                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       August 8, 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
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Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"AIDS Containment Seen as Attainable"
"Zambia Frees Prisoners with AIDS Virus"
"Animals over AIDS"
"Across the USA: California"
"Combination Treatment and Single Drugs: Interview with Margaret 
Poscher, M.D."
"In Whose Care and Custody? Orphans of the HIV Epidemic"
"FDA Announces Public Workshop and Advisory Subcommittee Meeting 
on Current Issues in AIDS Clinical Trials"
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"AIDS Containment Seen as Attainable"
Washington Times (08/08/95) P. A8
     Although there will be an increasing number of AIDS-related 
deaths in the 1990s, this decade may also be a time of 
containment of the disease due to global prevention programs, the
head of the U.S. government's foreign assistance agency said on 
Monday.  Currently, more than 19 million individuals, including 
over 1 million Americans, are HIV-positive, said J. Brian Atwood,
administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development at
a conference of AIDS experts.  Therefore, it is estimated that 
between 300,000 and 600,000 people will die from AIDS in 1995.  
By the year 2000, the number of AIDS deaths is expected to reach 
1.5 million to 3 million.  Related Story: Baltimore Sun (08/08) 
P. 10A
      
"Zambia Frees Prisoners with AIDS Virus"
Reuters (08/08/95)
     One hundred HIV-infected Zambian prisoners have been liberated to
stem the spread of the virus in jails, officials report.  
"Inmates with AIDS are released on the recommendation of medical 
officers because prisons are not places for keeping terminally 
ill people," said a Department of Prisons spokesman.  "Releasing 
them also ensures that the spread of the epidemic is limited."  A
1993 study conducted by the ministry of health revealed that as 
many as 16 percent of the inmates were infected with the virus 
that causes AIDS.  Two factors that contributed to HIV's spread 
were homosexuality and the sharing of razor blades.  Zambia, 
which has one of the highest number of recorded cases of HIV 
infection in sub-Saharan Africa, has diagnosed an estimated 
30,000 cases of full-blown AIDS since the beginning of the 
epidemic.
      
"Animals over AIDS"
Washington Times (08/08/95) P. A2
     In a New York Post commentary, Maryland lawyer Carl Kapanke 
assails Hollywood's latest cause.  "For 14 years I've carried the
label 'HIV positive' and all the baggage that goes with it," he 
writes.  Kapanke explains that the red ribbon that is worn in 
support of AIDS efforts always gave him hope.  But now, he says, 
there is a new cause--animal rights--so "don't let the sea of red
ribbons at the Academy Awards fool you."  Kapanke argues that the
"animal rights agenda at its core is incompatible with finding 
cures for AIDS and other deadly diseases."
      
"Across the USA: California"
USA Today (08/08/95) P. 5A
     In San Diego, Calif., AIDS patient Regina Hope Edwards has been 
granted early release from jail.  Edwards, a three-time offender,
is serving time for petty theft.
      
"Combination Treatment and Single Drugs: Interview with Margaret 
Poscher, M.D."
AIDS Treatment News (07/07/95) No. 226, P. 2;  James, John S.
     In an interview with AIDS Treatment News, internist Margaret 
Poscher--a professor and the director of HIV Clinical Services at
the University of California Mt. Zion--discusses combination 
treatment for HIV.  Poscher says her preferred combination is AZT
and 3TC--which she believes will be the initial therapy when 3TC 
is approved.  The only patients she has on monotherapy are a few 
receiving d4T.  Poscher occasionally uses the triple combination 
of AZT, 3TC, and ddI; this regimen is based on a report from Dr. 
St. Clair at the Second National Conference on Human Retroviruses
and Related Infections.  The difference, she explains, between 
therapy naive patients and those who have been on AZT for a long 
time is "like night and day; it is significantly different."  The
drug 3TC, however, is the exception because "you can add it to 
AZT and still get some mileage out of the AZT."  In terms of 
other antivirals, Poscher describes herself as "pro acyclovir," 
ambivalent about oral ganciclovir for cytomegalovirus 
prophylaxis, and encouraged by the renewed access to thalidomide 
for the potential treatment of wasting.
      
"In Whose Care and Custody? Orphans of the HIV Epidemic"
AIDS Clinical Care (08/95) Vol. 7, No. 8, P. 66;  Levine, Carol
     Most young people who survive the AIDS death of a parent are at 
high-risk for economic loss, as well as both behavioral and 
developmental problems.  As teens, they are likely to engage in 
high-risk activities related to HIV transmission.  Some of these 
children require new sources of financial assistance, shelter, 
food, and medical care.  David Michaels, an associate professor 
at the City University of New York Medical School, estimates that
by the year 2000, between 72,000 and 125,000 U.S. children and 
teenagers will have lost their mothers to HIV/AIDS.  One study 
found that almost 60 percent of the children whose mothers had 
died went to live with their grandmothers or aunts.  HIV-infected
parents report feelings of extreme isolation and anxiety about 
their own and their children's health, as well as the financial 
toll of illness.  A study of HIV-infected families headed by 
single mothers found that they were "overextended with caregiving
responsibilities and confronting multiple stressors."  One very 
difficult task for HIV-infected parents is planning for the 
future custody of their children.  Often, for example, if a 
parent names guardian in a will, the choice may not be honored by
the family court judge or surrogate.  If a parent selects a 
guardianship petition, she relinquishes critical decision-making 
rights and perhaps actual custody of her children while she is 
alive.
      
"FDA Announces Public Workshop and Advisory Subcommittee Meeting 
on Current Issues in AIDS Clinical Trials"
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (08/01/95)
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding a public 
workshop on current issues in HIV clinical trials on Sept. 6 and 
7, 1995.  At the workshop--to which registration is 
required--members of the industry and the public will be able to 
discuss issues regarding the design and conduct of clinical 
trials of drugs for the treatment of HIV, as well as propose 
strategies for overcoming known obstacles.  A major challenge to 
developers of HIV treatments is the successful design and conduct
of clinical confirmatory trials, which are needed to provide the 
data used to confirm the clinical benefit of drugs that have 
received accelerated approval.  The workshop will be followed by 
a joint meeting on Sept. 9 of subcommittees of the Antiviral 
Drugs Advisory Committee and the National Task Force on AIDS Drug
Development.  The subcommittees will hear summary presentations 
from the workshop,  and will discuss recommendations on the 
scientific design of future HIV clinical trials.  For more 
information, call the AIDS Clinical Trial Information Service at 
(800) 874-2572.
      
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