                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      August 21, 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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"Across the USA: Connecticut"
"Lifesaving Medical History Coming in a Flash"
"District's Drinking Water Tests High for Bacteria for Third 
Month"
"Children Facing AIDS to Attend Special Camp" 
"Japan Police Raid Firm at Center of AIDS Scandal"
"Report Card on Clinton's '92 Campaign Promises Published"
"HIV-Infected Infants Respond to Haemophilus Influenzae Type B 
Conjugate Vaccine"
"Tangled Lifeline"
"How to Fight AIDS"
"J&J's Confide Faces Legal Battle, New Rival" 
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"Across the USA: Connecticut"
USA Today (08/21/96) P. 11A
     Needle exchange programs in Willimantic, Conn., should be 
reviewed, say law enforcement officials.  More than 350 discarded 
needles were found on city streets one week, and a 2-year-old 
girl was pricked by one.
     
"Lifesaving Medical History Coming in a Flash" 
New York Times (08/21/96) P. C9; Gilbert, Susan
     While electronic medical identification cards may provide 
life-saving information for patients who need emergency care, 
critics caution that the system could allow personal information 
to be disclosed.  Certain medical data--like whether a person has
HIV, a history of mental illness, or a genetic predisposition to 
a disease--could become available to insurance companies or 
employers and lead to discrimination, they say.  At least six 
legislative proposals are pending that would attempt to protect a 
patient's privacy and prohibit discrimination based on genetic 
information.  Supporters of electronic medical identification 
systems defend their security, saying that selected files can be 
encrypted to restrict access.
     
"District's Drinking Water Tests High for Bacteria for Third 
Month"
Washington Post (08/21/96) P. C3; Cohn, D'Vera
     For the third month in a row, tests have shown that high
bacteria levels in Washington D.C.'s tap water violate federal 
standards, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency said 
Tuesday.  The officials repeated the recommendations they made in 
June and July, advising people with weak immune systems--including 
persons with AIDS, individuals who receive chemotherapy, and the 
elderly--to consult their doctors about possible alternatives to 
tap water.  The continuing problem stems from long neglect of the
city's pipe system.  Extra chlorine was added to the water last 
month, but only limited success was seen.  Officials are 
experimenting with a stronger disinfectant, but that chemical, 
known as chloramines, will not be fully utilized for at least a 
year.
     
"Children Facing AIDS to Attend Special Camp" 
Boston Globe (08/20/96) P. B3
     As part of the Safe Haven Project, a camp based in 
Martha's Vineyard, Mass., will host more than 100 children with 
HIV and AIDS over the next two weeks.  The campers are mostly 
from the Northeast, and range in age from age six to 18.  They 
will visit several New Hampshire attractions, including the 
Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, Canobie Lake, and the 
Anheuser-Busch brewery.
     
"Japan Police Raid Firm at Center of AIDS Scandal" 
Reuters (08/21/96); Eckert, Paul
     The offices of Green Cross, a Japanese drug company
implicated in the country's tainted blood scandal, was raided by
public prosecutors Wednesday.  The raid was the first police 
action against the companies that distributed HIV-infected blood 
products to hemophiliacs in the mid-1980s, leaving about 2,000 
hemophiliacs infected with the virus.  The action was in response 
to a lawsuit charging Renzo Matsushita, a former Green Cross 
president, with negligence in the AIDS-related death of a 
patient.  Green Cross and four other drug companies reached a 
settlement with 400 HIV-infected hemophiliacs in March, and took 
responsibility for failing to prevent the spread of the virus 
when the risk had been known.
     
"Report Card on Clinton's '92 Campaign Promises Published" 
Reuters (08/20/96) 
     President Clinton kept several of his 1992 AIDS-related
campaign promises, according to the August 19 issue of the 
American Health Line, which features an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 
report on the president's fulfilled and unfilled promises. 
Included in the promises Clinton kept were: the appointment of a 
federal AIDS policy coordinator; increased funding for AIDS 
research, prevention, and treatment; more rapid approval of new
AIDS drugs; support of local in-school condom distribution; 
funding for the Ryan White Care Act; and improved access to 
experimental treatments.  According to the report, unfulfilled 
promises include the president's pledge to lift the ban on U.S. 
travel or immigration for people with HIV.
     
"HIV-Infected Infants Respond to Haemophilus Influenzae Type B 
Conjugate Vaccine"
Reuters (08/20/96) 
     In a study of infants exposed to or infected with HIV, 
Haemophilus influenzae type B conjugate vaccine elicited a 
positive immune response, researchers from the Children's 
Hospital of Philadelphia report.  Richard M. Rutsein and 
colleagues found that 46 percent of the HIV-infected infants and 
79 percent of the HIV-exposed babies, mounted an immune response 
to the vaccine.  After the 15-month booster dose, however, the 
immune response in the two groups was not significantly 
different.  The study appears in the August issue of Pediatric & 
Adolescent Medicine.

"Tangled Lifeline"
Washington Post Magazine (08/18/96) P. 10; Cohen, Susan
     Umbilical cord blood is being touted as a potential
lifesaving treatment for various blood and immune system diseases, 
and companies are urging expectant parents to have their child's 
cord blood collected and stored as a form of insurance.  Cord 
blood may be used in place of bone marrow transplants to treat 
diseases when other treatments fail.  More than 200 cord blood 
transplants have been conducted in the United States since 1990, 
and the National Lung and Blood Institute has allocated $30 
million to the creation of cord blood banks and transplant 
centers.  Like gene therapy and genetic screening, however, 
scientific and ethical questions surround the issue--and answers 
are not immediately forthcoming.  In the meantime, as companies 
are sending marketing materials to expectant parents, doctors are 
criticizing the practice, saying that cord blood transplants are 
only rarely needed.  The Food and Drug Administration, concerned 
about the safety of cord blood from infectious and genetic 
diseases, has decided to regulate cord blood as a drug, a process 
considered burdensome to blood banks.
     
"How to Fight AIDS"
Newsweek (08/05/96) Vol. 128, No. 6, P. 18; Merson, Michael H.
     Although political and financial support for HIV prevention 
programs is decreasing, Michael H. Merson, dean of public health 
at Yale University, says that this support should be maintained, 
especially in light of new studies that show such strategies are 
successful.  In a Newsweek magazine commentary, Merson argues 
that prevention is more humane and cost-effective than treatment, 
and fears that advances in treatment may lead to complacency in 
prevention.  At the 11th International Conference on AIDS, 
several reports touted the success of HIV prevention efforts, 
including needle exchange programs, community-based activities, 
and the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.  Merson, 
however, suggests that political and financial support for such 
programs has declined because the groups affected most--gay men, 
drug users, African-Americans, and Latinos--lack political 
influence.  He urges prevention and treatment efforts to be 
continued to combat the growing AIDS epidemic.

"J&J's Confide Faces Legal Battle, New Rival"
Advertising Age (08/05/96) Vol. 67, No. 32, P. 3; Wilke, Michael
     Johnson & Johnson, facing competition from Home Access
Health in the home HIV test kit market, has decided to begin
national direct mail sales of its test, called Confide,
immediately and to increase national retail availability in
September.  The company will begin national advertising of
Confide's 800-number in September.  J&J is also facing a legal
battle with Elliott Millenson, a former executive who developed
the test and was hired by J&J to head its Direct Access
Diagnostics division.  An arbitrator has ruled that the company
return the product rights to Millenson.  Home Access Health,
meanwhile, has launched a $5 million to $7 million advertising
campaign for its test kit.  A similar test by ChemTrak is
awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and
SmithKline Beecham will seek approval to market to consumers its
saliva-based HIV test, now approved for use by doctors.
