                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       July 21, 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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"Survey Finds D.C. Is Rich in Small Nonprofit Groups"
"Chronicle: Greg Louganis"
"Red Cross Issues Another Recall of Blood Products"
"AIDS Drop-In Center Draws"
"State TB and AIDS Officials Knock Down Barriers"
"Energy Expenditure and Wasting in Human Immunodeficiency Virus 
Infection"
"The Cost-Effectiveness of Voluntary Counseling and Testing of 
Hospital Patients for HIV"
"Money Talks"
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"Survey Finds D.C. Is Rich in Small Nonprofit Groups"
Washington Post (07/21/95) P. A2;  Thompson, Tracy
     Washington, D.C., has a largely invisible, grass-roots network of
more than 700 small nonprofit groups whose objectives range from 
delivering meals to homebound AIDS patients to constructing 
low-income housing, found a new survey by the Washington Regional
Association of Grantmakers.  According to the survey, these 
groups obtain about one-third of their funding from the 
government.  Hope Gleicher, executive director of the 
association, says there is a need for this kind of accounting of 
organizations because it increases awareness of the city's 
dependence on nonprofits to deliver social services.  As of May, 
the city owed its contractors, including nonprofit groups, $33 
million.
      
"Chronicle: Greg Louganis"
New York Times (07/21/95) P. B6;  Brozan, Nadine
     Four-time Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis is preparing for 
the starring and only role in "The Only Thing Worse You Could 
Have Told Me," an off-Broadway play by Dan Butler.  The play 
offers a view of contemporary gay life as seen through several 
characters in 14 vignettes.  The play--which is currently being 
performed by Butler, who is leaving to return to the NBC comedy 
"Frasier"--is also largely autobiographical.  Louganis has earned
both praise and criticism for his disclosure earlier this year 
that he has AIDS, and that he participated in the 1988 Olympics 
while infected with HIV.  He has performed in several stage 
productions, including "Jeffrey."
      
"Red Cross Issues Another Recall of Blood Products"
Toronto Globe and Mail (07/19/95) P. A3;  Abbate, Gay
     The Canadian Red Cross Society has ordered the recall of 
additional blood products after learning that a donor has been 
diagnosed with possible Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.  This second 
withdrawal in two weeks comes after the agency discovered that 
the man had donated blood in August 1994.  The only other time he
donated blood was in 1985.  Dr. Maung Aye, national director of 
blood services with the Canadian Red Cross, said that both 
recalls were precautionary moves and that there is no scientific 
data that show the disease is transmitted among humans via blood 
transfusions.  Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease is very rare, with just 
one case per 1 million people diagnosed each year.  It is thought
to be cause by an infectious protein or virus.  Recently, a 
physician testifying at an investigation into Canada's blood 
system cautioned that Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease could be the next
AIDS-like epidemic.
      
"AIDS Drop-In Center Draws"
Boston Globe (07/20/95) P. 24;  Ferdinand, Pamela
     A new Cambridge drop-in center for people with HIV and AIDS has 
become a popular place.  As many as eight people a day come to 
the center, which is run by Cambridge Cares About AIDS, to have 
coffee, talk with peer leaders, find out about referral services,
or watch movies provided by local merchants, says executive 
director Mark Gray.  The center was created after agency workers 
realized that people were lingering at the office because they 
did not have anywhere else to go for support.  "They really look 
forward to it and have found that it's a really safe space to be 
in," Gray notes.
      
"State TB and AIDS Officials Knock Down Barriers"
AIDS Alert (07/95) Vol. 10, No. 7, P. 88
     Connecticut is a model of how AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) control 
programs share information, say officials at the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The CDC and its Advisory 
Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) have been 
working to establish better relationships between AIDS and TB 
registries, however, confidentiality laws in many states hinder 
such efforts.  In New York City, for example, AIDS surveillance 
programs are barred from telling TB surveillance programs who 
their patients are.  Theoretically, an HIV-positive patient whose
AIDS-defining illness is TB may not be counted as a TB 
patient--although city health officials maintain this is not 
true.  Connecticut has been sharing data since 1986, says Tom 
Marino of the state's TB control program, because "we thought it 
was mutually beneficial to better determine to what extent HIV 
and AIDS was contributing to TB incidence" in the state.  The 
public health need for identifying co-infection cases is easily 
justified, but confidentiality matters are politically sensitive.
One way to convince legislators is to provide them with data on 
the rates of co-infection in the state or in certain 
jurisdictions and settings, says Dr. Alicia Roach, Connecticut's 
acting chief of AIDS epidemiology.
      
"Energy Expenditure and Wasting in Human Immunodeficiency Virus 
Infection"
New England Journal of Medicine (07/12/95) Vol. 333, No. 2, P. 
83;  Macallan, Derek C.;  Noble, Carole;  Baldwin, Christine et 
al.
     To determine the contribution of total energy expenditure to 
weight changes in patients with HIV-related wasting, Macallan et 
al. performed more than 50 tests of energy metabolism in 
HIV-infected men at various stages of the disease.  The results 
of the tests were compared with the rate of weight gain or loss. 
The average total energy expended was 2750 kilocalories (kcal) 
per day, give or take 650 kcal, which is no more than that 
expended by healthy men.  The researchers observed a significant 
positive relation between total energy expenditure and the rate 
of weight change.  During rapid weight loss, therefore, total 
energy expenditure fell to 2180 kcal per day, which is primarily 
the result of reduced exercise.  In addition, they observed that 
in periods of rapid weight loss, people infected with HIV used 
less energy.  The key determinant of weight loss in HIV-related 
wasting, the authors concluded, was reduced energy intake--not 
increased energy expenditure, as some have suggested.
      
"The Cost-Effectiveness of Voluntary Counseling and Testing of 
Hospital Patients for HIV"
Journal of the American Medical Association (07/12/95) Vol. 333, 
No. 2, P. 129;  Lurie, Peter;  Avins, Andrew L.;  Phillips, 
Kathryn A. et al.
     In response to letters to the editor published in the Journal of 
the American Medical Association written by members of the Johns 
Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), Lurie et al. state that--contrary 
to the letters' assertion--they are aware of the existence of 
universal safety precautions.  Their research concluded that 
inpatient HIV screening for the purpose of preventing health care
worker infection was not cost-effective, but that it could be 
cost-effective in areas of 1 percent seroprevalence or more.  The
analyses were based in three diverse hospitals, and reflect the 
reality of adherence to universal safety measures, rather than an
idealized version of compliance, Lurie et al. assert.  It seems 
unlikely, they conclude, that the study will be interpreted as 
implying that the CDC endorses inpatient HIV testing for 
preventing the infection of health care 
professionals--particularly when it was stated that "the CDC has 
explicitly rejected this position."
      
"Money Talks"
Advocate (07/25/95) No. 686, P. 41;  Gallagher, John
     As AIDS and homosexual groups revise their strategies to 
accommodate the Republican Congress, they are increasingly 
turning to GOP consultants for help.  Proponents of the strategy 
claim that this is how the game is played, and that the use of PR
firms and political consultants is a long-overdue step toward 
making the two movements more professional.  "People involved in 
the different movements need to adapt the techniques that work, 
whether or not they view them as correct," says Andrew Barrer, a 
former senior advisor in the White House Office on AIDS Policy.  
But others argue that professional packaging is not a substitute 
for grassroots activism, and could even divert resources from the
unglamorous work involved in AIDS and gay issues.  The new 
tactics emphasize the general lack of contingency plans that left
many groups struggling when the Republicans won last fall.  "We 
had such strong relationships with key congressional offices 
under the old regime that we might not have done all the work we 
really needed to do to really forge new relationships with a wide
range of offices," admits Mike Isbell of the Gay Men's Health 
Crisis.
      
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