                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                        May 31, 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
     
     
************************************************************ 
"Hemophiliacs Willing to Take Modified Plan"
"Fairness of Sentence for Rape Questioned" 
"Health Risk"
"Japanese Lax in Terms of HIV Prevention" 
"Zimbabwe: AIDS Orphans on Farms"
"Untested"
"AIDS Associated With Injecting-Drug Use--United States, 1995" 
"Wonder Drug?"
"World Medicine and Western Medicine: The Missing 
Dialog--Interview, Kaiya Montaocean, Co-Director, Center for 
Natural and Traditional Medicines"
************************************************************
     
"Hemophiliacs Willing to Take Modified Plan"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (05/31/96) P. B6;  Groves, 
Martha
     Thousands of hemophiliacs who contracted HIV from
contaminated blood products will accept the revised $640 million 
settlement offered by four drug companies, representatives of the 
plaintiffs said Thursday.  The companies--Bayer, Rhone-Poulenc 
Rorer, Baxter International, and Alpha Therapeutic--eliminated on 
Wednesday an earlier restriction on the number of people who 
could reject the offer and pursue individual lawsuits but did not 
admit liability in the case.  Representatives of the hemophiliacs 
said that while the $100,000 proposed payment to each plaintiff 
was inadequate, it would at least help alleviate the burden felt 
by many families.
     
"Fairness of Sentence for Rape Questioned" 
Baltimore Sun (05/31/96) P. 1B;  O'Brien, Dennis
     Maryland's Supreme Court will consider today whether the 
attempted murder conviction of an HIV-positive rapist in 1994 was 
justified.  Dwight R. Smallwood was convicted of attempted murder 
as a result of his raping three women in 1993, when he knew he 
was infected with HIV.  His lawyers will argue that his 
conviction sets a dangerous precedent for the estimated 15,000 
HIV-positive people living in Maryland, who could face similar 
charges for having unprotected sex.  Gary E. Bair, of the 
attorney general's office, said the charge is appropriate if a 
prosecutor can prove that a rapist had an intent to kill.  
Smallwood was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for rape and 
attempted murder.  AIDS activists say that increased criminal 
penalties for people who know they have HIV could discourage 
those at risk from being tested.  Smallwood's lawyer said he 
should have been charged under a Maryland law for knowingly 
transmitting HIV and that if he had intent to kill, Smallwood 
would have used his gun.
     
"Health Risk"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (05/30/96) P. 1B;  Schieszer, John
     While the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the United
States has decreased over the last three years, doctors are 
concerned that cuts in funding could now reverse this trend. 
Curbing funding for research and treatment could result in more 
drug-resistant strains of TB and a repeat of the resurgence seen 
in the 1980s.  TB kills more people worldwide each year than 
AIDS, malaria, and all tropical diseases combined, but in the 
United States, the number of TB cases declined about 6 percent 
last year.  Most of the TB cases reported in St. Louis were in 
immigrants from countries where the disease is common.  Those 
considered at the greatest risk for TB are the homeless, 
intravenous drug users, and people with compromised immunity, 
including AIDS and cancer patients.  In the United States, 
treatment for a TB patient costs about $2,000, but treating a 
drug-resistant strain can cost $250,000.
     
"Japanese Lax in Terms of HIV Prevention" 
Reuters (05/30/96)
     Japanese adults' HIV risk behaviors may cause a dramatic
increase in the number of new HIV infections, a researcher at the 
University of Tsukuba warns in the current issue of AIDS 
Education and Prevention.  Tsunetsugu Munakata reports that two 
behavioral surveys of more than 10,000 adults show that most do 
not regard AIDS as a major threat and that one in five males and 
one in 12.5 females who are married or who have a regular sex 
partner had sex with another sex partner within the last year.  
Three-quarters of them, especially those between the ages of 20 
and 24, said they do not always use condoms.  Munakata also said 
there was a strong reluctance to be tested for HIV and to notify 
sex partners of the test results.  More AIDS education, 
especially the promotion of condom use, is needed, Munakata said.
     
"Zimbabwe: AIDS Orphans on Farms"
AIA/GIN News Service (05/29/96)
     In response to the rising death toll from AIDS in rural
Zimbabwe, farmers have started foster homes for the orphaned 
children.  Two million people, half of them children, live on 
Zimbabwe's large-scale commercial farms.  At the current rate of 
HIV infection in this population, at least 200,000 children could 
be orphaned in the next ten years.  The farming community is 
especially vulnerable to AIDS because of its social and 
geographical isolation, lack of education and economic security, 
and because large groups of people move from farm to farm.  
Recreation in the community depends on bars, where unprotected 
commercial sex is common.  Many farm workers lose contact with 
their extended families, leaving children in need of foster care. 
Currently, many farms are already taking in children, and 65 
percent of farmers interviewed said they are in favor of foster 
care for orphaned children, though they are concerned about the 
high cost of providing this care.
     
"Untested"
Economist (05/18/96) Vol. 339, No. 7966, P. 29
     The recent passage of the Ryan White Care Act demonstrates
the United States' reluctance to treat AIDS as a public health 
issue.  An amendment that would have made HIV tests mandatory for 
newborns was too controversial and was altered to encourage 
states to implement such tests instead, carrying the threat of 
losing federal AIDS funds if infant AIDS cases do not decline.  
Identifying pregnant women with HIV, and treating them and their 
children, can reduce the chance of transmission by two-thirds.  
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, claims 
that requiring HIV tests for pregnant women could be harmful to 
the doctor-patient relationship.  Such HIV testing has also been 
criticized by AIDS activists, who advocate instead education and 
voluntary testing.  A public health approach was successfully 
taken to deal with the post-World War II rise in venereal 
disease, and many states still require couples take a VD test to 
get a marriage license.  A public health approach for AIDS, 
however, would have to address the issue of needle exchange 
programs, which are controversial because they are seen as 
helping drug addicts, even though they have been shown to be 
effective at reducing HIV transmission.
     
"AIDS Associated With Injecting-Drug Use--United States, 1995" 
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (05/17/96) Vol. 45, No. 19, 
P. 392
     Injection-drug use is the second most common risk factor for
HIV infection, responsible for 36 percent of all AIDS cases 
reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of 
December 31, 1995.  These cases include injection drug users 
(IDUs), their heterosexual partners, and children of mothers who 
are drug users or partners of drug users.  The CDC's Division of 
HIV/AIDS Prevention reported trends in IDU-associated AIDS cases 
through 1995 in the United States.  Of the IDU-associated AIDS 
cases reported in 1995, 54 percent were heterosexual males, 20 
percent were female, 13 percent were men who have sex with men, 
and 11 percent were heterosexual partners of IDUs.  Of all the 
AIDS cases in women, 66 percent were associated with injection 
drug use, as were 85 percent of AIDS cases among heterosexual 
men.  An editorial accompanying the article points out that while 
the rate of IDU-associated AIDS cases is slowing, it is 
increasing among heterosexual partners of IDUs and among 
heterosexual minorities, especially African Americans.  To reduce 
the rate of IDU-associated AIDS, efforts should focus on 
preventing the initiation of injection drug use, placing more 
IDUs in treatment programs, and encouraging safer injecting drug 
practices and sexual practices, the editors said.
     
"Wonder Drug?"
Barron's (05/20/96) Vol. 126, No. 21, P. 24;  Savitz, Eric J.
     The recent release of a study showing the promise of
Reticulose, an AIDS drug made by Advanced Viral Research, sparked 
investor interest in the company.  Reticulose, Advanced Viral's 
only drug, has not been approved in any country, and the Food and 
Drug Administration has refused to let the drug be tested in 
human trials.  The study found that Reticulose inhibited HIV 
replication in the laboratory and stimulated the production of 
gamma interferon.  Although Advanced Viral is optimistic about 
the drug's potential, Reticulose has a problematic history.  It 
was marketed in the 1940s as a treatment for a variety of 
illnesses but was banned in 1962 when new FDA laws required proof 
of a drug's efficacy not just its harmlessness.  The FDA also 
rejected in 1984 the company's request to test the drug in AIDS 
patients.  Other difficulties include two additional rejected 
bids for human trials in 1992 and 1995 and a Securities and 
Exchange Commission civil suit alleging that unrealistic claims 
were made about the drug.  A distributor in the Cayman Islands 
currently markets the treatment on the Internet, claiming the 
drug is effective against a range of infectious diseases, 
including AIDS, but AIDS experts remain skeptical of Reticulose's 
potential.
     
"World Medicine and Western Medicine: The Missing 
Dialog--Interview, Kaiya Montaocean, Co-Director, Center for 
Natural and Traditional Medicines"
AIDS Treatment News (05/17/96) No. 247, P. 1;  James, John S.
     Traditional medicine, although the basic form of health care
for 80 percent of the world's population, receives little 
research funding and attention from the scientific community. 
Through the Center for Natural and Traditional Medicines (CNTM) 
in Washington, D.C., Kaiya Montaocean and John Rutayuga have been 
working to bring more support to traditional medicines.  CNTM 
organizes collaborations between traditional medicine 
practitioners in Senegal, South Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, 
and India.  In an interview, Montaocean said that more 
collaboration between biomedical professionals and practitioners 
of natural and traditional medicine is needed.  He sees Western 
medicine as suitable for short-term interventions, but not useful 
for treating the global population.  Because most people with 
HIV live in countries where traditional medicine dominates, its 
solutions should be considered, Montaocean says.  Practitioners 
of traditional medicine feel unwelcome and have become unwilling 
to work with the Western biomedical community.  Montaocean claims 
that most people participating in the meetings are more 
interested in hearing about Western medical advances than 
traditional medicine, noting that as Western treatments fail, 
many people turn to traditional therapies.
     
     
