                     AIDS Daily Summary
                       June 06, 1994


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"A Reprieve for AIDS Facility"
"Thailand Begins AIDS Vaccine Trial"
"Dead Victim, Sister Teach About Women and AIDS"
"Top Thai Companies in Wasteful AIDS Discrimination"
"Bishop Slams Ugandan Government's AIDS Campaign"
"Critics Slam Italian Court AIDS Test Ruling"
"Around the Nation"
"HIV Health Workers 'Need Better Protection'"
"Partners of HIV-Infected Men with Hemophilia"
"Self-Reports of HIV Risk Factors by Patients at a Sexually
Transmitted Disease Clinic: Audio vs Written Questionnaires"
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"A Reprieve for AIDS Facility"
Philadelphia Inquirer (06/06/94) P. B2;  Gelles, Jeff
     With the threat of closure looming, Philadelphia's only nursing 
home for AIDS patients has been granted a reprieve.  State 
officials say Betak must notify its patients at least 30 days 
prior to a shutdown.  Beyond that, however, the facility's future
remains uncertain, pending crucial meetings to take place today 
and tomorrow.  Some activists--who just ended the second week of 
a hunger strike in protest of the possible closure--took the 
scheduled meetings as a sign of hope.  A spokesman for Gov. 
Robert Casey, who is to meet with the secretaries of the 
departments of health and public welfare, offered another 
perspective.  "We keep finding ourselves in a situation where we 
keep having to bail that facility out," he said.  Betak has been 
plagued by financial troubles since opening two-and-a-half years 
ago.  The management says that although the state allows up to 
$116 a day per Betak patient, about $250 a day is needed to do 
the job efficiently.
      
"Thailand Begins AIDS Vaccine Trial"
United Press International (06/06/94);  Utumporn, Pichayaporn
     The first in a series of clinical trials in developing nations 
began on Monday, as the Thai Red Cross began testing a new AIDS 
vaccine.  The 30 HIV-negative volunteers who were inoculated with
United Biomedical Inc.'s UBI-1 formula will receive a second 
vaccination in four weeks, according to Dr. Praphan Phanuphak, 
director of the agency's Program on AIDS.  Doctors will 
periodically draw blood from trial participants over the next six
months, and check their immune systems after eight months, he 
said.  At that point, researchers should know if the vaccine will
help develop antibodies.  The UBI-1 vaccine has already been 
tested on about 100 volunteers in the United States, China, and 
Australia, and has also been approved by the World Health 
Organization for Rwanda, Uganda, and Brazil, in addition to 
Thailand.
      
"Dead Victim, Sister Teach About Women and AIDS"
Washington Times (06/06/94) P. C8;  Washington, Adrienne T.
     After her older sister Janice Jirau died from AIDS in September, 
Maxine Haliburton assumed the role of educating the public about 
the disease.  With the aid of her employers, she helped two 
independent filmmakers finish "The Heart of the Matter," a 
thought-provoking documentary about the complex issues that face 
HIV-infected women.  According to the filmmakers, AIDS is one of 
the five leading causes of death among women between the ages of 
20 and 45.  The Union Institute Center for Women is sponsoring a 
benefit preview of the film on Thursday night, with the bulk of 
the show's proceeds going to the D.C. Women's Council on AIDS.  
The film will be aired on July 12 on PBS.
      
"Top Thai Companies in Wasteful AIDS Discrimination"
Reuters (06/05/94);  Birsel, Robert
     Some of Thailand's biggest companies are practicing AIDS 
discrimination--a practice AIDS experts and patients say denies a
large segment of society the right to work.  According to AIDS 
activist John Ungpakorn, some of the country's largest firms in 
the industrial, banking, travel, and retail sectors have 
compulsory HIV-testing policies.  The screening policies are an 
instinctive, although irrational, response to the AIDS epidemic, 
explains Supanya Lamsam, a director of the Thailand Business 
Coalition on AIDS.  They are, however, both expensive and futile,
according to Lamsam, who says that the testing programs would not
halt the emergence of HIV in companies.  Thailand, which houses 
as many as 800,000 HIV carriers, has a policy of conducting HIV 
testing only with the informed consent of the individual being 
tested.  Ungpakorn, director of an AIDS action group called 
ACCESS, notes that while there are principles against 
discrimination based on a person's HIV status, there are no laws 
to enforce those principles.
      
"Bishop Slams Ugandan Government's AIDS Campaign"
Reuters (06/03/94);  Kizito, Edmond
     Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Baharagate, in criticism of the 
Ugandan government's AIDS control program, said on Friday that 
promoting condom use would only encourage immoral behavior and 
cause more deaths.  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose 
government has been passing out millions of free condoms, says 
condom use is the most inexpensive and most effective means of 
fighting AIDS in Uganda, which has one of the world's highest 
rates of the disease.  The Catholic church abhors condom use, as 
it does anything that blocks the possible transmission of life.  
Instead, the church preaches abstinence before or outside of 
marriage--a lifestyle that is largely alien to the Ugandan 
culture.
      
"Critics Slam Italian Court AIDS Test Ruling"
Reuters (06/03/94)
     Following the Italian high court's ruling that health care 
workers must submit to HIV testing, critics on Friday denounced 
the decision as one that would create "ghettos" among AIDS 
patients.  The ruling said that HIV tests should be viewed as a 
condition for employment in the health care field, but that 
employees must be guaranteed confidentiality.  Despite the vow 
for privacy, opponents still condemned the ruling as 
discrimination.  The ruling was prompted by the case of a female 
employee at a public home for handicapped persons who refused to 
be tested for the deadly virus.
      
"Around the Nation"
Advocate (05/17/94) No. 655, P. 22
     On April 6 in New York, philanthropist Joan Tisch donated $1 
million to NYC's Beth Israel Medical Center.  Her contribution 
will allow the hospital to expand its services to HIV-positive 
women.  In other news around the country, Montana Gov. Marc 
Racicot received a 57-page report from state health officials 
outlining recommendations for a comprehensive plan to deal with 
AIDS.  In Connecticut, the state house of representatives on 
April 7 approved a bill to expand state needle-exchange programs,
and sent it to Gov. Lowell Weicker's desk.  And in Salt Lake 
City, Utah, a drug addict brandishing a can opener robbed a Pizza
Hut by threatening to expose employees to HIV, according to 
police there.
      
"HIV Health Workers 'Need Better Protection'"
Nature (05/19/94) Vol. 369, No. 6477, P. 173;  Butler, Declan
     A group of French researchers, doctors, and healthcare providers 
have formed Union pour la Protection des Soignants et de leurs 
Patients, an association seeking to reduce the risks of HIV 
infection to healthcare workers through hospital accidents.  In 
particular, the association wants health authorities to require 
hospitals to introduce precautions against accidental HIV 
transmission.  Self-sheathing needles, for example, could reduce 
needleprick accidents by two-thirds, according to Francis 
Cheilan, the group's president.  He notes that although similar 
precautions were issued by the ministry of health two years ago, 
only a handful of hospitals have introduced safer procedures.  
Part of the problem, says Cheilan, is that authorities are not 
convinced of the risks, even though an estimated 30 French 
healthcare workers have contracted HIV through work accidents.  
The association claims that the true figure is closer to 300, and
will continue to incline as more HIV-positive patients are 
diagnosed.  The association is also campaigning for specific 
legislation allowing healthcare workers to claim adequate 
compensation.  Currently, workers contaminated by HIV on the job 
come under legislation that covers general work accidents, which 
entitles them only to an invalidity pension--about one-third of 
salary.
      
"Partners of HIV-Infected Men with Hemophilia"
Focus (05/94) Vol. 8, No. 6, P. 8;  Klimes, I.;  Catalan, J.;  
Garrod, A. et al.
     No differences were observed in the psychological status of 
female partners of HIV-negative hemophiliac men and HIV-positive 
hemophiliac men, according to a study.  Partners of the 17 
HIV-positive and 19 HIV-negative hemophiliacs were comparable in 
terms of age, employment status, and social class, and all were 
confirmed to be HIV-negative.  Despite being forced to cope with 
their husband's psychological state, changes in the sexual 
relationships, and concerns about contracting HIV, 78 percent of 
the partners of seropositive men said that their relationship, in
general, remained unchanged since their partners first underwent 
HIV testing.  When compared to women in the general community, 
however, partners of hemophiliac men--regardless of HIV 
status--were found to have twice the number of psychological 
symptoms.  The heightened level of psychological distress among 
these women suggests that living with and managing hemophilia is 
more stressful and of more immediate concern than the challenge 
of living with asymptomatic HIV disease.
      
"Self-Reports of HIV Risk Factors by Patients at a Sexually 
Transmitted Disease Clinic: Audio vs Written Questionnaires"
American Journal of Public Health (05/94) Vol. 84, No. 5, P. 754;
Boekeloo, Bradley O.;  Schiavo, Laura;  Rabin, David et al.
     Measurement error in assessing HIV risk can lead to 
misinterpretation of research, undetected patient risk, and 
weakened efforts to protect the blood supply.  For most HIV risk 
factors, self-reporting is typically the only acceptable method 
of assessment, usually through written questionnaires or 
face-to-face interviews.  Although neither method has been deemed
superior, there has been some concern that there is greater 
measurement error in face-to-face interviews, as opposed to 
pencil-and-paper surveys.  Written questionnaires, however, may 
be difficult for some subjects to read and complete.  A 
self-administered questionnaire completed through audiocassette 
player and headset may overcome some of the sources of 
measurement error associated with the other two methods.  To 
determine how method of assessment affects patient self-reporting
about HIV, patients received either a written self-administered 
questionnaire, or one that was administered through the tape and 
headset.  Boekeloo et al. found that audio questionnaires not 
only had fewer missed responses than written questionnaires, but 
they also identified more unprotected vaginal intercourse and 
partners known or thought to be HIV-infected.  They conclude that
audio questionnaires may obtain more complete data and identify 
more HIV risk than written questionnaires, and research needs to 
be done to determine whether this method overcomes barriers to 
completion and accuracy of HIV risk surveys.
      
