                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 17, 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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"Growing Fast as a Factor in AIDS: Drugs"
"Aide Indicates Negligence Caused AIDS Cases in Japan" 
"HIV Prevention Programs in Prisons on the Decline" 
"Measles Vaccination in HIV-Positive Children: Support for 
Current Recommendations"
"Project Launched to Prevent HIV/AIDS Among Chinese" 
"Hepatitis B and C Prevalent Among Injection Drug Users"
"Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpes like Virus: Linked to KS in 
HIV-Infected Patients"
"Virus-Cell Fusion Targeted for Drug Development"
"Effect of Comprehensive Intervention Program on Survival of 
Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection"
"U.N. Warns of AIDS in South Pacific" 
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"Growing Fast as a Factor in AIDS: Drugs" 
New York Times (05/17/96) P. A18
     Most cases of AIDS in women and heterosexual men are linked
to intravenous drug use, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention reported Thursday.  The agency said that 85 percent of 
the 17,686 AIDS cases documented last year among heterosexual men 
and 66 percent of the 10,777 cases among women were either 
directly transmitted by intravenous drug use or were transmitted 
sexually from a drug user.  The incidence of AIDS among drug users 
is increasing about 4 percent each year, the CDC said.  AIDS cases 
among heterosexual partners of drug users increased 9 percent 
among women and 17 percent among men between 1994 and 1995.  Some 
50 percent of the AIDS cases linked to intravenous drug use last 
year were among blacks, while 25 percent were among whites and 24 
percent were in Hispanics.  The CDC attributed 184,359 of the 
total 513,486 AIDS cases reported since the beginning of the 
epidemic through year-end 1995 to injection drug use.
     
"Aide Indicates Negligence Caused AIDS Cases in Japan" 
Baltimore Sun (05/17/96) P. 14A
     An aide to Atsuaki Gunji, the Japanese health official in
charge of AIDS policies in the early 1980s, testified Thursday 
that Gunji was aware in 1983 that HIV infections could be 
prevented by using heat-treated blood products but did nothing to 
facilitate their use in Japan.  Gunji had testified to the 
contrary in 1993.  Japan's delayed approval of the safer blood 
products resulted in the infection of thousands of hemophiliacs 
and their relatives, many of whom recently won settlements for 
compensation.
     
"HIV Prevention Programs in Prisons on the Decline" 
Reuters (05/16/96)
     While more inmates in state and federal prisons are 
HIV-positive, the number of effective HIV prevention programs in 
these facilities is declining, according to a study published in 
the May 3 issue of AIDS Policy & Law.  The Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention reported that in 1990, 96 percent of all 
state and federal prisons had AIDS education programs in at least 
one facility.  By 1994, however, that rate had dropped to 75 
percent.  Some 48 percent had instructor-led programs and only 7 
percent had peer-led programs.  Programs that provided written 
materials were more common than those that offered face-to-face 
counseling.  The death rate from AIDS among inmates increased 83 
percent between 1990 and 1994.  The CDC has recommended 
"comprehensive and credible" HIV-prevention programs and has 
called for the distribution of condoms and bleach in jails.
     
"Measles Vaccination in HIV-Positive Children: Support for 
Current Recommendations"
Reuters (05/16/96)
     A study in this month's issue of Pediatrics confirmed a 
recommendation for HIV-infected children to be immunized against 
measles.  The study, conducted by Stephen M. Arpadi of St. 
Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, found that a smaller 
percentage of vaccinated HIV-infected children had detectable 
measles antibody than vaccinated healthy children.  The 
researchers also reported that HIV-infected children may have a 
better antibody response if vaccinated before their first 
birthday.
     
"Project Launched to Prevent HIV/AIDS Among Chinese" 
Xinhua News Agency (05/16/96)
     With a $10 million loan from the World Bank, the Chinese
Ministry of Health will implement a five-year program to control 
the spread of non-infectious chronic diseases and HIV.  A pilot 
project will be launched in China's Yunnan province and seven 
cities.  Non-infectious chronic diseases are on the rise in China, 
as the population ages and lifestyles are changing.  Sexually 
transmitted diseases, including HIV, are also increasing in China, 
with more than 2,500 cases of HIV infection reported.
     
"Hepatitis B and C Prevalent Among Injection Drug Users" 
Reuters (05/16/96)
     Injection drug users are at high-risk for contracting
hepatitis B and C, and many are infected within the first year of 
drug use, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say.  In the 
May issue of the American Journal of Public Health, David Vlahov 
and colleagues report that 77 percent of 716 injection drug users 
were infected with hepatitis C and 65.7 percent were infected 
with hepatitis B.  About 20 percent were HIV-positive.  Hepatitis 
C was more prevalent among those who had been injecting drugs for 
less than four months than among those who had been using the 
drugs for nine to 12 months.
     
"Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpes like Virus: Linked to KS in 
HIV-Infected Patients"
Reuters (05/16/96)
     A link between Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and the
recently discovered Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes like virus 
(KSHV) is reported by Yale researcher George Miller and 
colleagues in today's issue of the New England Journal of 
Medicine.  The researchers found that more than two-thirds of 48 
HIV-positive KS patients had KSHV, compared to 13 percent of 
HIV-infected non-KS patients.  Miller said that evidence of 
antibodies to KSHV antigenic peptide was not associated with the 
development of KS in individuals in high-risk groups.
     
"Virus-Cell Fusion Targeted for Drug Development"
Chemical & and Engineering News (05/13/96) Vol. 74, No. 20, P. 
45;  Baum, Rudy
     Trimeris, a small drug company in North Carolina, is
developing compounds to prevent viruses from entering cells, 
rather than battling viral infection.  M. Ross Johnson, Trimeris 
president and CEO, recently presented preclinical results for the 
company's anti-HIV agent, Pentafuside, at the American Chemical 
Society's meeting in New Orleans.  Pentafuside, made from a part 
of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, is designed to inhibit the 
fusion of HIV to the cell membrane.  It prevents the formation of 
a complex on the virus needs to attack the cell membrane. 
According to Johnson, the compound has been shown to be non-toxic 
to a variety of cells and highly specific for HIV-1.  The 
preclinical results warrant Phase I/II clinical trials in 
patients with HIV, which may go forward later this year.
     
"Effect of Comprehensive Intervention Program on Survival of 
Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection"
Journal of the American Medical Association (05/08/96) Vol. 275, 
No. 18, P. 1383
     Ronald Altman, of the New Jersey Health Department's AIDS 
Division, and colleagues, report in the Archives of Internal 
Medicine the results of a study of the effects of an early 
intervention program (EIP) on the survival of HIV-infected 
persons.  An EIP was started in New Jersey in October 1989 to 
provide medical care and social services to people with HIV.  Of 
the 938 patients enrolled in the program, the majority had T-cell 
subsets determined within three months: 641 were active 
participants and 126 were inactive.  The inactive patients had a 
lower median CD4 T-cell count and were more likely to be 
symptomatic than active patients.  Among the patients whose 
survival was analyzed, 22.5 percent of the active patients died, 
compared to 38.4 percent of the inactive patients.  Multiple 
analyses showed that active patients survived longer than inactive 
patients.  Only active and inactive patients with both low CD4 
T-cell levels and symptoms of HIV or AIDS had similar survival 
rates.  The researchers therefore concluded that EIP participation 
resulted in extended survival for individuals infected with HIV.
     
"U.N. Warns of AIDS in South Pacific"
American Medical News (05/06/96) Vol. 39, No. 17, P. 14
     Unless culturally conservative and devoutly Christian
residents change their conservative attitude about safe-sex 
education, a serious AIDS threat looms for the 22 island 
countries and territories in the South Pacific, warns a United 
Nations report.  The South Pacific had only 234 reported AIDS 
cases as of June 1995, but the report suggests that the number of 
HIV infections is actually much higher.  The region's medical 
facilities and doctors are not equipped to treat AIDS, and the 
countries lack the money to handle an epidemic, the report said. 
Most residents are not aware of the serious threat of AIDS, said 
one of the authors, calling for an end to taboos regarding public 
discussion and sex education.
     
     
