                       AIDS Daily Summary
                    Friday, October 11, 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
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however, copies may ot 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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"L.A. Plan Allowing Drug Users in HUD Housing Raises GOP Ire"
"Fla. Employee Fired Over AIDS List"
"Japanese Aide Gains Favor by Fighting the Bureaucrats"
"New Drugs Boost Results at Biogen, Biochem, Which Are Closely 
Watched"
"AIDS Is Becoming a Black Disease"
"Drug Combinations Found More Effective Against AIDS"
"Florida Mother Who Fed HIV Baby Sues Hospital"
"Varied Events Expected to Draw a Million Visitors to D.C."
"Pediatric HIV Infection"
"NCF Builds on AIDS Catalog's Success"
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"L.A. Plan Allowing Drug Users in HUD Housing Raises GOP Ire"
Washington Post (10/11/96) P. A3; Schwartz, John; Evans, Judith
     A pilot program in Los Angeles that will provide federally
funded housing for AIDS patients, but will not evict those who
use illicit drugs, even in the residence itself, is being
attacked by Congressional Republicans who contend that the
program conflicts with Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) policies.  The general HUD rule is that of
"zero tolerance," and tenants are permitted to be thrown out for
substance abuse.  According to Fred Eggan, Los Angeles city AIDS
coordinator, however, the program is not a "glorified crack
house," but it is intended to offer a compassionate way of
dealing with the complexities of AIDS patients who are addicted
to drugs.  The program will not condone drug use, he says, but
will provide drug treatment, intensive therapy, and other
services.  Those who repeatedly abuse drugs, however, will be
referred to other substance abuse centers.

"Fla. Employee Fired Over AIDS List"
Philadelphia Inquirer (10/11/96) P. A2; Perez, Evan
     William Calvert, a public health worker in Miami, was fired 
Wednesday for using a confidential list of almost 4,000 people 
with HIV and AIDS to check the status of potential dates.  
Calvert allegedly took the computer disks to a gay bar and 
offered to look up names for his friends.  Calvert was turned in 
anonymously when someone sent copies of the disk and a letter to 
two Tampa Bay area newspapers and the Pinellas County Health 
Department.  An employee of the Florida Department of Health and 
Rehabilitative Services since 1988, Calvert admitted to using the
database on a laptop at his home, bypassing password protection 
used to keep the files confidential, but he claims he did nothing
wrong.  The incident has raised questions about the security of 
such records, and AIDS patient advocates assert that it is 
evidence of the risks involved in keeping a list of the names of 
HIV and AIDS patients.

"Japanese Aide Gains Favor by Fighting the Bureaucrats"
New York Times (10/11/96) P. A12; WuDunn, Sheryl
     Naoto Kan, Japan's Health Minister, is popular among many of
his countrymen for his role in taking on the Japanese bureaucracy
and launching an investigation into the tainted-blood scandal. 
At least 400 Japanese, the majority of them hemophiliacs, have
died of AIDS as a result of having contracted HIV from
contaminated blood supplies.  Kan's probe into the decade-old
affair revealed that health authorities knew about the risk of
the blood's contamination for several years before they banned
its import.  Several senior bureaucrats, pharmaceutical company
executives, and a leading AIDS expert have been arrested for
their alleged involvement in the scandal.

"New Drugs Boost Results at Biogen, Biochem, Which Are Closely 
Watched"
Wall Street Journal (10/11/96) P. B5A; Eisinger, Jesse
     Several small biotechnology firms performed well in the last
quarter, due largely to new products, while some of the bigger 
biotechnology companies posted mixed results.  Biogen, Centocor, 
and Biochem Pharma produced strong results, driven by the
introduction of new drugs, including Biogen's multiple sclerosis 
treatment Avonex; Centocor's ReoPro, a platelet blocker; and 
Biochem Pharma's 3TC, an anti-AIDS treatment that is becoming a 
key component of the cocktail of medications used to treat AIDS, 
analysts say.  Amgen and Genzyme, two more established firms, 
also had solid quarters, analysts believe, while Chiron is 
expected to report weaker third-quarter results.

"AIDS Is Becoming a Black Disease"
Washington Post (10/11/96) P. A25; Raspberry, William
     In a commentary in the Washington Post, columnist William 
Raspberry notes the growing incidence of AIDS and HIV among young
African Americans as pointed out by Mario Cooper, a member of the
Harvard AIDS Institute who is black, gay, and HIV-positive.  
Cooper cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention that showed that AIDS has become the No. 1 killer of 
blacks between the ages of 25 and 44, and he also pointed out 
that of the 700,000 to 900,000 HIV-positive Americans, 50 percent
to 60 percent are non-whites.  He further noted that both the 
medical community and the African American community are acting
as though AIDS was still predominantly affecting white gays and 
drug users.  Cooper stated that the disease is hitting blacks and
Hispanics the hardest just as evidence is becoming available that
prevention works.  Because AIDS is portrayed as a disease that 
can affect homosexuals and heterosexuals, more funding has become
available, but Cooper fears that the education necessary for 
prevention is still not as widely available for the most 
vulnerable parts of the population.  To remedy the situation, he 
is working on a major conference on Oct. 22 sponsored by the 
Harvard AIDS Institute, the National Minority AIDS Council, and 
the Balm in Gilead organization.  He hopes that the conference 
will spur "a forthright acknowledgment by our political and 
community leaders--including the NAACP and the Urban League--that
this disease has the potential to devastate our community in the 
next decade."

"Drug Combinations Found More Effective Against AIDS"
Reuters (10/09/96); Emery, Gene
     Adding either of two AIDS drugs, ddI (didanosine) or ddC 
(zalcitabine), to AZT therapy is better than the AZT alone for
slowing the progression of AIDS, researchers at Harvard Medical 
school said Wednesday.  Led by Dr. Scott Hammer, the researchers 
reported that the combination therapy slowed disease progression 
by more than 37 percent.  In a related study, scientists at St. 
John Hospital in Detroit found that the additional drugs offered 
no benefit for patients whose immune systems were already damaged
by HIV.  An editorial published with both studies in the New 
England Journal of Medicine says the studies suggest that all 
HIV-infected individuals should receive drug therapy, especially 
after their CD4 cell count falls below 500.  The studies also 
indicate that a viral load test, which measures the amount of 
virus in the blood, is the best way to evaluate the progress of 
HIV infection and to determine how well treatment is working.

"Florida Mother Who Fed HIV Baby Sues Hospital"
Reuters (10/10/96)
     A woman who was mistakenly given the child of an
HIV-positive woman at a Florida hospital in place of her own to
nurse has filed a lawsuit against the hospital.  She claims that
she has been unable to breast-feed her own daughter for fear that
she contracted HIV and could pass it along, and has consequently 
suffered both fear and anxiety.  The incident occurred in 
mid-April, when a nurse's aide brought the newborn to the woman 
while she was sleeping.  She had already begun nursing before she
realized the error, at which time her own baby was brought to 
her.  She was not informed until the next day that the baby she 
had nursed was born to a woman with HIV, and the hospital 
suggested at that time that she stop breast-feeding her own child
just to be safe.  A lawyer for the hospital said the suit was 
frivolous because neither the mother nor the daughter were 
injured; but the woman's lawyer noted that the deprivation of a 
woman's right to nurse created a severe emotional impact.

"Varied Events Expected to Draw a Million Visitors to D.C."
Washington Post (10/11/96) P. B4; Wheeler, Linda
     More than 1 million people are expected to visit Washington,
D.C., this weekend, as they come to the city to participate in 
any one of a number of events.  Starting today, the AIDS Memorial
Quilt will be on display, unfolding its mile-long quilt on the 
Mall.  Along with the quilt will be a nine-member demonstration
group that opposes the "homosexual agenda, following the quilt 
around the country and protesting at its various displays.  Two 
other protest activities, a Latino March and ACT-UP's 
demonstration will also take place this weekend, potentially 
drawing thousands of participants alone.  Other events taking 
place in the District this weekend include the Taste of D.C. 
festival and Whitman-Walker clinic's candlelight march on 
Saturday to commemorate those who have died of AIDS.

"Pediatric HIV Infection"
Lancet (09/28/96) Vol. 348, No. 9031, P. 863; Scarlatti, 
Gabriella
     About 1.5 million children had been infected with HIV by
late 1994, according to the World Health Organization, with over
75 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries
in the Americas.  Moreover, almost half of all adults with HIV
are women of child-bearing age, making the need for programs to 
prevent mother-to-child transmission especially urgent.  The rate
of mother-to-child transmission varies from 13 percent to 42 
percent, and is twice as high in Africa as in Europe.  Studies of
the timing of HIV transmission from mother-to-child have yielded 
evidence for both early and late in-utero transmission.  Evidence
has also been reported for postnatal transmission via 
breastfeeding, but mothers in some developing countries need to 
breastfeed to protect their children from other endemic diseases.
Temporary HIV infection has been observed in newborns with a 
frequency ranging from 2.7 percent to 6.4 percent.  This suggests
that infants can clear the virus, which has implications for 
interrupting transmission and disease progression.  While 
zidovudine therapy is useful to reduce the rate of 
mother-to-child transmission, a simpler method of treatment is 
necessary.

"NCF Builds on AIDS Catalog's Success"
DM News (09/30/96) Vol. 18, No. 36, P. 8; Asato, Cathy
     The National Catalog Foundation, which has met great success
with its National AIDS Awareness Catalog, is planning to publish
a National Lesbian and Gay Pride Catalog for the 1996 holiday 
season.  The circulation of the 2-year-old AIDS catalog is now 
600,000.  The NCF donates 100 percent of its profits to nonprofit
organizations.  The two catalogs will contain the same items but 
have different covers and different target audiences.  The AIDS 
catalog is geared to anyone interested in fighting the disease, 
homosexual or heterosexual.  The New-York-based NCF is hoping to 
raise $1 million in capital over the next two years and has made 
its list of 12,000 buyers and requesters available for rent.
