                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       July 13, 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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"Payments for AIDS Housing to Be Shifted"
"FDA Reviews Baboon Cell Experiment"
"In Housing Effort, People with HIV Find Homes, Hope"
"'Renegade' Doctors Saved Hemophiliacs"
"Doctors Examine Weight Loss Caused by AIDS Virus"
"Community Lifeline"
"Bastille Day, West"
"NIAID Launches Microbicide Development Research"
"HIV-1 Infection in Commercial Plasma Donors in China"
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"Payments for AIDS Housing to Be Shifted"
New York Times (07/13/95) P. B8
     New York City announced on Wednesday that, effective Sept. 1, 
there will be a significant reduction in payments to hotels 
offering emergency shelter to people with AIDS.  Instead, the 
funds will be used to construct permanent housing for AIDS 
patients.  Currently, the Human Resources Administration pays 
$900 to $1,500 per person each month to operators of 40 
single-room-occupancy hotels that provide emergency housing for 
people with AIDS.  The new fees will drop nearly 20 percent, and 
are expected to save between $3 million and $7 million annually 
over 4 years, said Deputy Mayor for planning and community 
relations Fran Reiter.  "The city can no longer justify referring
sick individuals to decrepit buildings.  It makes no sense from a
health or fiscal standpoint," she noted.  Reiter said the new 
plan would be an incentive to encourage hotel owners to provide 
safer and cleaner rooms.  Related Story: USA Today (07/13) P. 4A
      
"FDA Reviews Baboon Cell Experiment"
Washington Post (07/13/95) P. A15;  Schwartz, John
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will begin hearings 
today to determine whether an experiment which involves 
transplanting bone marrow from baboons into humans should 
proceed.  The FDA blocked the treatment earlier this year for 
safety reasons.  Some scientists believe that transplanting 
specially treated baboon cells into an AIDS patient will produce 
cells and antibodies to fight HIV.  If the infection-fighting 
cells are successful, the patient's immune system could 
eventually resume its function again, they hope.  Others, 
however, caution that the risks of such a procedure are unknown 
and that the advantages are speculative at best because the 
transplant might have no effect, cause medical complications, or 
set the stage for the transfer of new disease-causing organisms 
to humans.  The researchers working on the experiment claim that 
the FDA is being too cautious about approving an experimental 
treatment for people whose lives are in danger.
      
"In Housing Effort, People with HIV Find Homes, Hope"
Boston Globe (07/12/95) P. 22;  Anand, Geeta
     Tuesday marked the opening of a low-cost housing development for 
people with AIDS, the homeless, or the mentally impaired.  The 
Arch Project is a 75-unit development in Boston's South End.  
"Having a program like this gives us a second chance," said one 
new resident, who is drug-dependent and HIV-positive.  Boston 
Mayor Menino used the opening of the $8.8 million facility to 
attack Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) for his opposition to AIDS 
funding.  "I say to Jesse, come to Boston...[and] see what we're 
doing for people with AIDS," he said.  During the past five 
years, Boston has amassed federal, state, and private funding to 
construct housing for people with AIDS or HIV, increasing the 
number of subsidized housing units for AIDS patients from 31 to 
409.  Still, the need remains critical, said Gary Sandison, the 
mayor's AIDS policy advisor.  At last count, there were 3,576 
HIV-infected individuals in Boston--almost half of whom were 
homeless or about to lose their homes, he said.
      
"'Renegade' Doctors Saved Hemophiliacs"
Toronto Globe and Mail (07/12/95) P. E7
     While doctors and Red Cross officials in Canada embraced a new 
blood clotting product called Factor 8, two "renegade" doctors 
claim they relied on instinct to save hemophiliacs in Alberta 
from becoming infected with HIV.  Man-Chiu Poon and Andrew Kaegi 
testified at a hearing on Tuesday into Canada's blood supply that
they had doubts about its safety.  They said they kept many of 
their patients on cryoprecipitate--a clotting product that is 
made from the blood of just one donor, while thousands contribute
to the production of Factor 8.  Kaegi said he began to have 
doubts about Factor 8, which in the early 1980s was made 
primarily from the blood of American donors, after hearing that 
some U.S. blood banks were located in dangerous areas.  Thus far,
about 400 Canadian hemophiliacs have died from receiving the 
contaminated blood.
      
"Doctors Examine Weight Loss Caused by AIDS Virus"
Reuters (07/12/95)
     Researchers trying to discover why HIV-infected persons often 
lose weight concluded in a report to be published in this week's 
New England Journal of Medicine that the weight loss does not 
occur because HIV increases the body's metabolism.  Instead, the 
virus appears to slow the human engine.  HIV apparently causes 
its hosts to eat less or to use the food less effectively, they 
said.  "Reduced energy intake, not elevated energy expenditure, 
is the prime determinant of weight loss in HIV-associated 
wasting," said the research team, led by Derek Macallan of St. 
George's Hospital Medical School in London.
      
"Community Lifeline"
Boston Globe (07/12/95) P. 69;  Kressy, Jean
     Community Servings is a Boston-area program that delivers free 
meals five days a week to people with AIDS, their families, and 
their caregivers.  The project began five years ago as a small 
initiative to provide hot meals to AIDS patients.  Although the 
cooking was initially contracted out, it soon became clear that 
the number of AIDS clients was increasing and that they had 
special nutritional requirements.  Community Servings moved into 
its own kitchen facilities and increased its operations.  Now, 
the program's budget is nearly $1 million a year--60 percent of 
which consists of state, federal, and city funds.
      
"Bastille Day, West"
Washington Post (07/12/95) P. C2;  Fabricant, Florence
     A couple of New York's top French restaurants are gearing up for 
Bastille Day, July 14.  Provence again will be hosting one of the
largest of the Big Apple's celebrations.  In fact, the street on 
which the eatery is located will be closed to traffic and turned 
into a playing field for petanque.  Some of New York City's 
leading chefs will be competing in the all-day tournament.  Over 
at Restaurant Florent, that eatery's owners will be giving its 
sixth annual all-day Bastille Day benefit party.  Proceeds from 
the festivities will go to benefit the local neighborhood 
association and Housing Works, a charity that helps homeless 
people with AIDS.
      
"NIAID Launches Microbicide Development Research"
AIDS Alert (07/95) Vol. 10, No. 7, P. 95
     The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
has announced three new research projects on topical 
microbicides--chemicals a women can insert in her vagina prior to
sexual intercourse to kill several sexually transmitted diseases 
(STDs).  "The development of safe, effective, female-controlled 
topical microbicides that will block the transmission of HIV and 
other STD agents is a global priority and a central focus of 
NIAID's STD research program," said NIAID director Dr. Anthony 
Fauci.  NIAID has financed $1.5 in first-year grants to 
researchers in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.  Penny 
Hitchcock, chief of the NIAID's STD branch, noted, "Existing 
spermicides have not yet been clinically evaluated."  The fact 
that spermicides have not been evaluated adequately to determine 
their efficacy against HIV is troubling to some public health 
officials.  Hitchcock, however, said the ideal topical 
microbicide would not be just spermicidal, but would be available
with or without spermicide because people's contraceptive choices
change.
      
"HIV-1 Infection in Commercial Plasma Donors in China"
Lancet (07/01/95) Vol. 346, No. 8966, P. 61;  Wu, Zunyou;  Liu, 
Zhiyuan;  Detels, Roger
     In a letter to the editor of the Lancet, Zunyou et al. report 
that a mother and her two daughters in rural China tested 
HIV-positive with no risk factor other than the fact that they 
were all commercial plasma donors.  Donating plasma for money has
recently become very popular in the Fuyang District.  Although 
physical examinations and testing for hepatitis B and C are 
required prior to collection, the HIV-1 antibody test is not 
required and, thus, not performed at any of the local collection 
centers.  Epidemiological data suggests that the women became 
infected from contaminated equipment used in the collection of 
plasma and the reinjection of blood cells.  Neither the infected 
women nor their family members were informed of their infection 
because it was feared they would commit suicide if they learned 
they were HIV-positive.  According to the researchers, the 
finding of three such infected women in rural China emphasizes 
four principles for control of HIV-infection: the need for 
sterilization, the need to screen plasma products and donors, the
need for routine HIV-1 notification, and the need for 
surveillance.
      
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