                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 1, 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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"Life Partners Inc. Is Told to Transfer Control of Policies"
"Judge Upholds Denial of Coverage for AIDS"
"Ashe Booth at Open Loses High-Profile Spot"
"Blood Panel Destroyed Records"
"Women Gets Prison in AIDS-Transmission Case"
"Body Heal Thyself"
"AIDS-Prevention Steps Taken, Dental Chief Says"
"Teen with AIDS Had Sex with 15"
"Impact of Improved Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on
HIV Infection in Rural Tanzania: Randomised Controlled Trial"
"Hopelessness and Injection Drug Use"
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"Life Partners Inc. Is Told to Transfer Control of Policies"
Wall Street Journal (09/01/95) P. B5;  Schatz, Amy J.
     Life Partners Inc. has been ordered to release its policies to a 
third party.  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 
suit against the company and its president, Brian Pardo, last 
year, alleging that they sold unregistered securities, that they 
did not register as a securities broker, and that they misled 
investors.  Life Partners makes viatical settlements--a deal in 
which it buys AIDS patients' life insurance policies, thus 
allowing them to receive a portion of the policy's value while an
investor continues to finance to policy's premium.  The SEC 
claims that the company and Pardo keep the policies themselves 
until after the patient dies.  Regulators are concerned about 
this arrangement because about 90 percent of the company is owned
by offshore corporations which have yet to be identified.  
District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth dismissed Life Partners' 
claim that viatical settlements are not securities, issued a 
preliminary injunction requiring the company to transfer control 
of the policies to a third party to hold "for the benefit of 
those investors who have purchased interests in them," and 
ordered the company to comply with securities regulations.  
Related Stories: New York Times (09/01) P. D3; Washington Times 
(09/01) P. B7; Washington Post (09/01) P. C1
      
"Judge Upholds Denial of Coverage for AIDS"
Journal of Commerce (09/01/95) P. 7A
     The Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits 
discrimination against people with HIV or AIDS, does not apply to
South Carolina's Health Insurance Pool, ruled U.S. District Court
Judge Dennis Shedd.  "I applied and was rejected because I was 
HIV-positive," said Sam Givens Jr., who replaced original 
plaintiff Bill Edens Jr. after Edens died of AIDS two years ago. 
"I just felt like to be an insurance pool that's supposed to take
up the slack of an insurance company, they should cover that."  
Judge Shedd, however, said that Givens' argument "is contrary to 
the very existence of the exemption."
      
"Ashe Booth at Open Loses High-Profile Spot"
New York Times (09/01/95) P. B7;  Sandomir, Richard
     The Arthur Ashe Endowment for the Defeat of AIDS has occupied a 
high-visibility booth inside the main gate to the National Tennis
Center for three years, selling souvenirs to raise funds for AIDS
programs.  This year, however, the U.S. Tennis Association moved 
the nonprofit organization to the "Passarelle," the boardwalk 
that runs from the subway station to the tennis center.  "It 
looks like a stepchild over here," said one spectator.  Because 
the booth has been moved from the heavy customer-traffic area, 
sales have fallen nearly 75 percent in the U.S. Open's first four
days.  Booth salesman Alfonso Ramirez said that 1994's daily 
sales average of $8,000 to $12,000 has dropped to $2,000 to 
$3,000 this year.  Jay Snyder, the event director, explained that
the Ashe booth had been moved because "there was no room left in 
the plaza area where they had been."
      
"Blood Panel Destroyed Records"
Toronto Globe and Mail (08/31/95) P. A1;  Picard, Andre
     A "record of decisions" of a meeting of the Canadian Blood 
Committee reveals that the committee's members agreed in 1989 to 
destroy all audio tapes and transcripts related to their 
discussions of Canada's tainted blood scandal in order to avoid 
public scrutiny.  It was estimated at that time that more than 
1,500 people had been infected by blood and blood products 
contaminated with HIV; several people had already filed lawsuits.
At the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, many 
allegations have focused on the Canadian Red Cross.  However, 
senior Red Cross officials have said they relied on the blood 
committee, which provided their funding, for policy instructions.
      
"Women Gets Prison in AIDS-Transmission Case"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (08/31/95) P. 1B;  Goodrich, Robert
     On Wednesday, Caretha Russell was sentenced to three-and-a-half 
years in jail, after pleading guilty to transmitting HIV.  
Russell admitted that she repeatedly had sex with a 17-year-old 
last year even though she knew she had AIDS.  Thus far, the 
teenager has not tested positive for HIV, said prosecutor Carol 
Barnard.  She  had asked for a sentence of six years to protect 
the public and send a message to other HIV-infected individuals 
who might be tempted to have unprotected intercourse.  A friend 
of Russell's said he hoped Russell would get probation because 
she contracted the virus at a time when many people had 
unprotected sex and were ignorant of its risks.
      
"Body Heal Thyself"
Financial Times (08/31/95) P. 8;  Griffith, Victoria
     Unlike previous classes of vaccines, therapeutic vaccines aim to 
treat patients already affected by an illness rather than prevent
infection.  These vaccines attempt to add a few extra years to 
life by teaching the immune system to destroy disease cells.  
Successful trials for such diseases as melanoma, hepatitis B, 
stomach ulcers, and AIDS have encouraged scientists as well as 
several biotechnology firms that are investing in this field.  
Despite their potential, however, some scientists have doubts 
about the safety and efficacy of therapeutic vaccines, 
particularly about the concept of relying on the immune system 
when it is already weakened by disease.
      
"AIDS-Prevention Steps Taken, Dental Chief Says"
Toronto Globe and Mail (08/31/95) P. A9
     The president of the Canadian Dental Association reported on 
Wednesday that Canadian dentists are already conducting all the 
procedures recommended in a study to prevent the risk of HIV 
spreading from drills.  The study, which was published in Nature 
Medicine, discovered that HIV can survive in the fluids 
lubricating the gears of dental equipment.  The authors 
recommended high-temperature sterilization between uses of the 
tools.  Dr. Jim Brookfield said that the association established 
guidelines two years ago which recommend that all hand pieces to 
be heat sterilized.
      
"Teen with AIDS Had Sex with 15"
Boston Globe (08/31/95) P. 12
     According to a Ukrainian official, a 13-year-old AIDS patient 
searched for people to infect, and transmitted HIV to at least 15
girls.  "This is the first such case in Ukraine, when a 
teen-ager, barely out of his childhood, has deliberately 
endangered the lives of 15 girls," commented Valery Ivasyuk of 
Ukraine's National Committee Against AIDS.
      
"Impact of Improved Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on
HIV Infection in Rural Tanzania: Randomised Controlled Trial"
Lancet (08/26/95) Vol. 346, No. 8974, P. 530;  Grosskurth, 
Heiner;  Mosha, Frank;  Todd, James et al.
     To determine the effects of increased sexually transmitted 
disease (STD) case management at the primary healthcare level on 
the incidence of HIV infection, Grosskurth et al. conducted a 
randomized trial of more than 12,500 individuals in Mwanza, 
Tanzania.  Intervention included the establishment of an STD 
reference clinic, staff training, the regular supply of drugs, 
standard supervisory visits to health centers, and STD education.
Of those subjects who were initially seronegative for HIV, 1.2 
percent of the intervention communities and 1.9 percent of the 
comparison group seroconverted during the two years of follow up.
The incidence of HIV was consistently lower in all six of the 
intervention communities, compared with the six comparison 
communities.  However, no change in sexual behavior was observed 
in either group.  The authors concluded that improved STD care 
reduced HIV incidence by about 40 percent in Mwanza.
      
"Hopelessness and Injection Drug Use"
Focus (08/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 7
     Injection drug users being tested for HIV antibodies had low 
overall levels of hopelessness, considering the likelihood of 
infection through drug use, a large clinical study reveals.  
Other studies of hopelessness, which is defined as "negative 
expectancies about the future," have found no relationship 
between overall levels of hopelessness and HIV status.  The new 
study, which is reported in the journal Drug and Alcohol 
Dependence, evaluated nearly 2,400 intravenous drug users using 
the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), which rates hopelessness from 
0 to 20 on three levels.  These levels are resignation to the 
futility of changing the future, rejection of the possibility of 
a better future, and acceptance of the inevitability  of a 
hopeless future.  Overall, almost 18 percent of the subjects 
reported BHS scores greater than nine, suggesting a risk for 
eventual suicide, and nearly 25 percent reported current thoughts
of suicide.  The researchers hypothesized that seeking testing 
and counseling may have given the subjects a sense of hope for 
the future.
      
The CDC AIDS Daily Summary will not be distributed on Monday, 
September 4, in observation of Labor Day.  Distribution will resume
on Tuesday, September 5.
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