                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 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
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Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

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"Red Cross Tones Down AIDS Materials"
"Across the USA: California/Missouri"
"Asia AIDS Epidemic Looms Amid Ignorance, Taboos"
"Clean Needles in Massachusetts"
"Vengeful Irish Woman Spread AIDS Virus--Priest"
"Researchers Air Alternative Views on How HIV Kills Cells"
"Government Should Readily Admit Errors"
"Dental Discrimination Case Could Be Decided by Jury"
"The Economics of AIDS"
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"Red Cross Tones Down AIDS Materials"
New York Times (09/13/95) P. A20;  Berke, Richard L.
     The American Red Cross is attempting to tone down its AIDS 
prevention program following a request by its president,  
Elizabeth Dole.  Internal Red Cross documents do not indicate any
political agenda for Dole, whose husband Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) 
is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, but some Red 
Cross officials claim that the board of governors reflected her 
desires at a time when Sen. Dole is trying to please 
conservatives.  According to Red Cross Chairman Norman R. 
Augustine, however, Mrs. Dole was motivated by "personal views," 
not political.  "There were concerns raised that the material is 
highly explicit in terms of sexual matters, including 
illustrations," Augustine explains.  Several organization 
officials approved an expanded AIDS program in April, but 
documents show that the board chose to review the program, which 
delayed it for several months.  The board then requested 
substantial modifications to materials, including leaflets, 
videos, and instruction manuals.  The documents reflect the board
members' desire to place increased emphasis on individual 
responsibility in preventing AIDS, as well as concerns that 
instructional video language was too explicit and that literature
did not focus more on drug abuse.
      
"Across the USA: California/Missouri"
USA Today (09/13/95) P. 9A
     A measure approved by the California state legislature which 
allows people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis 
patients to grow and smoke marijuana for medical purposes will 
likely be vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson, who rejected similar bills 
in 1993 and 1994.  Meanwhile, a program in Missouri that assisted
almost 1,400 people with HIV or AIDS has run out of money.  The 
$2.2 million federal grant which provided funds for rent, food, 
and health care ran out seven months earlier than expected.
      
"Asia AIDS Epidemic Looms Amid Ignorance, Taboos"
Reuters (09/13/95);  Charles, Deborah
     Health care and social workers must battle ignorance and 
religious taboos to teach Asians about AIDS.  Thousands will 
address the problem at the upcoming Third International 
Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, at which organizers 
say they hope to find some answers--or at least draw attention to
the epidemic in the region.  According to experts, the number of 
people with AIDS and HIV will multiply faster in Asia than any 
other continent.  There are already several million HIV and AIDS 
patients in the region, and many say Asia will soon surpass 
Africa as the epicenter of the disease.  The World Health 
Organization notes that India and Thailand are the two nations 
that have had the most significant increases in infections.  
Non-government organizations in India estimate that about 3.8 
million residents are infected with HIV and that 200,000 have 
AIDS, while the much less populous Thailand is suspected to have 
about 800,000 cases of HIV and at least 24,000 cases of AIDS.
      
"Clean Needles in Massachusetts"
Boston Globe (09/12/95) P. 14
     The city of Worcester would be wise to follow Massachusetts Gov. 
William Weld's authorization of a modest expansion of a state 
needle-exchange program, write the editors of the Boston Globe.  
Earlier this month, Commissioner of Public Health David Mulligan 
reported that in its first two years, the program provided more 
than 37,000 sterile needles, collected an equal number of used or
contaminated needles, helped hundreds of addicts into drug 
treatment programs, and did not result in increased drug use.  In
addition, program officials say there has been a reduction in HIV
infections among drug users and their partners because 
participants are given condoms, bleach, free HIV tests, and 
counseling.  The Worcester City Council and officials of other 
communities in the state where drugs and AIDS have taken their 
toll should consider the advantages of needle-exchange programs, 
and then implement a trial program, the editors conclude.
      
"Vengeful Irish Woman Spread AIDS Virus--Priest"
Reuters (09/12/95)
     Physicians minimized rumors that a malicious Irish woman infected
as many as 80 men after becoming infected with the virus that 
causes AIDS.  "This would seem to be a very high level of 
transmission.  It requires to be investigated," said Dr. James 
Walsh, former National Irish AIDS coordinator.  Walsh added that,
according to standard rates of HIV transmission in heterosexual 
sex, the woman would have had to have intercourse with each man 
several hundreds of times to have infected them all.  The story 
began in the coastal town of Dungarvanon Sunday, when Father 
Michael Kennedy revealed to his congregation that a female AIDS 
patient told him that she had slept with 60 to 80 men in the 
region.  The woman said she was on a revenge mission, Kennedy 
told the media.
      
"Researchers Air Alternative Views on How HIV Kills Cells"
Science (08/25/95) Vol. 269, No. 5227, P. 1044;  Cohen, Jon
     AIDS researchers recently gathered in Berkeley, Calif., to 
discuss their "alternative" views on how HIV destroys the immune 
system and causes AIDS.  "We have to subvert the dominant 
paradigm," said immunologist Michael Ascher of the Calif. Dept. 
of Health Services at the opening of the forum.  The paradigm to 
which Ascher refers is the cytopathic model of HIV pathogenesis, 
in which HIV directly cripples the immune system by destroying T 
lymphocytes that have CD4 receptors.  To many researchers, this 
theory largely explains the gradual loss of CD4 cells in 
HIV-infected persons.  However, Ascher and his colleagues view 
the model as overly simplistic.  "The conclusion that CD4s are 
killed directly requires a lot of assumption," said immunologist 
Terri Finkel of the National Jewish Center for Immunology and 
Respiratory Medicine.  Many of the researchers attacked two 
papers published in the Jan. 12 issue of Nature which said that 
when anti-HIV drugs stopped HIV production, CD4 levels soared.  
According to immunologist Haynes Sheppard, HIV disrupts the 
constant CD4 population when gp120 meshes with the CD4 receptor, 
which signals CD4 to "activate."  Here, the excess activation 
signal prepares and deletes more CD4s than required.  Sheppard 
and Ascher believe that apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a
key factor in the actual deletion of the cells.  A number of 
researchers also suggested that because HIV gradually destroys 
the lymph node's structure, it might somehow cause the lymph 
nodes to isolate more and more CD4s than otherwise needed.
      
"Government Should Readily Admit Errors"
Nikkei Weekly (08/28/95) Vol. 33, No. 1686, P. 6;  Shioya, Yoshio
     The Japanese government makes promises to the general public to 
correct its errors and to maintain discipline; however, it rarely
apologizes to an individual, notes Yoshio Shioya, a senior staff 
writer of The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in the Nikkei Weekly.  For 
example, the government has failed to acknowledge any liability 
for the HIV infection of hemophiliacs via imported blood 
products.  Some people have noted that while the government 
cannot reject its responsibility for the lapse in switching to 
safer products, it is simply watching these individuals die.  
According to Shioya, officials are moved from one position to 
another, letting them defer decisions that affect the 
government's honor and authority.  Although it would be a waste 
for the government to compensate cases for which it is not 
liable, it is wrong for the government to intentionally ignore 
cases to avoid spending tax money, the author concludes.
      
"Dental Discrimination Case Could Be Decided by Jury"
AIDS Alert (09/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 118
     The case of a dentist in Maine who refused to treat an 
HIV-infected individual in his office recently moved closer to 
becoming the first HIV discrimination case under the Americans 
with Disabilities Act to be tried before a jury.  U.S. District 
Court Judge Morton Brody rejected a request in July for a judge 
to decide the case instead of a jury.  Sidney Abbott sued Dr. 
Randon Bragdon of Bangor, Maine, after she revealed she was 
HIV-positive and he refused to fill her cavity at his office, 
offering instead to treat her at a hospital.  Abbott's attorney 
said he wants to avoid a jury trial because of jurors' potential 
misconceptions about HIV.  However, unless the judge issues a 
summary judgment, the case will almost definitely go to a jury.  
The attorney also claimed that Bragdon's offer to treat his 
client at a hospital was a pretext for not treating her.  "As far
as we know, he has never had privileges [at any hospital], so it 
wouldn't be much of an offer."  In addition, requiring Abbott to 
pay hospital fees for filling a cavity, he said, would be 
ridiculous.
      
"The Economics of AIDS"
Business Week (09/18/95) No. 3442, P. 34;  Mandel, Michael J.
     AIDS may have less of an economic impact than previously thought,
according to a new report by David E. Bloom and Ajay S. Mahal of 
the National Bureau of Economic Research.  It was previously 
thought that AIDS would reduce economic growth in severely 
affected nations, and that the disease's high medical costs would
take needed monies from economic investment.  When comparing 
countries with high and low rates of AIDS, however, Bloom and 
Mahal found no indications that per capita income grew more 
slowly in hard-hit nations.  This finding is in part due to the 
fact that many developing countries have sufficient surplus labor
forces to compensate for the AIDS losses.  In addition, more 
highly educated workers appear to be taking efforts to protect 
themselves from the disease.  Still, Bloom and Mahal note that 
economically, AIDS may seriously impact particularly hard-hit 
geographic and demographic groups.
      
