                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       July 25, 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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"'Miracle Cure' Deal Trips Up Vesco"
"Across the USA: West Virginia"
"The Search Goes On"
"Safe Blood Units Refused, Documents Show"
"In the Rush Toward Gene Therapy, Some See a High Risk of 
Failure"
"Eye on the Needle"
"UBI Expands Testing of Peptide Immunotherapy for HIV Disease"
"Perinatal HIV and Ethical Conflict"
"The Prevalence of Patient Disclosure of HIV Infection to 
Doctors"
"Returning Emigres Add New Luster to AIDS Research"
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"'Miracle Cure' Deal Trips Up Vesco"
Washington Post (07/25/95) P. A9;  Farah, Douglas
     According to business partners and confidential State Department 
cables, fugitive financier Robert Vesco tried to develop a 
citronella plant-based drug called TX, which has been said to 
cure diseases ranging from the common cold to AIDS.  Vesco, who 
was arrested in Cuba on May 31, appears to have made a mistake 
when, sources say, he tried to cut his protectors in the Cuban 
government out of his multimillion-dollar plan to market the 
wonder drug.  "Vesco got greedy," said Enrico Garzaroli, the 
Italian businessman who invested over $1 million in the 
development and marketing of TX.  Garzaroli blew the whistle on 
Vesco after learning that Vesco was working behind the Cuban 
government's back and using Cuban facilities to work on TX 
without proper authorization.  The Cuban government, however, 
will say only that Vesco has been arrested for "suspicion of 
being a provacateur and agent of foreign special services.
      
"Across the USA: West Virginia"
USA Today (07/25/95) P. 6A
     Tim Snodgrass has been fired for refusing to deliver mail to a 
couple with AIDS.  The postal worker was suspended last month 
after withholding Fred and Pat Grounds' mail.  Snodgrass said he 
was afraid of cutting himself on the metal mail slot and becoming
infected with HIV from handling envelopes and stamps the Grounds 
might have licked.  Related Story: New York Times (07/25) P. A10
      
"The Search Goes On"
Financial Times (07/25/95) P. 8;  Cookson, Clive
     Although several experimental vaccines are being tested, there is
little prospect of an HIV vaccine proving its safety and efficacy
in large-scale trials in time to impact the AIDS epidemic before 
the turn of the century, writes Clive Cookson in the Financial 
Times.  Vaccines protect against infection by preparing the 
immune system to recognize a particular virus or bacterium, and 
then release antibodies and T cells to kill them.  HIV, however, 
is an extremely difficult target because of the many devices and 
disguises it uses.  For example, HIV is more variable and mutates
more rapidly than any other known virus.  The virus also remains 
invisible for long periods, hiding within the cell nucleus.  
Despite these problems, a large number of pharmaceutical and 
biotechnology companies continue to design HIV vaccines.  
SmithKline Beecham, for instance, is now testing a genetically 
engineered vaccine based on an HIV "envelope protein" called 
gp120.  The realistic opinion among AIDS researchers, Cookson 
concludes, is that the first effective vaccine against HIV will 
not be in mass production until at least 2005.
      
"Safe Blood Units Refused, Documents Show"
Toronto Globe and Mail (07/24/95) P. A3;  Picard, Andre
     The Canadian Red Cross was offered a heat-treated blood product 
for hemophiliacs in late 1983, but refused it because it cost 
pennies more per unit, say documents filed at a public inquiry.  
The agency rejected the product again in early 1984, 18 months 
before it was made available to hemophiliacs in Canada.  In the 
meantime, officials at the Red Cross played down the benefits of 
the safer concentrate.  One senior official even ordered a 
supplier not to include a warning that the concentrate that was 
not heat-treated could carry HIV.  The Commission of Inquiry on 
the Blood System is investigating the events which left more than
1,000 people infected with HIV and thousands more with hepatitis 
C.  Consumer groups, including the Canadian Hemophilia Society, 
claim that although the disaster was not completely preventable, 
systemic inaction on the part of the Red Cross and other 
officials significantly exacerbated the extent of inaction.
      
"In the Rush Toward Gene Therapy, Some See a High Risk of 
Failure"
New York Times (07/25/95) P. C3;  Kolata, Gina
     Despite the recent explosion of gene therapy experiments, there 
has not been a single report of a patient who has been helped by 
gene therapy, and the number of technical questions has 
multiplied.  Several leading scientists, including the director 
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have voiced concerns 
that the field is rushing too quickly from the laboratory.  
Critics fear a public backlash and crash of the gene therapy 
industry if the studies prove inconclusive and if some patients 
are harmed in the process.  Researchers hope to use gene therapy,
which involves inserting corrective genes into patients' cells, 
to cure such diseases as cystic fibrosis.  They also hope to 
insert these genes into HIV-infected cells and cancer cells.
      
"Eye on the Needle"
Boston Globe (07/24/95) P. 13;  Ferdinand, Pamela
     Results of a new analysis of Project-A-HOPE (Addict Health 
Opportunities Program Exchange) in Massachusetts show that the 
program appears to be successful.  The needle exchange has 
reduced needle sharing, and possibly HIV transmission, without 
increasing drug use or crime.  Although opponents were concerned 
that needle-exchange programs would produce new addicts by 
providing clean needles, the state-funded study indicates that 
most clients are longtime drug abusers.  The program's clients 
are primarily white men.  Most have homes and many drive Saabs 
and Lexuses to the needle-exchange sites.  Approximately 
one-third of the clients are African-American and just under 10 
percent are Latino, statistics show.  Last month, state 
legislators expanded the program from Boston and Cambridge by 
offering it to eight other communities, though some oppose the 
plan.  Project-A-HOPE is run by Boston's Department of Health and
Hospitals, ACT-UP Boston, Concilio Hispano, and Cambridge Cares 
About AIDS.
      
"UBI Expands Testing of Peptide Immunotherapy for HIV Disease"
Business Wire (07/24/95)
     United Biomedical Inc. has expanded its clinical trials of a 
peptide immunotherapy for the treatment of HIV.  The product is 
designed to slow AIDS progression by stimulating cytotoxic T 
lymphocytes (CTLs), which are responsible for recognizing and 
killing HIV.  The expanded Phase I clinical trial will determine 
the levels of HIV-specific CTL responses produced by the 
treatment, and monitor its therapeutic effect on various disease 
markers, such as viral load.
      
"Perinatal HIV and Ethical Conflict"
Focus (06/95) Vol. 10, No. 7, P. 8
     The perinatal and pediatric HIV epidemic is escalating in a 
global environment of ethical conflict, reports an essay that 
surveys the range of these conflicts.  The pandemic must deal 
with limited resources and the competing priorities of personal 
rights and public welfare.  "Ethical Issues in Perinatal HIV," 
published in Clinics in Perinatology, studies the ethical 
problems that arise when the health care entitlements of children
are contrasted against those of their mothers.  These issues 
include whether to continue pregnancy, HIV antibody screening for
children, maintaining patient confidentiality, and the mother's 
role as surrogate decision-maker for her child.
      
"The Prevalence of Patient Disclosure of HIV Infection to 
Doctors"
American Journal of Public Health (07/95) Vol. 85, No. 7, P. 
1018;  Marks, Gary;  Mason, Hyacinth R.C.;  Simoni, Jane M.
     To determine the prevalence and correlates of men's disclosure of
HIV infection to physicians and dentists who were not treating 
their HIV disease, researchers studied more than 630 
HIV-seropositive men at two HIV outpatient clinics in Los 
Angeles.  Self-administered questionnaires revealed that 54 
percent had seen a doctor or dentist who was not treating their 
infection.  Twenty-one percent of these men did not inform the 
physician of their serostatus.  Almost 30 percent of the 
non-disclosers believed that they would be refused treatment if 
they were discovered to be HIV-positive.  More than 10 percent of
the men who had informed at least one doctor or dentist reported 
that at least one of the providers had refused to treat them.  
The results reinforce the importance of universal health care 
precautions for health care personnel when treating all patients.
They also indicate, according to the authors, that some 
HIV-infected persons who inform medical providers of their 
infection may jeopardize their access to health care.
      
"Returning Emigres Add New Luster to AIDS Research"
Science (07/07/95) Vol. 269, No. 5220, P. 24;  Balter, Michael
     A growing number of Italian AIDS researchers are returning to 
their roots.  For example, Guido Poli and his wife Elisa Vicenzi 
had both spent several years working on AIDS at the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH).  But in 1993, the couple returned to 
Italy  to work at Milan's San Raffaele biomedical complex in a 
state-of-the-art AIDS research facility that Poli helped design. 
As chief of San Raffaele's Department of Biological and Technical
Research (DIBIT)'s Immunopathogenesis Unit, Poli will be joined 
by Paolo Lusso, who recently returned to Italy after spending 
eight years in Robert Gallo's NIH lab.  "The NIH is a real 
incubator of Italian scientists," commented Alberto Beretta, head
of DIBIT's new Immunobiology of HIV Unit and the only one of the 
three team leaders who did not train at NIH.  The majority of 
DIBIT's returning AIDS researchers did their postdoctoral studies
in the United States as part of NIH's John E. Fogarty scientist 
exchange program.  Their return to their homeland could make 
Italy a force to be reckoned with in AIDS research.
      
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