                     AIDS Daily Summary
                  Monday, September 30, 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 Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

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"The Test of the Times"
"Fairfax Man With AIDS Charged in Biting at Clinic"
"Marching on AIDS"
"HUD Grants $1.2 Million for Homeless in Houston"
"HIV Ravages Drug-Torn Town in Belarus"
"White House, GOP Leaders Strike Immigration Deal"
"Nigerian Governor Orders Arrest of AIDS Patients"
"Some 330 Iranians Affected by AIDS Virus"
"Antiretroviral Drugs for AIDS"
"A New Serine-Protease Fold Revealed by the Crystal Structure of 
Human Cytomegalovirus Protease"
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"The Test of the Times"
Washington Post (09/30/96) P. C1; Span, Paula
     The two new HIV home tests, being advertised on both radio and 
television, are gradually appearing  in Washington, D.C., stores.
The Confide test, offered by Johnson and Johnson, will be in 90 
percent of U.S. drugstores, and at Wall-Marts, Kmarts and
supermarkets within a month.  The Home Access test kit is being 
distributed to drugstore chains like Rite Aid and Eckerd Drug.  
While retailers at some area stores report that consumers are 
asking about the kits, other stores have seen only spotty sales. 
However, to make it easier for embarrassed consumers to buy the 
Confide test, a "silent request form" is available at stores, to 
be handed to the pharmacist rather than the test itself.  The 
tests won approval from the Food and Drug Administration after a 
long battle, in which activists were enlisted by the companies to
support the idea of home testing.
     
"Fairfax Man With AIDS Charged in Biting at Clinic"
Richmond Times-Dispatch (09/30/96) P. B4
     A Virginia man with AIDS was charged with malicious wounding on 
Friday for biting a worker at a clinic.  A spokesman from the 
clinic said that David Murray, of Fairfax, had a "personal 
business relationship" with the worker.
     
"Marching on AIDS"
Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (09/30/96) P. B3; Emmons,
Steve; Slater, Eric
     A record $3.4 million was raised by participants in the 12th 
annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles, held Sunday.  About 28,000 walkers 
took part in the 10-kilometer walk, which started at Paramount 
Studios.  Thirty-six city department heads were among the 
walkers, in response to Mayor Richard Riordan's promise to donate
$1,000 for each one.
     
"HUD Grants $1.2 Million for Homeless in Houston"
Houston Chronicle (09/29/96) P. 32A
     Housing and services for homeless people with HIV or AIDS will be
provided through more than $7 million in grants from the U.S. 
Housing and Urban Development Department, agency secretary Henry 
Cisneros announced Thursday..  In Houston, $1.2 million will be 
allocated to the Houston Regional HIV/AIDS Resource Group and 
four sponsors of the Texas Health Science Center at Houston.  
Among the projects to be funded is the planned MDI Housing 
Project to provide emergency housing and aid clients in obtaining
permanent housing.

"HIV Ravages Drug-Torn Town in Belarus"
Los Angeles Times (09/29/96) P. A1; Bourdeaux, Richard
     The town of Svetlahorsk, Belarus, which saw a drug invasion in 
the early 1990s, is now experiencing an increasing HIV epidemic 
as a result.  At least 514 people in the town of 72,000 have 
tested positive for HIV.  However, health workers suspect that up
to half of the estimated 7,000 drug users in the town, one of 
every 20 people, could already be infected.  The HIV rate is 
higher than in any other former Soviet city, but the problem is 
reflected in other communities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus 
where drug use is also prevalent.  Ukraine, with 51 million 
people, has reported 8,256 HIV cases since the end of 1994.  The 
number of cases in Russia has doubled this year from last year, 
to 387.
     
"White House, GOP Leaders Strike Immigration Deal"
United Press International (09/30/96)
     An immigration reform measure was approved by both Congressional 
Republicans and the White House after the GOP accepted several 
controversial provisions pushed by the Clinton Administration.
In one of their most difficult concessions, the GOP agreed to 
retain government-funded medical care for illegal immigrants 
infected with HIV.  House Speaker Newt Gingrich noted the 
provision would cost a lifetime average of $119,000 per illegal 
immigrant.
     
"Nigerian Governor Orders Arrest of AIDS Patients"
Reuters (09/28/96)
     A Nigerian navy captain has ordered that all AIDS patients in his
state be arrested and confined to curb the spread of the disease.
Captain Joe Kalu-Igboamah of the northern Adamawa state made the 
order Friday when he was visiting a hospital for AIDS patients in
the capital Yola.  More than 5,000 people  in Nigeria have died 
from AIDS in the last six years.  The disease has spread 
especially fast since 1992, according to the health ministry, 
with more than half the deaths from AIDS recorded last year.
     
"Some 330 Iranians Affected by AIDS Virus"
Xinhua News Agency (09/29/96)
     Iran's Anti-AIDS Council reports that 330 Iranians have HIV and
that 130 have progressed to active AIDS.  The council said that 
80 percent of the cases were caused by blood transfusions, while 
the rest were attributed to sexual transmission.  According to 
the council, a strict policy has been implemented to protect the 
blood supply, nearly eliminating the risk of contracting HIV.  A 
doctor said that as many as 10,000 people could actually be 
infected, particularly because many physicians in the country do 
not know the symptoms of AIDS.
     
"Antiretroviral Drugs for AIDS"
Lancet (09/21/96) Vol. 348, No. 9030, P. 800; Lipsky, James J.
     While the development of new HIV drugs is encouraging, questions 
about how to best use these new tools accompany the advances.  In
the British medical journal The Lancet, the Mayo Clinic and Mayo 
Foundation's James J. Lipsky reviews the current knowledge and 
strategies for using the new drug therapies.  He notes that, 
currently, drugs have been developed to stop HIV from 
replicating, some specifically to inhibit reverse transcriptase 
and others to inhibit protein processing.  The first HIV drug 
approved was zidovudine, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor.  Four
other drugs in this class have since been approved: zalcitabine 
(ddC), didanosine (ddI), stavudine (D4T), and lamivudine (3TC).  
A second class of HIV drugs, proteinase inhibitors, targets 
proteinase, a protease produced by HIV that is critical to the 
virus' ability to infect cells.  Three proteinase 
inhibitors--saquinavir, ritonavir, and indinavir--have been 
approved, but the most effective use of the drugs has not yet 
been determined.  Non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase 
inhibitors, a third class of drugs under heavy development, 
currently includes nevirapine and atevirdine.  Nevirapine has 
been recommended for clinical use, and atevirdine has shown 
potential in preliminary studies.
     
"A New Serine-Protease Fold Revealed by the Crystal Structure of 
Human Cytomegalovirus Protease"
Nature (09/19/96) Vol. 383, No. 6597, P. 272; Tong, Liang; Qian, 
Chungeng; Massariot, Marie-Josee; et al.
     The herpesvirus known as human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) can cause 
morbidity and mortality in patients with compromised immunity and
in congenitally infected newborns.  It infects up to 70 percent
of the general U.S. population.  The virus' protease enzyme is
necessary for viral replication.  Researchers at Boehringer
Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals now report that they have determined
the crystal structure of hCMV protease, and suggest that their
findings will have implications for the development of drugs to
inhibit herpesvirus proteases.
