                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     December 28, 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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"Risk of H.I.V. Infection Is Low in Transfusions, a Study Finds"
"Thalidomide: Old Horrors Clash with New Hope"
"In Brief: Abbott Laboratories"
"Rendell Is Hosting 2 Benefits"
"The Legacy of a Journalistic Giant"
"Authorities Patrolling Cyberspace for Crime"
"A Preliminary Trial of Lamivudine for Chronic Hepatitis B 
Infection"
"Debate Over 'The Pill' Resurfaces in Japan"
"Causes of Death in Florida Prisons: The Dominance of AIDS"
"From Love to AIDS: The Death & Life of General Idea"
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"Risk of H.I.V. Infection Is Low in Transfusions, a Study Finds"
New York Times (12/28/95) P. D19
     A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) reveals that only some 24 of the 12 million pints
of blood used in transfusions every year are tainted with HIV. 
This risk is about half as great as previous estimates. 
HIV-infected individuals produce antibodies that circulate in their
blood, but the body does not produce these antibodies in the first
few weeks after infection.  CDC officials say that about one in
every 360,000 blood donations made during this roughly 25-day
window when infected blood can evade detection.  Still, up to 42
percent of this blood is thrown away because it does not pass other
tests.  Furthermore, because donations are divided, the average 
blood recipient gets blood from more than 5 donors and the risk 
that a patient getting blood will become HIV-infected is between 
one in 83,000 and one in 122,000.  Related Stories: Wall Street 
Journal (12/28) P. B2; Washington Post (12/28) P. A4; USA Today 
(12/28) P. 1D; Baltimore Sun (12/28) P. 3A
      
"Thalidomide: Old Horrors Clash with New Hope"
New York Times (12/28/95) P. A1;  McLarin, Kimberly J.
     New insight into the functions of thalidomide--a drug that was
banned throughout the world some 30 years ago for causing severe 
birth defects--has led to widespread testing of the drug for use 
against many diseases, including tuberculosis and a number of 
AIDS-related disorders.  Scientists are also investigating 
whether the drug blocks growth of HIV.  The renewed hope in the 
drug has caused anger and fear in many of the people affected by 
the drug.  But scientists and officials from drug companies 
maintain that thalidomide may be able to reduce some patients' 
discomfort and extend many people's lives.
      
"In Brief: Abbott Laboratories"
Investor's Business Daily (12/28/95) P. A1
     Abbott Laboratories has received regulatory approval to market
its drug Biaxin for the prevention of bacterial infections in 
persons with advanced AIDS.
      
"Rendell Is Hosting 2 Benefits"
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/28/95) P. B2;  McCoy, Craig R.
     Philadelphia Mayor Rendell announced Wednesday that he will
throw two parties on Jan. 5, four days after his second mayoral 
inauguration.  One of the parties will be a $2,500-per-ticket 
dinner for his campaign fund, and the other is a $100-per-person 
charity ball, called the "AIDS/Arts Inaugural Gala."  The AIDS 
event is hoped to raise some $100,000.  The proceeds will be 
divided equally between From All Walks of Life, an umbrella 
fund-raising group for 60 AIDS organizations, and the 
Philadelphia Cultural Fund, a nonprofit organization that donates
money to local arts and cultural societies.
      
"The Legacy of a Journalistic Giant"
Wall Street Journal (12/28/95) P. A7;  Hunt, Albert R.
     James Reston, a legendary New York Times columnist who died 
earlier this month, left a permanent mark on journalism as well 
as the country, writes columnist Albert R. Hunt in the Wall 
Street Journal.  Another notable loss in 1995 was that of 
13-year-old Matthew Allen, who died of AIDS and was the main 
character in "Burden of a Secret," a book written by his 
grandfather, Jimmy Allen.  Matthew contracted HIV from a blood 
transfusion given to his mother just before his birth.  
Afterward, his father was fired from his job at a Colorado church
and Matthew was denied entry into numerous Sunday schools.  But 
Hunt notes that in this moving book, Jimmy Allen--the former 
president of the Southern Baptist Convention--describes a tale of
personal courage and shows how the religious community can help 
out with such problems.  According to Hunt, although Reston's 
old-fashioned virtues were unfamiliar with the new world of 
diseases like AIDS, moral responsibilities were at the center of 
this man who graced the field for nearly 50 years.
      
"Authorities Patrolling Cyberspace for Crime"
Reuters (12/27/95);  Fillion, Roger
     Federal law enforcement officials are trying to crack down on 
crime on the Internet--searching for fake get-rich-quick plots, 
AIDS cures, investment scams, gambling, and child pornography.  
These "cybercops" act on tips and patrol potential crime scenes, 
just as they would do on the street.  But the Internet also 
offers criminals anonymity and creates jurisdiction issues for 
law officers because of the global nature of the technology.  In 
one instance, a woman promoted on CompuServe a product called 
"germanium," a substance which has been banned because it can 
cause permanent kidney damage.  The woman had indicated that the 
product could help people with such diseases as AIDS and cancer.
      
"A Preliminary Trial of Lamivudine for Chronic Hepatitis B 
Infection"
New England Journal of Medicine (12/21/95) Vol. 333, No. 25, P. 
1657;  Dienstag, Jules L.;  Perrillo, Robert P.;  Schiff, Eugene 
R.; et al.
     A randomized, double-blind preliminary trial of oral
lamivudine in 32 patients with chronic, replicative hepatitis B
reveals that therapy with the drug is well tolerated and can reduce
hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA to immeasurable levels.  Fifty-three
percent of the patients had never received interferon, which is
effective in just 40 percent of patients.  Dienstag et al. report
that HBV DNA levels became undetectable in 70 percent of the
patients who received a 25-mg dose of lamivudine and in all those
patients who received either 100-mg or 300-mg doses.  Traces of HBV
reappeared in most patients after therapy, though nearly 20 percent
experienced continued HBV DNA suppression as well as normalization
of alanine aminotransferase levels.  According to the researchers,
the results of the 12-week lamivudine therapy and subsequent
follow-up merit larger, controlled trials of the drug.
      
"Debate Over 'The Pill' Resurfaces in Japan"
Nature Medicine (11/95) Vol. 1, No. 11, P. 1115;  Nathan, Richard
     Concern that the use of a low-dose contraceptive pill might 
further the spread of HIV by encouraging promiscuity and reducing
condom use has prompted the Japanese Ministry of Health and 
Welfare to commission a study looking into the matter.  
Researchers on the three-year project found no link between use 
of the pill and the spread of HIV in the United States or Europe 
but did find some correlation between the two events among a 
group of prostitutes in Africa.  Currently, a riskier high-dose 
pill is officially approved in Japan only for uses other than 
contraception, such as difficulties associated with menstruation.
An official estimate of women prescribed the pill places it at 1 
percent, but unofficially it is believed that 200,000 to 800,000 
women are taking the drug.  Political issues, including Japan's 
falling birth rate and aging population are also at play in 
addition to lobbying from manufacturers of condoms and physicians
who make good profit from performing abortions.  Doctors are now 
concerned, however, that a new product liability law could leave 
them liable for negative side-effects resulting from the 
high-dose pills when they are prescribed for off-label uses like 
contraception.
      
"Causes of Death in Florida Prisons: The Dominance of AIDS"
American Journal of Public Health (12/95) Vol. 85, No. 12, P. 
1710;  Amankwaa, Adansi A.
     In a letter to the editor of the American Journal of Public 
Health, Adansi A. Amankwaa of the Florida Department of 
Corrections, Bureau of Planning, Research, and Statistics 
presents the findings of an investigation of mortality in the 
Florida prison system as evidence of the significant impact of 
AIDS on prison mortality.  Data on prisoners' causes of death was
reviewed for the period between 1987 and 1992.  AIDS was the 
primary cause of death in 1987, and remained the main source of 
mortality throughout the five-year study, accounting for more 
than 50 percent of the Florida prison deaths in 1992.  The data 
also indicate a systemic increase in AIDS-related deaths, as 
compared with all other causes of death, and a concentration of 
prison AIDS deaths among young black men.  This study reflects a 
critical need for AIDS education among inmates, as well as a need
for government and prison administrators to reconsider their 
AIDS-among-prisoners policies.
      
"From Love to AIDS: The Death & Life of General Idea"
Village Voice (12/05/95) Vol. 40, No. 49, P. 31;  Indiana, Gary
     AIDS has brought General Idea, a Toronto-based art
collaboration that attempts to put bizarre content into familiar
institutional forms, to a premature end.  Two of the three founding
members, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, have died of the disease
within the past two years.  The group's best-known project is FILE,
an offbeat magazine that combined reproduced artworks, art-world 
gossip, manifestos, and other projects.  But according to 
surviving member A.A. Bronson, the group's first real success was
an AIDS logo they showed as part of the American Foundation for 
AIDS Research's first benefit.  The painting was done in the same
colors and same design as Robert Indiana's LOVE, and its success 
led to numerous other AIDS-related projects.  General Idea's work
began to focus more on the epidemic as the disease increasingly 
affected Partz and Zontal, who learned they were HIV-positive in 
the late 1980s or early 1990s.  The major opus from that time is 
"One Year of AZT One Day of AZT," an installation piece based on 
the former five-pill-a-day standard dose of the drug.  Bronson 
explains that he cannot continue General Idea "because it was a 
collaboration."  The group's work will be preserved at the Art 
Gallery of Ontario.
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