                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 12, 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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"Canada Reduces Red Cross' Authority"
"Seeking Health From the Roots Up"
"Rendell, Street Will Open Calcutta House AIDS Home" 
"Obituary: Mark Wayne Gregory, Subject of AIDS Settlement" 
"Science & Health Bulletin: Uganda-AIDS Workshop" 
"Bluebells, Daffodils Could Hold Key to AIDS Drug"
"Extent of HIV Transmission via Breast Milk in Ugandan Women 
Limited"
"Science & Health Bulletin: Kenya-HIV Over 1 [Million Infected]" 
"1996 National Farmworker Health Conference"
"HR News: Employer Liable for Firing Worker Whose Partner Had 
AIDS"
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"Canada Reduces Red Cross' Authority"
Washington Post (09/12/96) P. A23; Schneider, Howard
     Canada's Red Cross will no longer have control of the
nation's blood supply, Canadian health officials decided this 
week.  The move is an attempt to restore public confidence in the 
organization, which has been severely criticized for its role in 
the infection of thousands of transfusion recipients.  As a 
result of tainted blood being used in the 1980s, about 1,200 
Canadians contracted HIV, and another 12,000 were infected with 
hepatitis C.  The Red Cross has been blamed for not taking proper 
precautions to protect the blood supply.  Canadian health 
officials said Tuesday that a new agency will be created to 
oversee the collection, testing, treatment, and distribution of 
blood donations.
     
"Seeking Health From the Roots Up"
Washington Post (09/12/96) P. A1; Duke, Lynne
     In many South African communities, traditional health care,
using roots, herbs, prophecy, and ancestor worship, is a regular 
practice.  An estimated 60 to 80 percent of all black South 
Africans consult traditional healers.  In Orange Farm, a poor 
city 25 miles south of Johannesburg, local public health nurses 
work with the traditional healers.  They train them to recognize 
common but serious illnesses, like tuberculosis and AIDS, and to 
refer such cases to clinics for orthodox medical treatment.  
Hundreds of healers are thought to work in the city, which has 
five public health clinics.
     
"Rendell, Street Will Open Calcutta House AIDS Home" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (09/12/96) P. B2
     Calcutta House, a hospice for persons living with AIDS (PLWAs) 
in Philadelphia, will officially open today in a ceremony led by 
Mayor Rendell and City Council President John F. Street.  The 
house, a project of the Sisters of Mercy, contains 12 rooms.  
Four one-bedroom apartments for PLWAs who can live independently 
have been created in an adjoining building.  Federal, state, and 
city sources provided the $1.7 million for the project.
     
"Obituary: Mark Wayne Gregory, Subject of AIDS Settlement" 
Washington Post (09/12/96) P. B4
     Mark Wayne Gregory, an HIV-positive Justice Department 
employee whose firing sparked a congressional hearing in 1988, 
died of AIDS-related complications on Friday.  Gregory was fired 
several weeks after a new government-wide AIDS policy was 
implemented to protect HIV-positive workers' jobs.  He had taken 
time off from his job to undergo experimental treatment, but was 
fired on the grounds that he was considered a probationary 
employee.  After a hearing was held on the issue, Gregory was 
allowed to return to work part-time.  He later resigned, however, 
citing stress over the legal fight.
     
"Science & Health Bulletin: Uganda-AIDS Workshop" 
PANA Wire Service (09/11/96)
     An HIV vaccine will be tested in Ugandans at the Joint 
Clinical Research Center in the capital of Uganda, an 
international workshop has decided.  The safety of the ALVAC-HIV 
vaccine has already been confirmed by scientists.  During the 
initial phase of the trial, 50 volunteers will receive four 
injections of the vaccine.  At least 100 people of high risk will 
be included in the second phase, and the third phase will enroll 
more than 1,000 people.
     
"Bluebells, Daffodils Could Hold Key to AIDS Drug" 
Reuters (09/11/96); Fox, Maggie
     British researchers reported this week that a protein called
lectin, isolated from the roots of bluebells and daffodils, could 
be used in an AIDS drugs.  Pierre Rizkallah of the Daresbury 
Laboratory and colleagues reported at the annual festival of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science that lectin 
could be used to block HIV from attacking cells because the 
proteins in the flower bulbs are drawn and bind to a sugar called 
mannose, which is found in the protein envelope that holds HIV 
together and helps it destroy human cells.  The researchers are 
trying to isolate the most effective form of lectin and describe 
how it works.  Lectin may be used to mimic the CD4 cell, which HIV 
infects.
     
"Extent of HIV Transmission via Breast Milk in Ugandan Women 
Limited"
Reuters (09/11/96)
     A study of Ugandan women infected with HIV found that breast
feeding does not increase the risk of mothers transmitting the 
virus to their infants.  Dr. Laura A. Guay at University Hospital 
of Cleveland reported in the journal Pediatrics this month that 
there was no link between the detection of HIV-1 in breast milk 
or the duration of breastfeeding and HIV transmission.  The 
researchers caution that the finding holds only for women who 
were infected with HIV before delivery.  For women who are 
infected after giving birth, the risk of infection is well-known.
     
"Science & Health Bulletin: Kenya-HIV Over 1 [Million Infected]" 
PANA Wire Service (09/11/96)
     During an AIDS folk media festival in Eldoret, Kenya, Dr.
Isaiah Tanui urged his fellow citizens to avoid casual sex to 
help curb the spread of HIV in the area.  He said that one in 10 
people in the town of Eldoret were infected with the virus, 
compared to one in 20 outside the urban area.  He attributed the 
high rate to the fact that Eldoret is a transit point to 
neighboring countries and residents face high risks of 
contracting the disease from truck drivers.
     
"1996 National Farmworker Health Conference"
Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS 
Care (08/96) Vol. 2, No. 8, P. 12; Dougherty, Shawn
     Health care providers who serve farmworkers are challenged
by the geographical distribution of their clients, language 
differences, and opposition from Congress.  At the 1996 National 
Farmworker Health Conference, clinicians and researchers 
considered how to deal with these challenges.  The number of U.S. 
migrant and seasonal farmworkers, including their dependents, is 
estimated at 4.2 million.  Ethnic and racial minorities, mostly 
Latinos and blacks, make up 85 percent of this population. 
Farmworkers' health is generally poor, and 44 percent have tested 
positive for tuberculosis.  Poverty is the key barrier to health 
care that farmworkers face, and living conditions are often 
unsanitary and overcrowded, further worsening medical problems. 
Between 1987 and 1992, the rate of HIV seroprevalence in the 
farmworker population increased 10 fold, from 0.5 percent to 5 
percent.  Dr. Stephen Raffanti, of Vanderbilt Medical Center, 
treats HIV patients in Tennessee.  He noted that while some 
patients travel long distances for treatment, most HIV-positive 
farmworkers lack access to doctors experienced in AIDS care. 
Legislation being considered by Congress would limit the health 
care access of both legal and undocumented immigrants and hinder 
efforts to control infectious diseases.
     
"HR News: Employer Liable for Firing Worker Whose Partner Had 
AIDS"
Human Resource Executive (08/96) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 16; Baran, 
Frank
     The owner of an Oklahoma restaurant has been ordered to pay 
damages to an employee he fired because the employee's domestic 
partner had AIDS.  In the first ruling of its kind, Terry Turner 
was ordered, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, to pay 
Paul Saladin $6,548 in back pay and compensatory damages.  
Evidence in the trial showed that Turner knew Saladin was gay and 
that his life partner, Ed Gaudin, had developed AIDS.  Turner 
suspended Saladin for 30 days and then later, would not allow him 
to return to work.  Testimony indicated that Turner feared that 
Saladin's association with someone who had AIDS would hurt his 
business.  This was the first time an employer was found liable 
under the ADA provision that prohibits discrimination against a 
qualified individual due to that person's association with a 
person with a disability.
     
     
