                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       June 18, 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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"CDC's Deceitful HIV Scare Campaign"
"In Quests Outside Mainstream, Medical Projects Rewrite Rules" 
"Lifeline: Fur's Flying"
"Why Do We Insist on Scaring Our Children?" 
"Health Notes: New Convenience in AIDS Drug"
"Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Gets Preliminary Approval for AIDS Drug 
Trials"
"More Than 100 Million Worldwide Predicted To Be HIV-Positive by 
Year 2000"
"Agency Formed to Coordinate AIDS Vaccine Development" 
"Infection and AIDS in Adult Macaques After Nontraumatic Oral 
Exposure to Cell-Free SIV"
"Japanese Minister Takes Pay Cut to Atone for HIV Contamination" 
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"CDC's Deceitful HIV Scare Campaign"
Wall Street Journal (06/18/96) P. A23; Wright, Michael
     In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal,
Michael Wright, of Scientific Social Research, criticizes 
previous letters written by Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention officials and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. 
Wright claims that the letter from the CDC, written in defense of 
the agency's HIV education campaign, falsely claimed that in 1987 
the agency did not know that certain groups were at higher risk 
for HIV than others.  Calling those statements "indefensible," he 
cites a 1987 CDC report and other studies that specifically named 
high-risk groups and said that people not belonging to any of the 
groups had a lower risk of contracting HIV.  Wright concludes 
that CDC officials should have recognized this disparity in risk 
and should be held responsible for the dishonest scare campaign 
they engineered.
     
"In Quests Outside Mainstream, Medical Projects Rewrite Rules" 
New York Times (06/17/96) P. A1; Kolata, Gina
     The Office of Alternative Medicine, part of the National 
Institutes of Health, was founded in 1991 by Congress to 
determine the possible benefits of a variety of treatments not 
accepted by the conventional medical establishment.  The office 
has not yet proven any alternative therapy to work or fail.  Its 
budget is relatively small--$7,486,000 for fiscal year 1996--and 
some scientists have criticized the office for distributing money 
to researchers who have little experience with clinical research 
or clinical trials.  A $920,000 grant was awarded to Leanna J. 
Standish, a neuropath at Bastyr University in Seattle, for a 
1,500- to 2,000-person clinical trial evaluating alternative AIDS 
therapies.  Standish hopes to determine which alternative 
treatments for HIV have the most potential.  Richard Peto, a 
clinical trial expert, said the study would prove useless 
because, even as an exploratory program, it lacked a control 
group.
     
"Lifeline: Fur's Flying"
USA Today (06/18/96) P. 1D; Vigoda, Arlene
     Jeff Getty, the AIDS patient and activist that received a
baboon bone marrow transplant last year, is joining other AIDS 
patients in Washington, D.C., this week for a counter-protest 
against animal rights activists.  Getty has criticized People for 
the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups for delaying 
AIDS research.
     
"Why Do We Insist on Scaring Our Children?" 
USA Today (06/18/96) P. 13A; Medved, Michael
     In a commentary on society's warnings to young people, film 
critic Michael Medved writes in USA Today that the negativism 
presented by the schools, the media, and parents concerning issues 
including AIDS, drugs, divorce, and crime is too strong and is 
undermining children's hope.  He says that the trend toward 
warning children at younger and younger ages is new and is 
failing.  Moreover, the critic points out that despite increased 
sex education programs, some schools report increases in 
unprotected sexual activity.  Medved advocates optimism for 
children and says that scare tactics bring about increased 
self-pity and feelings of victimization.
     
"Health Notes: New Convenience in AIDS Drug"
United Press International (06/18/96); Milius, Susan
     The antibiotic Zithromax can now be taken by HIV-infected 
individuals once a week rather than every day.  The Food and Drug 
Administration has approved the new dose formulation of the drug 
that can help prevent Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) 
infections in the blood.  MAC, which the CDC estimates affects an 
estimated 25 percent of AIDS patients, causes fever, fatigue, 
diarrhea, and wasting.
     
"Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Gets Preliminary Approval for AIDS Drug 
Trials"
Knight-Ridder (06/18/96); Locke, Tom
     Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals has received approval from an
advisory panel at the National Institutes of Health to move 
forward with plans for a clinical trial for an unnamed AIDS drug. 
The clinical trial will test a new treatment in which cells would 
be taken from a patient with HIV, treated with the drug, and then 
returned to the patient.  The first phase of the trial may begin 
within a few months.
     
"More Than 100 Million Worldwide Predicted To Be HIV-Positive by 
Year 2000"
Reuters (06/17/96) 
     A researcher at the University of Maryland Institute of
Human Virology in Baltimore estimates that 20 million people 
worldwide are currently infected with HIV and that 100 million 
people will have the virus by the year 2000.  William Blattner 
reports that the pattern of HIV infection has shifted quickly and 
that more than 90 percent of those infected with HIV in the year 
2000 will be in developing countries.  In the June 1 issue of 
Internal Medicine News, he projects that the pandemic will become 
more prevalent in Asia than in Africa over the coming years.
     
"Agency Formed to Coordinate AIDS Vaccine Development" 
Reuters (06/17/96) 
     The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, sponsored by the 
Rockefeller Foundation, was founded to work with non-profit, 
profit, and government groups to make AIDS vaccine research less 
risky for private-sector investors.  The agency was described in 
the June 15 issue of the Lancet.  Peggy Johnston, scientific 
director of the project, said the initiative will support 
research and development aimed at filling in gaps of current 
programs.  She noted that it is especially important to consider 
the high prevalence of HIV infection in developing countries and 
to develop vaccines that target different HIV strains.
     
"Infection and AIDS in Adult Macaques After Nontraumatic Oral 
Exposure to Cell-Free SIV"
Science (06/07/96) Vol. 272, No. 5267; P. 1486; Baba, Timothy W.; 
Trichel, Anita M.; An, Li; et al.
     Reported cases of HIV-1 transmission by oral-genital
exposure have been rare, and a quantitative assessment of the 
relative HIV risk of oral infection has not been possible. 
Infection of rhesus monkeys with SIV is the best system to model 
human HIV-1 transmission, viremia, and disease.  Ruth M. 
Ruprecht, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and others exposed 
two rhesus monkeys to SIV orally, and both became infected.  The 
researchers found that the minimum amount of virus required for 
infection from oral exposure was 6,000 times lower than that 
needed for rectal infection.  They therefore suggest that 
infection from intrarectal exposure in humans is more common than 
infection from oral-genital exposure because rectal infection is 
facilitated by mucosal tears during sexual intercourse. 
According to the researchers, the findings do not imply that HIV-1 
transmission is likely to occur through casual contact or that the 
risk for oral infection is limited to high viral levels, as found 
in blood or semen.  The portal of virus entry after oral exposure 
should be studied further, the researchers suggest, noting that 
unprotected oral sex should be considered a risk behavior for 
HIV-1 transmission.
     
"Japanese Minister Takes Pay Cut to Atone for HIV Contamination" 
Nature (06/06/96) Vol. 380, No. 6582; P. 460
     Japan's Health and Welfare Minister Naoto Kan has announced
that he and vice-minister Hiroshi Tada will take a 20 percent 
reduction in pay over the next two months in an attempt to atone 
for the government's role in the tainted blood scandal in the 
early- to mid-1980s.  Kan only became minister in January, so he 
bears no responsibility for the disaster, which resulted in 2,000 
Japanese hemophiliacs becoming infected with HIV from 
non-heat-treated blood products.  He led efforts to expose the 
ministry's role in the scandal, but, according to Japanese 
tradition, Kan should take symbolic responsibility.  
Representatives of hemophiliacs were not satisfied with the 
action, saying the pay cut is not adequate atonement for the 
infection of so many people.
     
     
