                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      February 16, 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
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Reports Back Needle Exchange Programs"
"HIV-Positive Dad Gets Daughters for Overnight Visits"
"Wellcome Forecasts Sales Increase"
"Michigan Senate OKs AIDS Assault Measure"
"No Data Have Proved that HIV Causes AIDS"
"Gensia and Armour Pharmaceutical Co. Sign Distribution Agreement
for Pentamidine"
"Project Open Hand Producing 11th Annual AIDS Bike-A-Thon"
"Substance Abuse and Boundaries"
"3d-Party AIDS Victim Can Sue Doctor"
"Japan to Open First AIDS Clinic"
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"Reports Back Needle Exchange Programs"
Washington Post (02/16/95) P. A6;  Schwartz, John
     Although government scientists have recommended that the Clinton 
administration lift the ban on federal funding for 
needle-exchange programs, the administration has not acted upon 
the proposal.  Two reports by scientists at the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention determined that needle exchange 
programs help reduce the spread of blood-borne infections, and 
that they do not lead to increased drug abuse.  The Department of
Health and Human Services, however, has not made the reports 
public and the administration has not tried to lift the ban on 
funding.  Advocates of needle-exchange programs argue that they 
reduce the transmission of AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases 
that can be transmitted via shared needles.  Since 1988, when 
Congress first banned federal funding for such programs, 
authorizing legislation for a number of drug abuse and anti-AIDS 
programs has included similar bans.  The California study, 
released in October 1993, concluded that it was "likely" that 
needle exchange programs reduce the rate of new HIV-infection, 
and that there was "no evidence" that the programs increase the 
amount of drug use in the communities they serve.
      
"HIV-Positive Dad Gets Daughters for Overnight Visits"
Washington Times (02/16/95) P. C4;  Seigle, Greg
     A Prince George's County, Md., Circuit Court judge ruled on 
Wednesday that David Kevin North can have his three daughters 
visit him and his lover every other weekend at the couple's home.
Both North and his lover are HIV-positive.  The girls live with 
their mother, who testified that she did not want her children 
exposed to her ex-husband's homosexual lifestyle or to HIV.  
During the six-day hearing, Mrs. North said that North could not 
be trusted because he had unprotected sex with her for at least 
two months after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1991.  North said 
he hopes his former wife will let the children go to counseling 
because "they really need a third party...someone to talk to."
      
"Wellcome Forecasts Sales Increase"
Financial Times (02/16/95) P. 22;  Green, Daniel;  Lewis, William
     Wellcome released sales projections on Wednesday which Chairman 
and CEO John Robb said "confirm that Glaxo's bid undervalues the 
company."  Wellcome predicted that the AIDS drug Retrovir would 
recover from its declining sales due to new applications in 
combination with other drugs.  Some of the projections exceeded 
analysts' estimates, and a few of Wellcome's 
assumptions--particularly that Retrovir's price and dosage will 
remain the same--have been questioned.  Wellcome has also assumed
that Retrovir will not receive over-the-counter approval in the 
United States, although such approval is crucial to its joint 
venture with Warner-Lambert.
      
"Michigan Senate OKs AIDS Assault Measure"
Chicago Tribune (02/15/95) P. 1-3
     Legislation approved in the Michigan Senate on Tuesday states 
that a person convicted of criminal sexual conduct could be 
imprisoned for an additional three years if they knew at the time
that they were infected with HIV.  The bill, which was passed 
36-0, now goes to the House.  Last session, the bill passed in 
the Senate but not the House.  The proposed law, which would not 
take effect until Oct. 1 and would apply to offenses after that 
date, would apply in cases of sexual penetration and exposure to 
body fluids.
      
"No Data Have Proved that HIV Causes AIDS"
Wall Street Journal (02/16/95) P. A15;  Ellner, Michael
     The Wall Street Journal failed to report the evidence that 
prompted Michael Murphy, publisher of the newsletter Overpriced 
Stock Service, to conclude that HIV does not cause AIDS and that 
AZT kills those who take it, writes the Rev. Dr. Michael Ellner 
in a letter to the editors of that paper.  Ellner is the 
president of the Health Education AIDS Liaison (HEAL).  Murphy's 
equation of scientific opinion with fact insults Dr. Peter 
Duesberg, Ellner contends.  It also mocks the many dedicated 
health activists, physicians/scientists, journalists, and people 
of conscience throughout the world who are working to alert the 
public to fake science that supposedly shows that HIV causes 
AIDS, and the medicine it engenders.  NIH's Dr. Anthony S. Fauci,
Ellner predicts, is going to crash as soon as independent 
researchers examine the lack of scientific evidence and the true 
"benefits" of AZT.
      
"Gensia and Armour Pharmaceutical Co. Sign Distribution Agreement
for Pentamidine"
PR Newswire (02/15/95)
     Gensia Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has signed an 
exclusive distribution agreement with Armour Pharmaceutical Co. 
to market generic pentamidine isethionate in the United States.  
The drug will be sold by Gensia Laboratories Ltd. under the brand
name Pentacarinat.  Pentamidine isethionate is a medication for 
pneumonia due to Pneumocystis carinii bacteria, a frequent 
complication in immunocompromised patients--such as those with 
cancer or AIDS.  David F. Hale, Gensia's chairman, president, and
chief executive, said, "We believe Pentacarinat represents a 
significant marketing opportunity for Gensia Laboratories."
      
"Project Open Hand Producing 11th Annual AIDS Bike-A-Thon"
PR Newswire (02/15/95)
     Project Open Hand announced on Wednesday that the 11th annual 
AIDS Bike-A-Thon will be held Saturday, May 13.  Once again, 
bikers will have the choice of four routes: 12 miles, 25 miles, 
63 miles, or 100 miles.  The two shorter routes tour San 
Francisco, while the longer ones extend from San Francisco to 
Marin or Sonoma counties.  Project Open Hand has been greatly 
involved with Bike-A-Thon since 1987.  "We are excited to be 
carrying on the tradition of the AIDS Bike-A-Thon and look 
forward to a great turnout," said Tom Nolan, executive director 
of Project Open Hand.  Each month, Project Open Hand provides 
more than 2,000 men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS
in San Francisco and Alameda counties with free, comprehensive 
nutrition services.
      
"Substance Abuse and Boundaries"
Focus (01/95) Vol. 10, No. 2, P. 8;  Shernoff, M.;  Springer, E.
     By providing therapy to HIV-infected, chemically dependent 
individuals, counselors can enrich the quality of their lives and
work, establish priorities, and develop profoundly intimate 
relationships in the midst of pain, suffering, and sadness.  
"Substance Abuse and AIDS: Report From the Front Lines," by 
Shernoff and Springer is a commentary on such relationships, with
insights into balancing feelings, professional objectivity, and 
the need to remain emotionally accessible to clients.  For 
example, effective, client-specific counseling requires 
overcoming countertransference, as well as breaking down some 
traditional barriers.  While crying in the presence of clients 
may be considered "inappropriate" in traditional counseling 
settings, such emotional displays may benefit both HIV-infected 
chemically dependent clients and their counselors.
      
"3d-Party AIDS Victim Can Sue Doctor"
National Law Journal (02/13/95) Vol. 17, No. 24, P. A10
     On Jan. 26, California's Second District Court of Appeal ruled 
that because 22-year-old Daniel Reisner was infected with HIV by 
a young woman who was not warned that she had received a 
contaminated blood transfusion, he can sue her physician and her 
hospital.  The decision revives a suit dismissed on the ground 
that the defendants owed no duty to someone they did not know 
existed.  Although the hospital learned the blood was tainted 
with HIV the day after her transfusion, neither Jennifer Lawson 
nor her parents were told for the next five years, during which 
time she became intimate with a boyfriend.  She learned the truth
and informed Reisner one month before she died of AIDS in 1990.  
Reisner tested HIV-positive and sued for negligence.  The court 
labeled Reisner a "foreseeable if not readily identifiable 
victim."  The court noted that he does not claim that the 
defendants should have warned him, only that Lawson should have 
been warned so that the foreseeable injury might have been 
avoided.
      
"Japan to Open First AIDS Clinic"
Nature Medicine (02/95) Vol. 1, No. 2, P. 104;  Hannay, Timo
     Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Science will open Japan's
first clinical department specializing in treatment of AIDS.  The
new department will be part of the institute's hospital, not its 
research division.  Both clinical care and basic research, 
however, will be combined.  The lack of institutes that combine 
clinical treatment with basic research is frequently seen as a 
fundamental weakness of the Japanese medical system.  The 
institute's professors have chosen Chikao Morimoto--a Japanese 
associate professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 
Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School--as the 
new department head.  During his 15 years at Harvard, Morimoto 
conducted research on the glycoproteins expressed on the surface 
of human T cells and their role in T-cell activation and clinical
disease.  Some members of the Japanese AIDS patient community 
were outraged at the appointment of a researcher rather than a 
clinician, although Morimoto is a medical doctor.  Shigetaka 
Asano, director of the Tokyo Institute's hospital, explained that
the knowledge gained from basic immunological research like 
Morimoto's will be essential in developing new clinical 
treatments for AIDS.
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