                     AIDS Daily Summary
                       July 26, 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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"Pa. Program Offers 2 More AIDS Drugs for Working Poor" 
"Poor TB Care Worse Than None"
"Courts Tough on Those Who May Expose Others to AIDS, Study Says" 
"The FDA Can Work Better"
"Report Blasts FDA's Blood Regulation" 
"AIDS and Elderly: Age Is No Escape" 
"Tuberculosis on Rise in Kenya"
"Venezuela Registers Nearly 3,500 Deaths from AIDS"
"Serum HIV-1 RNA Levels and Time to Development of AIDS in the
Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study"
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"Pa. Program Offers 2 More AIDS Drugs for Working Poor"
Philadelphia Inquirer (07/26/96) P. B2; Collins, Huntly
     Two more powerful new protease inhibitors will be provided
at no cost to low-income, uninsured AIDS patients in
Pennsylvania, the state Welfare Department announced Thursday.
Crixivan and Norvir will be added to the list of 58 AIDS drugs,
including the protease inhibitor Invirase, now provided by the
$5.7 million program.  To be eligible for the free drugs,
HIV-infected patients must earn less than $30,000 a year.  Each
patient may receive just one of the protease inhibitors, which,
when combined with older AIDS drugs, are able to suppress the
level of HIV in the bloodstream.  The drugs are covered by
private insurers and Medicaid, but the uninsured are not covered
in many states.

"Poor TB Care Worse Than None"
USA Today (07/26/96) P. 2D; Manning, Anita
     Tuberculosis (TB) programs that are not managed well do more
harm than good, researchers at the University of California San
Francisco and Stanford University Medical Center report today in
the journal Science.  UCSF's Sally Blower and Philip C. Hopewell,
and Stanford's Peter Small, evaluated the World Health
Organization's TB control programs and report that the number of
TB cases could be reduced by 80-90 percent by 2000 if WHO meets
its goals of identifying 70 percent of cases worldwide and curing
85 percent of those identified.  In their report, the researchers
warn that unless TB patients are treated with a full six-month
drug regimen, they can develop and spread drug-resistant strains.
Small called the report a vehicle to raise awareness about the
need for increased resources.

"Courts Tough on Those Who May Expose Others to AIDS, Study Says"
Houston Chronicle (07/25/96) P. 21A; Epstein, Aaron
     The courts of the 1990s are ruling against HIV-positive
individuals who expose others to the virus, even if the risk is
remote, a new legal study says.  Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown
University law professor, based his findings on 310 AIDS cases
since January 1991.  Judges have not discriminated against people
with AIDS in schools, workplaces, and housing projects, but
Gostin says they increasingly rule against HIV-positive
individuals in insurance disputes and in health-care settings
where exposure to blood is possible.  For example, several courts
have held that HIV-positive surgeons could be kept from operating
despite a low risk of transmitting the virus to patients.  At a
briefing on the study on Wednesday, Gostin said that lawmakers
and judges need to be educated about the risks of transmission.
The study noted that in criminal cases, people with HIV have been
convicted for spitting, biting, hitting, and other behaviors
which did not carry significant risk of transmission.  Moreover,
Gostin said, insurance disputes involving access to care,
ceilings on coverage, and other issues are generally decided in
favor of the insurance company.

"The FDA Can Work Better"
Washington Post (07/26/96) P. A27; Mikulski, Barbara; Kassebaum,
Nancy
     In a commentary in the Washington Post, Senators Barbara
Mikulski (D-Md.) and Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.) object to a July 17
Post editorial that criticized their year-long efforts to reform
the Food and Drug Administration.  They argue that the
legislation developed by the Senate Labor and Human Resources
Committee has not been rushed to the Senate floor, as the
editorial suggested, but is the result of careful consideration.
They also note that the FDA's success in speeding-up approval of
AIDS drugs, in response to pressure from the AIDS community, was
a basis for further improvement.  Objecting to the editorial's
suggestion that the bill would put too much regulatory power in
the private sector, the authors say it would only encourage
cooperation throughout the approval process, thus avoiding costly
delays.

"Report Blasts FDA's Blood Regulation"
Philadelphia Inquirer (07/26/96) P. A3; Shaw, Donna
     A new Congressional report criticizes the Food and Drug
Administration for not regulating the blood-products industry
effectively and not adequately protecting Americans from tainted
blood.  The report said that 15 years after AIDS was first
identified, the agency still does not have an effective recall
system for contaminated blood products.  It recommended that a
fund be created to help people who "suffer adverse consequences"
from tainted blood- and plasma-based therapies, but fails to
mention the estimated 10,000 hemophiliacs infected with HIV in the
1980s from blood-clotting products.  Moreover, Corey Dubin,
president of the Committee of Ten Thousand, an activist group for
HIV-infected hemophiliacs, denounced the report for its exclusion
of people already infected.  Legislation is pending to provide $1
billion to compensate HIV-infected hemophiliacs, but the bill is
said to have poor chances.

"AIDS and Elderly: Age Is No Escape"
Chicago Tribune (07/25/96) P. 1-1; Lade, Diane C.
     In Florida, at least 3,991 people over age 50 have contracted HIV
from unprotected sex and died of AIDS.  Sexual contact is the
most common way people over age 50 are infected with HIV,
accounting for 60 percent of cases in Florida since 1981.
Heterosexual sex is the most common mode of transmission among
those 65 or older and was responsible for 24.6 percent of all
cases documented in Florida since 1981.  While people aged 30-39
comprise 45 percent of the state's AIDS cases, the disease is
spreading in the senior population at a rapid rate.  Nationally,
the percentage of AIDS cases in people over 50 increased 11
percent from 1993 to 1994.  E. Bentley Lipscomb, secretary of
Florida's Department of Elder Affairs, says the problem stems
from lack of education as well as a neglect to target HIV
programs to the elderly population.

"Tuberculosis on Rise in Kenya"
Xinhua News Agency (07/25/96)
     In Kenya, tuberculosis cases increased to 4,000 in 1995, up
from 400 10 years earlier, a government official said Thursday.
The Kenyan Minister for Health attributed the rise to the spread
of HIV.  An estimated 1 million Kenyans have the virus, which is
often associated with TB.  The minister was speaking at the
opening of a new TB clinic.

"Venezuela Registers Nearly 3,500 Deaths of AIDS"
Xinhua News Agency (07/25/96)
     Out of 5,796 AIDS cases in Venezuela, 3,496 people have
died, a health official announced Thursday.  Alejandro
Villarroel, medical director of the International Foundation of
Combat Against AIDS in Venezuela, urged the public to be aware of
the threat of the disease.

"Serum HIV-1 RNA Levels and Time to Development of AIDS in the
Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study"
Journal of the American Medical Association (07/10/96) Vol. 276,
No. 2, P. 105; O'Brien, Thomas R.; Blattner, William A.; Waters,
David; et al.
     Research suggests that HIV-infected individuals with higher
levels of viral RNA may develop AIDS more quickly than those with
lower viral levels, but the time from infection to AIDS has not
been quantified for various HIV-1 RNA levels.  The link between the
amount of HIV-1 RNA during early chronic HIV-1 infection and future
disease progression is important to understand the pathogenesis of
HIV-1.  Dr. Thomas R. O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute and
colleagues evaluated HIV-1 RNA levels and disease progression in
165 patients enrolled in the Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study.
The patients' ages at time of seroconversion ranged from 1 year to
66 years.  The viral levels were similar for patients younger than
17 and for those aged 18 to 34, but they were higher for
individuals aged 35 or older.  At 10 years after seroconversion, 72
percent of patients with the highest initial viral load had
progressed to AIDS, while none of the patients with the lowest
viral loads had developed the disease.  The authors conclude that
the HIV-1 RNA level during early chronic HIV-1 infection is a
strong, age-independent predictor of disease progression.
