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


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"FDA Aims for a Safer Blood Supply"
"Young People Confronting AIDS"
"AIDS Virus Is Very Fragile"
"TB and HIV Have Formed Deadly Link"
"AIDS Walk Makes Strides"
"Pope Pays Homage to Father Damien of the Lepers"
"ProCyte Scientists Discover New Molecular Design Tool"
"Providers Not Diagnosing HIV in Older Women"
"Cyclosporin A"
"Join the DOTS"
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"FDA Aims for a Safer Blood Supply"
Washington Post (06/06/95) P. A6
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon require 
blood banks to report errors in handling blood products more 
quickly, and has already implemented a warning system to alert 
centers of potential problems.  According to an audit by the 
inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services,
the moves would increase the safety of the nation's blood supply.
Currently, the FDA requires most blood centers to report 
accidents, but there is no deadline.  The audit found that, in 
1993, facilities took an average of four months after an error to
notify the agency of the problem.  Spokesman Larry Bachorik said 
that the FDA this winter will issue new regulations demanding 
faster reports from every blood facility.  Also, this month the 
agency began sending the results of the error reports to blood 
centers to warn them of potential problems.
      
"Young People Confronting AIDS"
New York Times (06/06/95) P. C16;  O'Connor, John J.
     "The Goods Presents: Think Positive," which is being aired 
tonight on both MTV and VH-1, focuses on young people who are 
HIV-positive or have developed AIDS.  The program also features 
three grassroots organizations that deal with AIDS.  Members of 
Stand-Up Harlem, for example, arrange prevention workshops for 
the young people in their community.  "The Goods" is MTV's home 
shopping service.  During the promotional breaks for the program,
model Claudia Schiffer will ask viewers to buy a $46 package put 
together by the AIDS event "Seventh on Sale: The Return to New 
York."  The collection includes a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt and 
baseball cap and a CD six-pack featuring top recording artists 
such as Elton John and Aretha Franklin.
      
"AIDS Virus Is Very Fragile"
Baltimore Sun (06/06/95) P. 5D;  Wilson, Modena;  Joffe, Alain
     In response to a question about whether HIV could become airborne
in the future, Drs. Modena Wilson and Alain Joffe write that the 
answer is "no" in almost all circumstances.  HIV is very 
fragile--it cannot live outside the body for long periods of time
and is sensitive to heat and drying.  For this reason, the two 
major methods of transmission remain sexual intercourse and the 
sharing of needles.  Both of these methods permit the exchange of
body fluids--which protect the virus--from one person to another.
HIV is also not very infectious, which is one explanation why the
virus is not transmitted by kissing.  Saliva does not contain 
enough virus particles.  Finally, HIV cannot penetrate unbroken 
skin.  Instead, it must gain direct access to the bloodstream 
through cuts and open sores.  In conclusion, the known properties
of HIV explain why the routes of infection are so 
predictable--large quantities of the virus must gain direct 
access to the bloodstream.
      
"TB and HIV Have Formed Deadly Link"
Philadelphia Inquirer (06/04/95) P. D5
     The World Health Organization (WHO) warned last week that AIDS 
and tuberculosis (TB) have formed a fatal partnership.  The two 
diseases have characteristics that can be deadly when both are 
present.  By the end of the decade, the United Nations agency 
said, TB will hasten the deaths of one-third of AIDS patients.  
Furthermore, the predicted explosion of AIDS cases--particularly 
in Southeast Asia--will probably increase the spread of TB, the 
WHO said.  "This co-epidemic complicates efforts to care for AIDS
patients and to identify and treat TB victims," said Anthony 
Harris, a doctor in Malawi who attended a three-day meeting at 
the WHO's headquarters in Geneva.  The agency organized the 
meeting of experts to devise a strategy to fight the diseases.  
The participants agreed to increase coordination between the two 
sectors; try to improve TB diagnosis; increase TB prevention 
efforts among AIDS patients; and do more to persuade TB patients 
to seek care.
      
"AIDS Walk Makes Strides"
Boston Globe (06/05/95) P. 16;  Daly, Gavin
     More than 35,000 people participated in the 10th annual AIDS 
pledge walk in Boston on Sunday.  This weekend's walk, however, 
was very different from the first trek in 1986.  At that time, 
only one out of every 50 people knew someone with AIDS, said 
Larry Kessler, executive director of the AIDS Action Committee.  
The ratio is now one out of three.  In 1986, there were 792 AIDS 
cases diagnosed in Massachusetts.  Today, there are more than 
10,000 HIV-infected Massachusetts residents, according to event 
organizers.  The greatest difference over the years, they say, is
the number of corporate sponsors who have donated money to the 
walk which, according to event manager Louis Cappella, raises 30 
percent of the AIDS Action Committee's annual budget.  Sunday's 
walk raised more than $2.8 million.
      
"Pope Pays Homage to Father Damien of the Lepers"
Reuters (06/04/95);  Lauwers, Bert
     On Sunday, Pope John Paul II beatified Belgian missionary Father 
Damien for his altruistic work with lepers, providing a symbol 
for people with incurable modern-day diseases such as AIDS.  
Father Damien, who spent his early years in the Flemish village 
of Tremelo in northern Belgium, later lived in quarantine with 
approximately 1,000 lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai 
until he died of leprosy in 1889.  "Damien has always been our 
source of inspiration," said Belgian missionary Sister Paula.  
"The leprosy of then is the AIDS of now." She noted that much of 
her work involves caring for people infected with HIV.
      
"ProCyte Scientists Discover New Molecular Design Tool"
PR Newswire (06/05/95)
     Scientists at ProCyte Corp. have discovered a new method of 
creating copper-containing molecules which will contribute to the
development of ligands.  In a scientific paper published in 
Inorganic Chemistry, ProCyte senior scientist Dr. Alexander 
Pallenberg described the recent chemical discoveries that assist 
in the development and analysis of the copper-containing 
compounds.  ProCyte scientists are currently studying a new class
of potential therapeutic copper compounds for use in viral 
inhibitions and potential anti-inflammatory applications.  These 
copper therapeutic compounds are intended for application in such
human disease conditions as tissue damage and the inhibition of 
HIV.
      
"Providers Not Diagnosing HIV in Older Women"
AIDS Alert (06/95) Vol. 10, No. 6, P. 77
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta 
reports that 10 percent of all women diagnosed with AIDS by June 
1994 were more than 50 years old.  "These are the invisible 
victims of the disease," says Patricia Fleming, head of the 
reporting and analysis division of the surveillance branch at the
CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases.  Midlife-and-older
women are not being diagnosed with AIDS until late in the disease
process, sometimes not until death.  According to Fleming, 43 
percent of women over 65 with AIDS died within one month of 
diagnosis.  A key factor for providers treating older women, she 
says, is to recognize that this group is now acquiring the 
disease through heterosexual contact, not just through 
transfusions.  "Midlife and Older Women and HIV/AIDS" is the 
published report of an American Association of Retired 
Persons/Center for Women's Policy Studies seminar in 1993.  The 
report raises the issues that--with older women and HIV--many 
behavioral and psychological risk factors are overlooked, 
diagnosis and treatment of HIV is complicated by other aging 
factors, and that socioeconomic and cultural factors limit 
patient access to care and treatment.
      
"Cyclosporin A"
Nature (05/18/95) Vol. 375, No. 6528, P. 198;  Ho, David D.;  
Perelson, Alan S.;  Shaw, George M.
     In response to letters to the editor of Nature, Ho et al. write 
that the letters' most important point concerns CD4 lymphocyte 
redistribution, rather than proliferation.  Although lymphocyte 
re-trafficking is a possible explanation, several observations 
argue against it, the authors explain.  First, the increases in 
CD4 levels were not temporary, but sustained as long as the 
antiviral effect was maintained.  Second, studies have shown that
increases in CD4 counts associated with viral suppression were 
associated with significant clinical improvement.  Third, recent 
unpublished studies by the authors demonstrate that the 
surface-marker phenotypes of CD4 lymphocytes post-therapy differ 
greatly from those before treatment.  Our preliminary findings 
reveal the expression of several activation markers on many of 
the CD4 lymphocytes after treatment--a finding which supports 
lymphocyte repopulation by cellular proliferation, but argues 
against lymphocyte redistribution, Ho et al. conclude.
      
"Join the DOTS"
Economist (05/20/95-05/26/95) Vol. 335, No. 7915, P. 81
     In an unprecedented move two years ago, the World Health 
Organization (WHO) declared tuberculosis (TB) a global emergency.
Efforts to block its spread, however, have had only limited 
effects--in part because it is not seen as a high priority.  In 
wealthy nations, the discovery of antibiotics and the spread of 
healthcare systems has greatly reduced the rate of TB since the 
1940s.  Its resurgence in the 1980s was due to several factors, 
including AIDS, damaged health-care systems, and drug-resistance.
According to the WHO, if health workers ensured that drug 
regimens were followed--in a program known as "directly observed 
treatment, short-course" (DOTS)--the TB rate could fall 
significantly and drug resistance could be brought under control.
In New York City, for example, about 40 percent of the city's 
caseload are under the DOTS regimen.  Currently, there 3,000 TB 
cases--a 15 percent decline since 1992.  In other parts of the 
world, however, counterproductive responses to the disease--such 
as the treatment of infected people with anti-TB drugs before 
they get sick, which breeds drug resistance; and ventilation 
systems, which spread the disease--are still being practiced.  
Although the DOTS strategy is an improvement over past anti-TB 
measures, it will not eliminate the disease.
      
     
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