                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      December 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
by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Virus May Cause Kaposi's Sarcoma"
"A Bittersweet Visit by an Ailing Santa"
"U.S. Scientists Find Cell that Attacks HIV Virus"
"OXiGENE Announces Results of Assay Used as Prognostic Indicator 
for HIV Infection in 133 Patients"
"Washington CTED Awarded Grant to Develop Housing Opportunities 
for People with AIDS"
"Specific Incorporation of Cyclophilin A into HIV-1 Virions"
"Sexual Behaviors and Drug Use among Youth in Dropout-Prevention 
Programs--Miami, 1994"
"Sounding Board: Targeted HIV-Prevention Programs"
"Wrong HIV Test Leads to Job Loss"
Ethics Committees Urged to Promote Benefits of Testing"
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"Virus May Cause Kaposi's Sarcoma"
Washington Times (12/16/94) P. A12
     A team of Columbia University scientists announced on Thursday 
that they had found strong evidence of an apparently newly 
detected virus that might cause Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in AIDS 
patients.  Dr. Yuan Chang and her husband, Dr. Patrick S. Moore, 
found that unique DNA sequences were isolated from tissues of KS 
lesions taken from AIDS patients.  "The DNA sequences we found 
contain portions of at least three different genes that are 
unique to herpes virus.  The evidence strongly suggests that 
these DNA sequences belong to a new herpes sequence, but 
additional tests are needed to confirm it," said Chang.  
Laboratories from around the world have been trying to discover 
if KS--a skin cancer that strikes more than one-fourth of all 
homosexual men with HIV--is caused by some infectious agent.  Dr.
Robert Gallo of the National Institutes of Health said, "It's 
really good work and it could be a substantial advance."  Related
Stories: New York Times (12/16) P. A1; Wall Street Journal 
(12/16) P. B4; USA Today (12/16) P. 1A
      
"A Bittersweet Visit by an Ailing Santa"
New York Times (12/16/94) P. B1;  Martin, Douglas
     Mark Woodley sued Macy's department store for discrimination 
after he wrote on his employment application that he was taking 
AZT, an AIDS medication.  Woodley says that Macy's refused to 
rehire him after a season of being Santa Claus in 1989.  He is 
suing for more than $3 million in damages and to let him be Santa
again at Macy's.  "If a certain behavior costs a corporation a 
lot of money, they'll stop the behavior," he said.  "They won't 
stop it because somebody says it's wrong."  Macy's said that in 
the year they refused to rehire Woodley, he was offered a 
position as a Santa supervisor, which paid $1 more an hour than 
the Santa position.  Due to Macy's bankruptcy, the suit has been 
inactive since 1992.  Because the store is emerging from Chapter 
11, however, Woodley's lawyer has notified Macy's that he wants 
to proceed with the case.  A complication to the case is 
Woodley's admission on the application that he was taking Prozac,
an antidepressant that some medical reports have linked to 
violent episodes and suicide attempts.  At the time, Macy's said 
it was concerned the drug would cause mood swings.  Woodley said 
he would argue that Macy's fear of Prozac was unfounded and a 
smokescreen for the store's fear of AIDS.
      
"U.S. Scientists Find Cell that Attacks HIV Virus"
Reuters (12/15/94)
     U.S. scientists announced on Thursday that the discovery of 
immune cells that attack HIV and could be a potential cure for 
AIDS.  Dr. Jay Levy and collaborators found that the immune 
cells, called CDT-T, decrease levels of the virus in the blood, 
causing the flu-like illness experienced during the first stages 
of AIDS to subside after two to six weeks.  The CDT-T cells 
appeared to briefly stop the spread of the disease.  The 
University of California at San Francisco researchers concluded 
that the discovery of the HIV-attacking cells will help in 
understanding the disease.  The study found that three out of 
seven patients had reduced HIV levels in their blood as their 
blood immune cell activity increased.  The researchers said that 
the finding suggests the cells were "responsible for the control 
of HIV replication."
      
"OXiGENE Announces Results of Assay Used as Prognostic Indicator 
for HIV Infection in 133 Patients"
PR Newswire (12/15/94)
     On Dec. 11, Dr. Michael Marmor of the Center of AIDS Research at 
New York University announced preliminary results demonstrating 
the superior effectiveness and usefulness of OXiGENE Inc.'s 
immune function/DNA repair assay as a prognostic indicator for 
HIV-infected patients.  OXiGENE's immune repair assay, which 
gauges total serum thiol levels, predicted clinical outcome of 
the disease more strongly than Beta-2 microglobulin, a frequently
used alternative marker.  The OXiGENE test is also considered 
less expensive and easier to use for both researchers and 
clinicians.
      
"Washington CTED Awarded Grant to Develop Housing Opportunities 
for People with AIDS"
PR Newswire (12/15/94)
     The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has granted 
the Washington state Department of Community, Trade, and Economic
Development (CTED) $1 million to develop Housing Opportunities 
for People With AIDS (HOPWA).  The award will allow CTED to help 
people through contracts with nonprofit organizations and housing
authorities in four impacted communities.  The grant will also 
fund research of the housing needs of people living with HIV/AIDS
and develop a statewide plan to meet their needs.   HOPWA grants 
provide housing assistance and support services to low-income 
individuals living with HIV/AIDS.  The assistance will include a 
number of measures to prevent homelessness among patients and 
their families.
      
"Specific Incorporation of Cyclophilin A into HIV-1 Virions"
Nature (11/24/94) Vol. 372, No. 6504, P. 359;  Franke, Ettaly 
Kara;  Yuan, Hannah En Hui;  Luban, Jeremy
     Researchers from Columbia University have found that cyclophilin 
A is specifically incorporated into HIV-1 virions, but not into 
virions of other primate immunodeficiency viruses.  For 
cyclophilin A to bind and incorporate, a proline-rich region 
conserved in all HIV-1 Gag polyproteins is necessary.  Disruption
of a single proline prevents the Gag-cyclophilin interaction in 
vitro, blocks cyclophilin A incorporation into virions, and 
inhibits replication of HIV-1.  Franke et al conclude that the 
Gag-cyclophilin A interaction is necessary for the formation of 
infectious HIV-1 virions.
      
"Sexual Behaviors and Drug Use among Youth in Dropout-Prevention 
Programs--Miami, 1994"
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (12/02/94) Vol. 43, No. 47,
P. 873;  O'Hara, P.;  Messick, B.J.;  Kennedy, M.G. et al
     To estimate the prevalence of risk behaviors among potential 
dropouts, researchers from the University of Miami School of 
Medicine surveyed students in two Miami dropout-prevention 
programs (schools A and B) and compared the responses to those 
from a survey of Miami public schools.  In general, prevalences 
of specific risk behaviors were higher among students from the 
dropout prevention programs than among the public school 
students.  At 29.8 percent, school A students had a higher 
prevalence of a report of previous sexually transmitted disease 
(STD) or HIV/AIDS diagnosis than school B students (0) and public
school students (4.4 percent).  School A students also had a 
higher rate of injection drug use.  While only 13.5 percent of 
the public school students reported having used drugs or alcohol 
before their last sexual intercourse, 33.3 percent and 23.4 
percent of respondents from schools A and B, respectively,  said 
they had done so.  The editors of the Morbidity and Mortality 
Weekly Report suggest that STD/HIV prevention-service providers 
consider developing more intensive disease prevention programs 
targeted at students at risk for dropping out of school, risk 
levels of students in such programs be assessed, and prevention 
programming  be tailored to the diverse needs of the students 
populations at risk.
      
"Sounding Board: Targeted HIV-Prevention Programs"
New England Journal of Medicine (11/24/94) Vol. 331, No. 21, P. 
1451;  Des Jarlais, Don C.;  Padian, Nancy S.;  Winkelstein Jr., 
Warren
     Universal and targeted components are the keys to an effective 
HIV-prevention program.  The universal element--a unified 
national response--consists of reducing HIV-related 
discrimination, providing basic information about HIV and 
transmission, and removing the legal and commercial restrictions 
on the availability of condoms, sterile needles, and other 
materials necessary for safer behavior.  The targeted 
components--efforts that are very specific to high-risk behavior,
demographic characteristics, and geographic areas--require 
concentrating the limited resources for intensive programs of 
behavioral change on situations in which the risk of HIV 
transmission is highest.  Such a prevention strategy would inform
a greater number of people about the risks of HIV while limited 
funds are focused on those who are most at risk.
      
"Wrong HIV Test Leads to Job Loss"
American Medical News (12/05/94) Vol. 37, No. 45, P. 17
     A federal trial court for Puerto Rico has ruled that the 
government cannot be held liable in a medical malpractice action.
While a Veteran's Canteen Service worker, who voluntarily 
submitted to an HIV test, was found HIV-positive in Oct. 1987, a 
Western Blot test in January 1988 showed he did not have the 
virus.  After the first test, the treating physician sent a memo 
to the employee's supervisor stating he was unfit to work in food
handling and recommended that he be removed from his food-service
position.  The employee sued the government for medical 
malpractice, arguing that the hospital and physician were 
negligent in handling the test results--that they were confused 
with another worker's--and that his test results were improperly 
disclosed and, therefore, breached physician-patient 
confidentiality.  The court found that the test mix-up theory 
lacked merit because the test showed a positive reaction and 
because the worker was diagnosed with Pneumoncystitis carinii 
pneumonia--a condition frequently found in AIDS patients.  The 
court also said that Puerto Rico law recognizes no malpractice 
claims where a physician's diagnosis fell within the accepted 
range of medical practice.  No breach of confidentiality 
occurred, the court held, because the memo only stated the 
employee was unfit to work, not that he was HIV-infected.
      
"Ethics Committees Urged to Promote Benefits of Testing"
AIDS Alert (11/94) Vol. 9, No. 11, P. 158
     Dr. Martin W. Sklaire, chairman of the provisional committee on 
pediatric AIDS of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has 
challenged hospital ethics committees to take a leading role in 
helping to educate pregnant women about the benefits of HIV 
testing.  "Ethics committees could have an enormous impact on 
AIDS educational efforts," he says.  Policy-makers at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are currently working to
develop guidelines for pregnant women with AIDS that emphasize 
counseling and education as well as the importance of informed 
consent.  "Confidentiality will be a critical component of 
screening programs provided by health care providers," adds Dr. 
Martha Rogers, chief of the HIV epidemiology branch of the 
division of HIV/AIDS at the CDC.  Sklaire says that in 
anticipation of the CDC guidelines, hospital ethics committees 
should start planning educational efforts--such as partnerships 
among the ethics committees, school-based health clinics, and 
urban crisis centers.
      
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