman became involved when All Walks 
of Life, one of the four groups to benefit from the fundraiser, 
said it would not participate because the event had created so 
much controversy.
     
"Homes for AIDS Patients Caught in Crunch, Turf Wars"
Los Angeles Times-Washington Edition (05/09/96) P. B1;  Shuit, 
Douglas P.
     Support for state-licensed residential care homes in
California for people with AIDS is threatened by limited 
government AIDS funding.  The lack of government assistance may 
close the low-cost homes, which take in prostitutes and drug 
addicts who have no other place to live.  A relatively small 
number of AIDS patients receive care in such homes, but they are 
considered essential because of their low cost when compared to 
hospices that provide more advanced medical care.
     
"New Sensitivity Program Sought for AIDS Agencies" 
Houston Chronicle (05/08/96) P. 34A;  Zuniga, Jo Ann
     Concern about mainstream AIDS agencies' lack of awareness on
how to educate and treat minorities has led Houston's Ryan White 
Planning Council to consider requiring federally funded AIDS 
agencies to implement a 12-hour cultural sensitivity training 
program.  The program for the 480 staff members who interact with 
patients would devote time to African-Americans, Hispanics, gays 
and lesbians, the deaf, and substance abusers.  The program would 
also allow social workers, case managers, doctors, and other 
personnel to discuss issues relating to how different cultures 
perceive and deal with AIDS.
     
"How Was Baby Stuck With HIV-Tainted Needle?" 
Chicago Tribune (05/08/96) P. 1-1
     An explanation of how an infant girl was stuck with an 
HIV-tainted needle at Chicago's Wyler Children's Hospital is 
still unclear, even following a complaint to police Tuesday, the 
filing of a lawsuit Monday, and an internal investigation by the 
hospital.  One hospital official suggested that the virus found 
on the needle was the baby's own, though the baby and her parents 
have tested HIV negative.  Hospital officials describe the 
incident as accidental, but caution the parents to have the child 
retested because the test on the needle could not be confirmed.
     
"UN Bodies Launch Program Against AIDS in Bangladesh" 
Xinhua News Agency (05/09/96)
     Six United Nations organizations have begun a campaign in 
Bangladesh to help stop the spread of HIV.  About 20,000 people 
in the country are reportedly infected with the virus.  The World 
Health Organization, one of the cooperating partners in the 
program, has been working with the Bangladeshi government and the 
non-governmental organizations to solve the problem.
     
"Growth Hormone and AIDS-Related Wasting"
Nature Medicine (04/96) Vol. 2, No. 4, P. 369;  Steele, Fintan R.
     In March, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory
committee decided against approval of Serostim, a human growth 
hormone made by Serono Laboratories for treating AIDS-related 
wasting.  AIDS wasting syndrome, defined as a loss of at least 10 
percent of body weight for unknown reasons, is common and often 
fatal to AIDS patients.  The two FDA-approved drugs for wasting, 
both appetite stimulants, increase a patient's body fat rather 
than lean body mass.  While human growth hormone made by other 
companies is approved by the FDA, Serostim is the first 
application for AIDS-related wasting.  Both Serono and the AIDS 
community still believe that Serostim is beneficial and should be 
approved.  Members of the AIDS community, however, agree with the 
FDA in their conclusion that Serono did not have enough data to 
merit full approval for the hormone.  Community members were 
angered with the company's seeming refusal to accept less than 
full approval, arguing that they should have first sought some 
form of accelerated approval.  Serono has attributed the denial 
of approval to inconsistencies and confusion in its dealings with 
the agency.  Frustrated with Sereno, AIDS activists are 
encouraging other makers of growth hormones to seek approval for 
their products for the treatment of wasting.
     
"Protease Inhibited"
POZ (04/96) No. 13, P. 64;  Horn, Tim
     Although the approval of the protease inhibitor saquinavir
was good news for people infected with HIV, many were left 
wondering if they should wait for a better drug.  In 1994, as 
Hoffmann-La Roche was preparing to file for accelerated Food and 
Drug Administration approval of the new drug, the Treatment 
Action Group surprised the AIDS community by asking the firm and 
the FDA to wait for results from a larger, longer-term study for 
which it also wanted Roche's cooperation.  Roche did not conduct 
the larger trial, but it did wait a year to file its application, 
and its form of saquinavir, Invirase, was approved in a record 90 
days.  Roche and Merck, meanwhile, had agreed to conduct joint 
trials to determine whether saquinavir would create 
cross-resistance against other protease inhibitors used later.  
Such studies have yet to be conducted, and the dose of saquinavir 
approved was later found to be sub-optimal.  Roche noted that it 
had conducted low-dose studies so as to make the drug available 
as soon as possible.  Merck also faced problems when its drug 
Crixivan (indinavir) was found to generate resistance to other 
protease inhibitors.  Moreover, the company sparked controversy 
when it suggested that saquinavir, when used first, might 
similarly cause such resistance.
     
     
