                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 09, 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

"Blacks Far More Likely Than Whites to Have AIDS, Agency Says"
New York Times (09/09/94) P. A16
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday
that black women are almost 15 times more likely than white women
to develop AIDS, and that black men are five times more likely 
than white men to have the disease.  The agency said that 55 
percent of the 106,949 reported cases of AIDS in the United 
States last year were among racial and ethnic minorities.  Among 
100,000 black women, 73 developed AIDS, while only 5 white women 
out of 100,000 had the disease.  Forty-seven percent of minority 
AIDS cases were blamed on intravenous drug use and 37 percent 
were caused by HIV transmission during heterosexual intercourse. 
The research shows that complex social, economic and cultural 
factors complicate AIDS prevention efforts.
      
"Slower AIDS Virus Traced"
Washington Post (09/09/94) P. A20
     Scientists studying prostitutes in Senegal have found that HIV-2 
causes AIDS much less often than HIV-1, which is prevalent in the
United States.  Women registered as "commercial sex workers" were
examined and treated for diseases twice a year over eight years. 
During a five-year period, four women out of 32 who had HIV-1 
developed AIDS, while none of the 33 women who had HIV-2 advanced
to the disease.  Richard Marlink, executive director of the 
Harvard AIDS Institute, said his research traced more than 100 
HIV-2 positive women and that after an average of four years, 
only one developed AIDS.  Through blood testing, only several 
hundred cases of HIV-2 have been found in the United States and 
Europe.  Marlink said that scientists want to learn whether a 
unique gene in HIV-2 can be used on HIV-1 patients as treatment.
      
"AIDS Charity Sees Dangers to Third World Doctors"
Reuters (09/09/94)
     Twenty-five percent of doctors who spend their lives in high-risk
developing countries risk acquiring AIDS, says Patrick Dixon, of 
the British AIDS charity AIDS Care, Education and Training 
(ACET).  Dixon bases his warning on the assumption that one 
quarter of hospital patients in countries like Uganda and Rwanda 
are HIV-positive, and that their blood and tissues carry the 
virus.  Accidental facial cuts and blood spurts during operations
are some of the ways that these doctors increase their risk of 
developing AIDS.  His book "The Truth About AIDS" includes this 
warning and is being sent to missionary field stations and other 
charity hospitals in the Third World.  The risk of infection, he 
says, can be reduced by basic precautions.
      
"Some HIV Strains May Lead to AIDS Faster--Doctors"
Reuters (09/09/94)
     Doctors from the University of New South Wales in Australia said 
that some HIV strains progress to AIDS much faster than others.  
The doctors reached this conclusion after studying 25 people who 
contracted HIV through transfusions of tainted blood on known 
dates.  Those who received blood from donors who developed AIDS 
in less than five years took just over two years to develop it 
themselves.  Transfusion recipients whose donors had been 
HIV-positive for 11 years and had not developed AIDS took more 
than 9 years on average to acquire it.
      
"To Fight AIDS, California Cities Pointedly Skirt State Drug Laws"
Washington Post (09/09/94) P. A24;  Spolar, Christine
     Although California is one of 10 states in the nation that ban 
needle exchanges, many of its larger cities are declaring 
"emergencies" to circumvent the law.  Earlier this week, Los 
Angeles followed the lead of other cities, such as Oakland and 
Berkeley, and asked its police to disregard state needle laws so 
that private exchange programs would be unhindered.  During the 
past year and a half, three studies have found that 
needle-exchange programs are effective and do not lead to 
increased drug use.  The National Academy of Sciences released 
its research and recommended that the federal ban on 
needle-exchange programs be lifted.  Los Angeles Mayor Richard 
Riordan is trying to slow the spread of AIDS transmitted via 
intravenous drug use.  Drug users say that they are happy with 
the programs and they will use them because they can keep their 
anonymity and receive the needles without problem.
      
"AIDS...Again"
Nature (09/01/94) Vol. 371, No.6492, P. 2
     The younger generation of gay men is passing on AIDS with 
"negligent abandon," say the editors of Nature.  Whereas the 
older generation of homosexual males modified their sexual habits
because of AIDS, the young people continue to practice unsafe 
sex--even though they know they are at risk.  Epidemiologists at 
the University of California at San Francisco have found that one
in three homosexual or bisexual men will be HIV-positive by age 
30.  These findings confirm the lack of a connection between 
lectures and behavior.  The editors ask whether it is only youth,
or other factors that makes people take such risks.  So far, they
say, the answers have been little more than "pop-psychology," and
that is not enough.
      
"Major FDA Public Meeting on Early Access, Accelerated Approval, September 12-13"
AIDS Treatment News (08/19/94) No. 205, P. 5
     The FDA has scheduled a two-day public meeting of the Antiviral 
Advisory Committee to review its accelerated approval system.  
The meeting will be held Sept. 12-13, and will begin with a 
history of early availability of drugs--especially in regards to 
oncology, along with parallel track and treatment INDs in their 
applications for HIV drugs.  The FDA plans for the meeting to 
then progress to a discussion of accelerated approval, including 
the evidence at the time of approval, confirmatory trials, and 
the lessons to be learned from the examples.  The meeting will 
end with a call for recommendations on how to improve the 
approval system.  The Advisory Committee will not, however, vote 
on any issue at this meeting.
      
"The Invisible Lesbian Face of AIDS"
Advocate (09/06/94) No. 633, P. 45;  Guly, Christopher
     Activists complain that there is an absence of research on 
lesbians with AIDS.  Nick Bollman of Funders Concerned About 
AIDS, says the "public face" of the AIDS epidemic is likely to 
concentrate only on homosexual men.  "But AIDS is also a real 
threat to women, straight or lesbian," Bollman adds, "because HIV
comes through sexual practices, not sexual identity."  Indeed, 
Becky Trotter of the Calif.-based Women Organized to Respond to 
Life-Threatening Diseases, says that informing the women that 
unsafe oral sex and use of unsterilized sex toys can transmit HIV
are just two avenues of infection between two women.  Lesbians 
should use condoms or dental dams when having oral sex, advises 
Dr. Karen Raub.
      
"Studies Uphold Antiviral Strategy: Better to Add Than Switch"
AIDS Alert (09/94) Vol. 9, No. 9, P. 121
     Findings presented at the 10th International AIDS Conference in 
Yokohama, Japan, show that use of AZT delays progression of AIDS 
no more than two years and offers no additional benefit for 
patients with CD4 counts above 500.  These results add to recent 
data showing that a combination of drugs taken earlier may be the
best protection against AIDS progression.  The AIDS Clinical 
Trial Group 019 randomly divided participants into three groups 
receiving placebos, 500mg of AZT, or 1,500mg of AZT.  The study 
found that those who had CD4 counts above 650 delayed the count 
from dropping to 400 by more than two years.  The slow decrease 
in CD4 counts versus those who took AZT and had CD4 counts below 
500, did not show an greater chance of survival or a delay of 
progression of AIDS.  "Clinicians have known for a long time that
AZT therapy loses benefit, but one of the big issues has been how
long it lasts," said Paul Volberding, the study's main researcher
and director of the AIDS program at San Francisco General 
Hospital.
      
