                     AIDS Daily Summary
                       June 16, 1994


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
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

"City Giving AIDS Clinic $1.2 Million"
Washington Post (06/16/94) P. D1;  Goldstein, Amy
     The Whitman-Walker Clinic has emerged the victor in a fierce 
competition to receive the District of Columbia's primary AIDS 
grant--one of the nation's most generous, at $1.2 million.  As 
the oldest and largest AIDS service organization in the country, 
Whitman-Walker said its medical treatment, social, and legal 
services would be crippled should the clinic be stripped of the 
grant it has received each year since 1983.  The Sankofa 
Community Coalition of HIV/AIDS services, a group of minority 
organizations established a year ago to compete for the grant, 
said Whitman-Walker's selection for the grant was motivated by 
race and politics.  Sankofa members argued that their small, 
minority-run groups were better equipped to expand services in 
the black and Hispanic communities, where the epidemic is 
spreading most rapidly.
      
"Study Sees a New Threat in Tuberculosis Infections"
New York Times (06/16/94) P. B3;  Henneberger, Melinda
     Two new studies indicate that a significant number of patients in
New York City and San Francisco contracted tuberculosis not from 
latent infections spread a long time ago, but from more recent 
infections.  The findings show that many of the newly infected TB
patients were HIV carriers.  Because the immune systems of 
HIV-positive patients are impaired-- and thus more susceptible to
disease--researchers say they may be indicative of how TB 
infection could eventually affect the general population.  They 
conclude that more people are becoming infected today--although 
many will not develop the disease for years, if at all--and that 
TB may be a more serious public health threat than previously 
thought.
      
"Blood Inquiry's Budget Raised to $11-Million"
Toronto Globe and Mail (06/14/94) P. A5
     The budget for Canada's federal probe into its blood system has 
been raised to $11 million, more than four times the initial $2.5
million allocated.  According to Greg Hamara, a spokesman for the
commission of inquiry, the additional money is needed to cover 
the extended schedule of the investigation.
      
"Treated Blood Product Held Back"
Toronto Globe and Mail (06/15/94) P. A1;  Picard, Andre
     Even though 95 percent of its inventory consisted of 
disease-free, heat-treated products, the Manitoba Red Cross 
Society continued to give hemophiliacs blood products likely to 
be contaminated with HIV, documents filed in the Krever inquiry 
revealed.  According to the documents, the Red Cross received 645
units of heat-treated Factor 8 concentrate between May and July 
of 1985, but distributed only 15 to patients.  In that same time 
frame, the agency did distribute 467 vials of blood product that 
were not heat-treated to kill HIV.  Marlis Schroeder, medical 
director of the Manitoba agency, testified that the blood 
products were distributed according to a "priority list," which 
identified patients deemed eligible for the safer product.  
Apparently only four were considered eligible.
      
"Test Children for AIDS, Hospital Says"
Toronto Globe and Mail (06/15/94) P. A6
     Women's College Hospital in Toronto is notifying parents of 
premature babies who received blood transfusions between 1978 and
1985 and urging them to have their children, who may be becoming 
sexually active, tested for HIV.
      
"Gay Churches Grow Amid AIDS Crisis"
Reuters (06/14/94);  Salisbury, Laney
     While AIDS has devastated the homosexual community, the epidemic 
has prompted more gays and lesbians to worship at New York's 
branch of the Metropolitan Community Church, America's first 
place of worship openly dedicated to gays.  Unlike mainstream 
denominations--which are declining in membership--the 
Metropolitan Community Church is flourishing.  It has grown into 
30,000 members worldwide since its 1968 establishment, according 
to the Rev. Kittredge Cherry.  The parishioners do not attend the
church solely for spiritual healing, but also to reach out to 
others via AIDS support groups, Bible study, and soup kitchens.
      
"Simon Says"
Houston Chronicle (06/15/94) P. 2A
     A benefit concert performed by Paul Simon in Dallas, Texas, last 
Friday raised more than $1 million for the American Foundation 
for AIDS Research (AmFAR).
      
"Someone's in the Kitchen With Barbra"
United Press International (06/14/94)
     Songbird Barbra Streisand and entertainment executives David 
Geffen and Barry Diller will co-chair next month's groundbreaking
ceremony for the new facility of a Los Angeles charity that 
provides hot, well-balanced meals for AIDS patients.  Project 
Angel Food was established five years ago, with a dozen 
volunteers cooking in a 300-square-foot kitchen and delivering 
meals to four patients each day.  With the new 5,000-square-foot 
center, Project Angel Food serves more than 4,000 free, hot meals
each week with the help of donations and about 900 volunteers.
      
"J&J Seeks Approval of HIV Self-Test Kit"
Advertising Age (05/23/94) Vol. 65, No. 22, P. 1;  Sloan, Pat;  
DeNitto, Emily
     Johnson & Johnson hopes to become the first healthcare marketer 
to put an HIV self-test kit on the market.  The $30 kit, called 
Confide, would include a lancet with which to draw blood and a 
smear card to send off to a national laboratory.  Results, 
counseling, and medical referrals would be dispensed by phone.  
The Food and Drug Administration has denied approval to other 
test kits, citing concerns such as packing and mailing, false 
positives, and the need for in-person medical consultations.  
Johnson & Johnson claims that Confide will provide easy access 
and total anonymity.  An independent survey by the company found 
that 80 percent of gays and lesbians would be inclined to use the
test, and a recent poll from the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention found that one in four Americans would use such a test
and counseling service.
      
