                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 29, 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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"Variety of Obstacles Is Blocking New Contraceptives, Panel Says" 
"Drug Firms Join Attack on Krever"
"Stylish New Cookbooks That Have Charitable Intentions" 
"Abbott Gets European Approval for HIV Treatment"
"EU Clears AIDS, Other Funds For Third World"
"Interleukin Mediates Fungicidal Activity in Leukocytes in AIDS 
Patients"
"Explanation for Interferon Resistance in HIV-Infected Patients 
With Hepatitis C Offered"
"Hepatitis E No More Common in HIV-Positive Persons Than in 
HIV-Negative Persons"
"Antibodies to Butyrate-Inducible Antigens of Kaposi's 
Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus in Patients With HIV-1 Infection" 
"Advisers Deny Pressure Over Japan's 'First' AIDS Case" 
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"Variety of Obstacles Is Blocking New Contraceptives, Panel Says" 
New York Times (05/29/96) P. A17;  Leary, Warren E.
     Despite an urgent need for new contraceptives to cut the
rate of population growth and reduce abortions, no new ones will 
reach the market without more research and increased cooperation 
among government, industry, and insurers, a committee of the 
Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of 
Sciences, warned Tuesday.  The group noted that the development 
of new contraceptives has been inhibited by fear of liability 
lawsuits, political or social opposition to certain 
approaches--such as to the so-called "abortion pill" RU-486--and 
uncertainties about markets.  The group suggests that government 
and private insurers could encourage the use of contraceptives 
and create a larger market by offering routine coverage of 
contraceptive services.  Furthermore, the government could 
encourage pharmaceutical companies and other contraceptive 
developers to create new products by enacting a federal product 
liability statute that would protect manufacturers from some 
liability once they met strict FDA requirements.
     
"Drug Firms Join Attack on Krever"
Toronto Globe and Mail (05/28/96) P. A4
     Connaught Laboratories and three other drug companies have
joined the Canadian Red Cross and other parties in the fight over 
the government's inquiry into the tainted-blood tragedy.  The 
groups are objecting to the inquiry's warning that potential 
findings of misconduct could be made against them.  The 
misconduct findings could be equivalent to criminal or civil 
liability, Connaught lawyer Stephen Goudge said Monday.  The 
inquiry could find that the companies, Connaught, Baxter, Armour, 
and Bayer, knew as early as 1982 that their blood products might 
be infected with HIV, but failed to warn consumers.
     
"Stylish New Cookbooks That Have Charitable Intentions" 
New York Times (05/29/96) P. C8;  Hamlin, Suzanne
     The collecting of recipes into a "community cookbook," sold
to raise money for local causes, has been expanded on by large 
publishers, resulting in charity books which raise money for 
organizations that help the elderly, homeless, and people with 
AIDS.  Proceeds from the sales of Anne Rosenzweig's "Comforting 
Foods" and Roberto Donna's "Home Food" go to Project Open Hand, a 
nonprofit group in San Francisco that provides food to more than 
2,000 people with AIDS.  The book sales are the group's largest 
source of income, except for some individual donations, an 
organization official said.
     
"Abbott Gets European Approval for HIV Treatment" 
Reuters (05/28/96)
     Abbott Laboratories has received approval for marketing its
HIV protease inhibitor Norvir in Europe.  The drug was cleared 
for use in HIV-infected adults with advanced or progressive 
disease, in combination with antiretroviral nucleoside analogues. 
Final authorization is awaiting approval by the European 
Commission in Brussels.
     
"EU Clears AIDS, Other Funds For Third World" 
Reuters (05/28/96);  Blackburn, Peter
     The European Union approved on Tuesday the distribution of
$402 million to fight AIDS, help Asian and Latin American 
refugees, and protect the environment.  Britain had threatened to 
block EU decisions until a global ban on British beef exports was 
reversed, but agreed the funds could be approved on a majority 
vote.  The group approved spending $55 million between 1997-1999 
for AIDS programs targeting the poorest people in the poorest 
countries.  Another $55 million will be used in environmental 
protection, and $300 million will be distributed to support the 
needs of Asian and Latin American refugees.
     
"Interleukin Mediates Fungicidal Activity in Leukocytes in AIDS 
Patients"
Reuters (05/28/96)
     Interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 may make AIDS patients more
susceptible to microbial infection, researchers at the University 
of Perugia in Italy report in the journal AIDS.  The scientists 
found that the cytokines inhibited candidacidal activity in 
polymorphonuclear leukocytes when treated in the lab.  The effect 
was more evident in cells from HIV-infected subjects than normal 
controls.  The researchers suggest that monitoring the levels of 
these cytokines in AIDS patients could help develop ways to 
neutralize their overproduction.
     
"Explanation for Interferon Resistance in HIV-Infected Patients 
With Hepatitis C Offered"
Reuters (05/28/96)
     To explain why people infected with HIV and the hepatitis C
virus (HCV) are less responsive to interferon treatment than HCV 
patients without HIV, researchers at the University of Cincinnati 
Medical Center point to nucleotide variability in the HCV genome. 
Kenneth E. Sherman and colleagues report in the journal 
Hepatology that people with both HCV and HIV had increased HCV 
RNA variability.  Sherman suggests that the increased genomic 
variability in the hypervariable coding region may be responsible 
for the poor response to interferon treatment in co-infected 
patients.
     
"Hepatitis E No More Common in HIV-Positive Persons Than in 
HIV-Negative Persons"
Reuters (05/28/96)
     French researchers report in a letter appearing in the May
25 issue of the Lancet that HIV-infected individuals do not 
appear to be at greater risk of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection 
than people not infected with HIV.  Francois Bissual and 
colleagues say their findings do not support the theory that HEV 
is transmitted sexually.  The report comes after an Italian study 
found a high prevalence of HEV antibodies in HIV-infected 
homosexual men.  Bissual says, however, that testing for HEV is 
not necessary for HIV-infected patients.
     
"Antibodies to Butyrate-Inducible Antigens of Kaposi's 
Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus in Patients With HIV-1 Infection" 
New England Journal of Medicine (05/16/96) Vol. 334, No. 20, P. 
1292;  Miller, George;  Rigsby, Michael O.;  Heston, Lee; et al.
     A recently discovered virus, called Kaposi's
sarcoma-associated herpeslike virus (KSHV), is thought to be the 
agent responsible for the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), 
a tumor common in men with HIV-1 as well as other 
immunocompromised individuals.  KSHV DNA has been found in tissue 
samples from more than 90 percent of HIV-1-associated KS lesions. 
To further evaluate the relationship between KSHV and KS, Yale 
University researcher Dr. George Miller and colleagues developed 
tests for KSHV infection and tested serum samples from 102 
patients infected with HIV-1.  Antibodies to KSHV-associated 
proteins were found in 67 percent of HIV-1-infected KS patients 
and in only 13 percent of HIV-1-infected patients without 
Kaposi's sarcoma.  The researchers concluded that there is an 
association between the presence of antibodies to a KSHV protein 
and the occurrence of Kaposi's sarcoma in HIV-1 infected 
patients.
     
"Advisers Deny Pressure Over Japan's 'First' AIDS Case"
Nature (05/16/96) Vol. 381, No. 6579, P. 181;  Swinbanks, David
     The Japanese government's decision not to recognize AIDS as
the cause of death of a hemophiliac in 1983 may have prolonged 
the use of tainted blood products in Japan, leading to the HIV 
infection of thousands of hemophiliacs.  That patient was under 
the care of Takeshi Abe, then head of the government's AIDS study 
group.  Abe described the case to the members of the study group, 
which decided not to recognize the patient's disease as AIDS.  
Although the disease was identified as AIDS two years later, it 
came only after Japan's first AIDS case was identified in a 
homosexual who visited Japan from the United States.  Another 
member of the study group testified that pressure from government 
leaders, or former leaders who were then employed by blood 
product manufacturers, may have played a role in the decision.  
Recognizing the hemophiliac's disease as AIDS would have called 
for importing heat-treated blood products, hurting domestic blood 
product suppliers.  Recently released documents show that the  
government did know about four other HIV-positive hemophiliacs in 
November 1984, but that those records were not made public.
     
     
