                          AIDS Daily Summary
                           January 6, 1995


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
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Study Finds HIV Infection Can Be Highly Contagious"
"FDA Clears Expanded Study of AIDS Blood Treatment"
"Crucial Advance Made in Blood Cell Research"
"Across the USA: Mississippi"
"Examining Gay Issues in Racial Settings"
"Philadelphia Area Construction Workers' AIDS Insurance Coverage 
Improved"
"Help Ahead for HIV Families"
"The Effects of HIV/AIDS Intervention Groups for High-Risk Women 
in Urban Clinics"
"Visceral Leishmaniasis and AIDS"
"Orphans of the Epidemic"
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"Study Finds HIV Infection Can Be Highly Contagious"
Baltimore Sun (01/06/95) P. 3A
     Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered that 
people are extremely contagious in the first 60 days after 
becoming infected with HIV--the same period in which they cannot 
possibly realize that they have acquired the virus.  The study 
found that in the first 60 days after being infected, a person 
could transmit HIV to another person in as many as one-third of 
his or her sexual encounters.  HIV enters a long, less active 
phase after two months, during which the chance of infecting 
someone else is reduced to three in 1,000 sexual encounters, 
explained John Jacquez, senior author of the study published in 
the November Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.  A 
person's contagiousness increases again when the disease 
progresses to full-blown AIDS.  "The main impact of our work is 
that there is a very narrow period of high contagiousness, less 
than two months, and that's before you can usually know you have 
HIV," said Dr. Carl Simon, a Univeristy of Michigan professor.  
The researchers said that the findings raise important public 
health questions.  AIDS vaccine studies, for example, may want to
include studies of contagiousness of vaccinated people who 
subsequently contract the infection.
      
"FDA Clears Expanded Study of AIDS Blood Treatment"
Wall Street Journal (01/06/95) P. A14
     The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an expanded 
study of a treatment for AIDS patients by Biocontrol Technology 
Inc.'s subsidiary, IDT Inc., and HemoCleanse Inc.  The treatment 
artificially induces a fever by heating the patient's blood.  
Biocontrol said that HIV is known to be sensitive to heat.  While
patients were only treated once in the first study, which took 
place in July, patients will be treated twice in the new study.  
If the expanded study is successful, IDT plans on submitting an 
application for FDA approval to market the procedure.  Related 
Story: USA Today (01/06) P. 1D
      
"Crucial Advance Made in Blood Cell Research"
New York Times (01/06/95) P. A16;  Kolata, Gina
     Researchers have discovered a simple way to isolate human stem 
cells that could replace current cumbersome methods and 
facilitate studies of the important cells, which are needed for 
gene therapy and bone marrow transplants.  Dr. David Scadden and 
his colleagues at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston took 
advantage of that fact that stem cells are quiescent and do not 
grow in circumstances when other marrow cells do.  The team 
forced the other cells to grow and then forced them to commit 
suicide as soon as they began to divide, leaving behind mostly 
stem cells.  Under the new method, about one in five cells was a 
stem cell, while other methods often produced only one stem cell 
out of 50 or 100 cells.  The stem cells are of great interest 
because they form a pool of immortal cells that develop when 
needed into red or white blood cells.  Scadden and others want to
add genes to stem cells that would render them resistant to HIV. 
Theoretically, an HIV-infected person could then grow a new 
immune system that was impervious to the virus.  Scadden said 
that Deaconess Hospital has filed for a patent on his method.
      
"Across the USA: Mississippi"
USA Today (01/06/95) P. 9A
     Officials from the city of Vicksburg, Miss., and from the state's
Warren County are intervening to help HIV Services Inc. after the
clinic lost $52,000 in federal aid on Dec. 31.  The city board 
has approved $26,000 and the county is expected to match the 
grant.
      
"Examining Gay Issues in Racial Settings"
New York Times (01/06/95) P. C6
     "The Darker Side of Black," a film written and directed by Isaac 
Julien, attempts to uncover the roots of the sexism and anti-gay 
sentiment that permeate a significant segment of black popular 
culture.  The film focuses on issues raised about two years ago 
by the release of rapper Buju Banton's record "Boom Bye Bye," 
which advocated shooting homosexuals.  An interview with Banton 
appears in the film, as well as several thoughtful interviews 
with theologians, academicians, and civil rights advocates.  The 
film suggests that the vicious intolerance is a legacy of slavery
itself.  "Fast Trip, Long Drop" is Gregg Bordowitz's part 
autobiographical and part fanciful collage in which he explores 
his gay and Jewish identities and angrily spoofs the hushed, 
sanctimonious way that AIDS patients are treated by mainstream 
television interviewers.  Bordowitz tested HIV-positive almost 
five years ago and has since developed AIDS.  The film also 
includes clips from ACT UP demonstrations that show the group's 
fiery optimism draining away.
      
"Philadelphia Area Construction Workers' AIDS Insurance Coverage 
Improved"
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (01/05/95);  Collins, Huntly
     A health and welfare fund in Philadelphia has agreed to eliminate
its $10,000 cap on health benefits for AIDS-related illnesses.  
The joint union-management fund for the Laborers' District 
Council, which grants up to $100,000 for other catastrophic 
illnesses, will no longer single out AIDS for limited coverage.  
All illnesses will now carry a $100,000 lifetime cap for 
individuals.  The shift stemmed from a discrimination complaint 
filed in 1992 by an HIV-infected union member.  The man, 
identified only as "John Doe," is a member of Local 332 of the 
Laborers' District Council who was forced to quit his job two 
years ago because of his illness.  Doe's lawyers said that the 
consent decree struck a significant blow to widespread 
insurance-related discrimination against HIV-infected people.  
Nan Feyler, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of 
Pennsylvania, which helped represent Doe, said the $10,000 cap 
violated the Americans with Disabilities Act--which prohibits 
discrimination against those with disabling diseases.  The fund 
covers more than 6,000 construction workers in the Philadelphia 
area.  Under the decree, Doe will receive $42,500 in 
compensation; the estate of another union member, who died of an 
AIDS-related illness, is to receive an undisclosed sum.
      
"Help Ahead for HIV Families"
Boston Globe (01/05/95) P. 22;  Ferdinand, Pamela
     The city of Cambridge, Mass., which has the fourth highest number
of residents with AIDS in the state, has received a $441,700 
grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to 
provide housing subsidies to low-income families living with the 
disease.  Eight families, each of whom will contribute 30 percent
of its income to rent, will be eligible for rental certificates 
for a five-year period.  The rent subsidies will be managed by 
the Cambridge Housing Authority, while Cambridge Cares About AIDS
will coordinate support services.  While more than 200 cases of 
AIDS have been reported in the city, the number of HIV-infected 
residents is estimated to exceed 1,000.
      
"The Effects of HIV/AIDS Intervention Groups for High-Risk Women 
in Urban Clinics"
American Journal of Public Health (12/94) Vol. 84, No. 12, P. 
1918;  Kelly, Jeffrey A.;  Murphy, Debra A.;  Washington, Carla 
D. et al
     To determine the effects of a behavior change intervention, 
researchers studied 197 women at high risk for HIV infection.  
The women, seen at an urban primary health care clinic in 
Milwaukee, Wisc., were randomly divided into either an HIV/AIDS 
risk reduction group or a comparison group.  The women in the 
intervention group attended five group sessions focusing on risk 
education.  Topics covered included skills training in condom 
use, sexual assertiveness, and problem solving.  Members of the 
comparison group attended sessions on health subjects unrelated 
to AIDS.  Three months after the study, women in the intervention
group were found to have increased sexual communication and 
negotiation skills.  Unprotected sex had significantly decreased 
and condom use had increased from 26 percent to 56 percent.  
There was no change detected among women in the comparison group.
The researchers concluded that socially disadvantaged women can 
be helped in reducing their risk of contracting HIV.  Risk 
reduction behavior change interventions should be provided at 
primary health care clinics serving low-income and high-risk 
patients.
      
"Visceral Leishmaniasis and AIDS"
Nature (12/22/94-12/29/94) Vol. 372, No. 6508, P. 734;  de 
Gorgolas, Miguel;  Miles, Michael A.
     Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a protozoan infection transmitted by
sandflies, is primarily rural and urban but has become urbanized.
HIV was primarily established in urban centers, from which it 
spread into suburban and rural areas, write de Gorgolas and Miles
in a letter to the editor published in Nature magazine.  Both 
VL--which has a world-wide distribution that includes the 
Mediterranean basin, East Africa, the Middle East, and South 
America--and HIV predominate in males.  The recent shift in the 
Mediterranean region in the age group prevalence of VL from 
infants to adults is seen only where HIV is present and is 
partially associated with activation of disease in previously 
undetected asymptomatic carriers who are also HIV-infected.  
There have been significant increases in the number of cases of 
VL associated with HIV.  VL/HIV co-infections present numerous 
problems such as the frequent failure of indirect methods of 
diagnosis and the high rates of relapse and persistent chronic 
infections.  The comparisons indicate the need to be alert to the
increasing sympatry between VL and HIV and the predictable rise 
in VL/HIV co-infections, and the need for a sense of urgency to 
the more effective management of VL outbreaks, conclude de 
Gorgolas and Miles.
      
"Orphans of the Epidemic"
Focus (12/94) Vol. 10, No. 1, P. 7;  Tufel, Robert
     An outgrowth of a conference sponsored by the Orphan Project and 
the United Hospital Fund, "A Death in the Family: Orphans of the 
HIV Epidemic," explains the needs of surviving children and 
adolescents, their families, and new guardians.  The issues 
raised by the increasing numbers of "AIDS orphans" are described 
from several perspectives including law, mental health, program 
development, and advocacy.  The book, edited by Carol Levine, 
features writings by providers working with HIV-affected families
as well as personal essays by HIV-infected parents and affected 
family members.  One of the first books to systematically 
document the complex issues facing HIV-affected families, "A 
Death in the Family" represents--according to Levine--the "first 
steps in a long journey" in acknowledging the problem of 
HIV-affected orphans.
      
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