                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       August 2, 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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"Md.'s Top Court Says HIV Not Enough to Convict Rapist of 
Attempted Murder"
"D.C. Shows a Jump in TB Cases"
"House Backs Bill Granting Workers Portable Benefit" 
"Senate Votes Bill to Revamp Welfare Policy"
"Deadly Variant of AIDS Virus Spreads to Britain"
"New Hope, Care for People in Need: Center for Women With HIV to 
Open"
"Court Orders HIV Test for Juvenile Sex Offender" 
"Kenya Backs Life in Jail for HIV-Infected Rapists" 
"Will New AIDS Drugs Put More People at Risk?" 
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"Md.'s Top Court Says HIV Not Enough to Convict Rapist of 
Attempted Murder"
Washington Post (08/02/96) P. A1; Argetsinger, Amy
     The Maryland Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that an 
HIV-positive man who raped three women cannot be tried for 
attempted murder even though he may have infected his victims 
with the virus.  Although the decision overturns the 1994 
attempted murder convictions of Dwight Ralph Smallwood, the man 
remains sentenced for life for the raping the three women.  
Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin, an expert on 
AIDS litigation, said the ruling is the first of its kind.  "The 
clear trend in AIDS cases in the 1990s is to be quite punitive 
against persons with AIDS," he said.  Several appeals courts in 
other states have upheld attempted murder charges for 
HIV-positive people who exposed others to the virus, usually 
through biting or spitting.
     
"D.C. Shows a Jump in TB Cases"
Washington Post (08/02/96) P. B1; Goldstein, Amy
     The D.C. Medical Society and the American Lung Association
have released a study showing a 50 percent jump in the number of 
tuberculosis (TB) cases in the nation's capital so far this year. 
The surge in TB cases has been attributed to "shocking 
deficiencies" in the District's efforts, including a lack of TB 
drugs, inadequate laboratory tests, and the inability to find and 
treat people with the disease.  In addition, an increasing number 
of people infected with TB have drug-resistant strains or are 
infected with HIV.  Michael S.A. Richardson, one of the study's 
authors, noted, "TB is a controllable infection that clearly is 
spreading and we did not see the city doing anything to address 
the problem."
     
"House Backs Bill Granting Workers Portable Benefit" 
New York Times (08/02/96) P. A1; Clymer, Adam
     The U.S. House of Representatives passed a health insurance
bill on Thursday that would curtail exclusions based on 
pre-existing conditions and permit workers to take their 
insurance coverage with them when they move from one job to 
another.  A provision that would have required insurers to cover 
mental health on an equal basis with their coverage of physical 
health was rejected, however.  Other provisions that caused 
controversy but eventually passed were tax-sheltered medical 
savings accounts that permit people to set aside money to cover 
routine medical expenses as long as they also purchase 
inexpensive, high-deductible policies to cover serious illnesses, 
and a measure by Sen. Trent Lott (D--Miss.) to extend a patent 
for an anti-arthritis drug manufactured by American Home 
Products.  An aide to Senator Lott noted that the provision was 
needed to "level the playing field" against another drug maker, 
Monsanto, which won a patent extension on its drug last year.
     
"Senate Votes Bill to Revamp Welfare Policy"
Wall Street Journal (08/02/96) P. A2; Milbank, Dana
     The U.S. Senate approved a welfare reform bill
by a 78 to 21 margin on Thursday, clearing the way for President 
Bill Clinton to sign it.  The legislation permits states to 
control their own welfare programs, imposes a five-year lifetime 
limit on benefits, and requires that those who receive welfare 
find work within two years.  The measure also reduces spending by 
nearly $56 billion over six years and has provisions to 
discourage out-of-wedlock births.  Some Democrats criticized the 
bill--Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D--N.Y.) characterized the 
legislation as "welfare repeal" instead of reform, stating that 
"it is the first step in dismantling the social contract that has 
been in place in the U.S. since at least the 1930s."
     
"Deadly Variant of AIDS Virus Spreads to Britain" 
Reuters (08/01/96) 
     New Scientist magazine, a British science journal, reported 
Thursday that a new, potentially more virulent strain of HIV that 
is found most often in Thailand has been diagnosed in Britain.  
Since May, 73 cases of HIV-subtype E infection have been detected 
in the country--12 in women.  "Once there's a critical mass of a 
more infectious type of HIV, the disease could take off more in 
the heterosexual population than it has already," said Barry 
Evans, an epidemiologist at Britain's Public Health Laboratory 
Service.  The agency has requested additional funding for 
increased surveillance of the new variants because it does not 
have enough resources itself.
     
"New Hope, Care for People in Need: Center for Women With HIV to 
Open"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (07/31/96) P. 1B; Schieszer, John
     The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
has opened a health care center for HIV-infected women, the group 
with the fastest-growing rate of HIV infection, according to 
Washington University professor Dr. Vicky Fraser.  The new Helena 
Hatch Special Care Center combines the benefits of a large 
teaching hospital with links to other public health facilities, 
including the city and state health departments, to better 
provide care for women infected with HIV.  The center is just one 
of five in the United States that specializes in women's care, 
offering medical, psychological, and social assistance for all 
women whether they are able to pay or not.  HIV-infected children 
will also be treated at the new facility.
     
"Court Orders HIV Test for Juvenile Sex Offender" 
Reuters (08/01/96) 
     Testing juvenile sex offenders for HIV without
their consent does not violate their Fourth Amendment rights, an 
Arizona court has ruled.  The decision, which was reported by the 
BNA Health Care Daily on July 31, overturns a previous juvenile 
court decision that said involuntary HIV testing was 
unconstitutional.  In the State of Arizona v. Maricopa County 
Superior Court, the court held that when "juvenile's acts could 
have exposed the victim to HIV, involuntary HIV testing is not an 
unreasonable search and seizure," though it acknowledged that 
involuntary HIV testing is a breach of the offender's privacy.  
The case was spearheaded by the minor's mother who asked for the 
test following an alleged incident of anal intercourse.
     
"Kenya Backs Life in Jail for HIV-Infected Rapists" 
Reuters (08/01/96) 
     HIV-infected rapists and anyone found guilty of
intentionally infecting others with HIV should receive life in 
prison, said parliamentarians in Kenya.  In their unanimous show 
of support for the mandatory sentence, the lawmakers voiced their 
concerns about the rapid spread of HIV and blamed courts for 
delivering lax sentences to infected rapists and sex offenders. 
A draft amendment to the penal code will be prepared when 
parliament returns from its August break.
     
"Will New AIDS Drugs Put More People at Risk?"
Village Voice (07/23/96) Vol. 41, No. 30, P. 26; Schoofs, Mark
     Although promising new drugs have been found to reduce the
amount of HIV in the blood, researchers do not know if this 
lessens the risk that a patient will transmit the virus to 
others.  Common sense suggests that someone with less virus in 
their blood would be less likely to transmit the virus, but 
studies have shown that the level of HIV in semen or vaginal 
secretions can vary even if the level in the blood is consistent. 
Moreover, while some drugs are known to be able to suppress the 
virus in the genital tract, tests have only just started on the 
impact of protease inhibitors.  Studies suggest that HIV can be 
transmitted both via an infected cell and as a free-floating 
virus.  At the XIth International Conference on AIDS, researcher 
David Ho of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center said that, 
even if anti-HIV drugs worked perfectly, it could take up to 
three years for all of a patient's infected cells to die out. 
Even by reducing infectivity, though, researchers said that the 
new drugs could help curb the spread of HIV.  Deborah Anderson, a 
Harvard University researcher working on understanding the sexual 
transmission of HIV, said that more research has not been 
conducted in the area because funding has not been available.
     
     


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