                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       August 8, 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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"New Regimens Found for AIDS-Related Ailment"
"Across the USA: Montana"
"Eyes on Your Files"
"Congress Calls for Improved Standards for U.S. Blood Supply"
"HIV in Cervicovaginal Secretions: No Correlation With Plasma 
HIV"
"Tanzania: Government Announces New AIDS Policy"
"4,000 Contract HIV in Ethiopian Region"
"HIV-1 Prevalence Still Low in Slovakia"
"Seroconversion to Antibodies Against Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated
Herpesvirus-Related Latent Nuclear Antigens Before the 
Development of Kaposi's Sarcoma"
"Japanese AIDS Expert Files Law Suits for Damages"
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"New Regimens Found for AIDS-Related Ailment"
Washington Post (08/08/96) P. A32
     Advances in treating Mycobacterium avium, a common bacterial
infection in AIDS patients, appear in three separate reports in 
today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  The first 
study, conducted by researchers from the University of Alberta, 
found that a combination of three drugs--rifabutin, ethambutol, 
and clarithromycin--was effective against the infection in 78 
percent of the patients, compared with 40 percent of the patients
who received a four-drug regimen.  The second study, from 
scientists at Vanderbilt University, found that the risk of 
infection could be decreased with the regular use of 
clarithromycin.  In the third study, meanwhile, researchers at 
the University of California at San Diego report that only 7.6 
percent of patients who took azithromycin developed the 
infection, versus 15.3 percent who took rifabutin.
     
"Across the USA: Montana"
USA Today (08/08/96) P. 10A
     A federal grant for $129,000 to provide AIDS drugs to
residents of Montana will be depleted next month.
     
"Eyes on Your Files"
Washington Post (08/08/96) P. A30
     Medical privacy could be endangered by the Kennedy-Kassebaum
health care bill, a Washington Post editorial warns.  The 
legislation includes a provision to create a national network of 
patients' medical information in a standardized form.  The 
writers say that safeguards need to be added to protect the 
unauthorized release of information and suggest that Congress act
quickly to provide this protection.
     
"Congress Calls for Improved Standards for U.S. Blood Supply"
Reuters (08/07/96) 
     A congressional committee has issued a report calling for 
improved national standards to make the blood supply safer.  The 
report, from the House of Representatives' Government Reform and 
Oversight Subcommittee, recommends that the Department of Health 
and Human Services ensure that "patients who received 
transfusions before 1990 be notified of their risk of infection 
so they can seek diagnosis and treatment."
     
"HIV in Cervicovaginal Secretions: No Correlation With Plasma 
HIV"
Reuters (08/07/96) 
     The amount of HIV-1 found in women's plasma is not related
to the presence or absence of the virus in cervicovaginal
secretions, according to researchers at the University of
Southern California.  In the American Journal of Obstetrics and 
Gynecology, Suraiya Rasheed and colleagues report that they 
compared the virus' replication in blood and cervicovaginal 
samples from 63 HIV-positive women.  In 26 percent of the women 
who had no detectable levels of HIV in their plasma, significant 
levels of the virus were found in their cervicovaginal 
secretions.  Also, 17 percent of the women with significant 
plasma HIV levels had no detectable HIV in their cervicovaginal 
secretions.
     
"Tanzania: Government Announces New AIDS Policy"
Africa Information Afrique (08/06/96) 
     To combat the pervasive attitude in Tanzania that AIDS
patients should be separated from the rest of society, the
government has published a proposal to ban AIDS discrimination. 
The new policy prohibits the testing for or inquiring about
anyone's HIV status for employment, insurance, or other purposes. 
AIDS discrimination has been problematic in Tanzania since the
first AIDS death was reported in 1983.  The World Health
Organization estimates that 250,000 people in the country are
infected with HIV.  A 1994 survey by the National AIDS Control
Program found that 10 percent to 12 percent of Tanzanians thought
the virus could be contracted by casual contact and 20 percent
thought the disease only affected prostitutes, barmaids,
prominent people, and long distance truckers.
     
"4,000 Contract HIV in Ethiopian Region"
Xinhua News Agency (08/07/96) 
     In Ethiopia's southern region of Oromiya, 23 hospitals
report that the number of HIV cases has increased by more than
4,000 over the past 12 months.  The area has a total of 50,000
AIDS cases, and more than 100,000 people are infected with HIV.  
Experts estimate that there are 350,000 AIDS patients and 1.7 
million HIV-positive individuals in the country as a whole.
     
"HIV-1 Prevalence Still Low in Slovakia"
Reuters (08/07/96) 
     Slovokia is still thought to have one of the lowest rates of
HIV infection, researchers at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in 
Bratislava report in the journal AIDS Research and Human 
Retroviruses.  V. Zachar and colleagues found that, along with 
low incidence, HIV-1 infections in the country appear to be 
limited to subtype B, the strain most common in North America and
Western Europe.  New reports of HIV transmission by heterosexual 
contact suggest that the epidemic is changing, however.  
Previously, the virus was found almost exclusively in the 
homosexual population in the western part of the country.
     
"Seroconversion to Antibodies Against Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated
Herpesvirus-Related Latent Nuclear Antigens Before the 
Development of Kaposi's Sarcoma"
New England Journal of Medicine (07/25/96) Vol. 335, No. 4, P. 
233; Gao, Shou-Jiang; Kingsley, Lawrence; Hoover, Donald R.; et 
Gao, Shou-Jiang
     To determine whether Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus
(KSHV) causes Kaposi's sarcoma, researchers at Columbia 
University compared antibody tests for AIDS patients with and 
without Kaposi's sarcoma and other patients with and without HIV.
Shou-Jiang Gao et al. report that, of 40 patients with Kaposi's 
sarcoma, 32 had antibodies for KSHV, compared to seven of 40 
homosexual men who did not have the disease just before they 
developed AIDS.  Out of 122 blood donors, 22 patients with 
Epstein-Barr virus, 20 HIV-positive patients, and 20 HIV-positive
men with hemophilia, none had the KSHV antibodies.  Over the 
study period, 21 of the 40 patients with Kaposi's sarcoma 
seroconverted six to 75 months before the clinical appearance of 
the disease.  The median time between antibody seropositivity and
the diagnosis of Kaposi's sarcoma was 33 months.  The authors 
conclude that most patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and AIDS 
develop antibodies against KSHV before they develop signs of the 
disease.  They say that this supports the link between KSHV 
infection and Kaposi's sarcoma.
     
"Japanese AIDS Expert Files Law Suits for Damages"
Nature (07/25/96) Vol. 382, No. 6589, P. 292
     In lawsuits claiming damages for media reports blaming him
for Japan's tainted blood scandal, the former head of a
government AIDS study group is seeking a total of $720,000 from
three different parties.  Takeshi Abe has been severely
criticized for his role in the spread of HIV among thousands of
Japanese hemophiliacs between 1983 and 1985.  He is suing a major
daily newspaper, a popular weekly magazine and a lawyer, as well
as a former television journalist who wrote a book about the
blood scandal.  It has been reported that Tokyo prosecutors have 
established that a hemophiliac patient of Abe's became infected 
with HIV in 1985, after Abe had treated him with non-heat-treated
blood products.
     


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