                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      February 1, 1996

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 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Abbott AIDS Drug Halves Death Rate, New Study Reports"
"Survival of AIDS Patients Linked to Doctors' Knowledge of AIDS"
"Deaths from AIDS in U.S. Outpace New HIV Infections"
"Army Sergeant with HIV Feels Deserted by Policy"
"Students Lobby for AIDS Funds in Washington"
"Japan Reports Change in Pattern of Contracting AIDS"
"Gilead Sciences Announces Statistically Significant Anti-HIV 
Activity of GS 840"
"Inquiry Criticizes Red Cross Officials"
"CDC Study: AZT Reduces HIV Risk From Needlesticks"
"Surveillance of Tuberculosis and AIDS Co-Morbidity--Florida, 
1981-1993"
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"Abbott AIDS Drug Halves Death Rate, New Study Reports"
Wall Street Journal (02/01/96) P. B5
     A new drug offered by Abbott Laboratories has been found to 
reduce the death rate and progression of disease by half in 
seriously ill AIDS patients.  Researchers reported that 4.8 
percent of the 543 people taking the drug Norvir (ritonavir) died
within seven months, compared to 8.4 percent of 547 patients who 
did not receive the drug.  All of the patients were also 
continuing any therapy they had started before the study.  Of the
patients using the drug, 13 percent died or had their disease 
progress, compared to 27 percent in those who did not receive the
drug.  Abbott and Merck & Co. announced earlier this week that 
separate studies showed that ritonavir and the Merck drug 
Crixivan each showed potent antiviral activity against HIV when 
combined with other drugs.  Related Story: Los Angeles 
Times--Washington Edition (02/01) P.A1
      
"Survival of AIDS Patients Linked to Doctors' Knowledge of AIDS"
New York Times (02/01/96) P. A12;  Altman, Lawrence K.
     An AIDS patient's survival is directly linked to how much his 
doctor knows about treating the disease, scientists reported at a
meeting in Washington Wednesday.  The study, conducted by 
researchers at the University of Washington, looked at the 
survival of more than 400 AIDS patients treated by 125 
primary-care doctors from 1984 to 1994 at a health maintenance 
organization in Seattle.  It found that after the disease was 
diagnosed, the median survival of the most experienced doctors' 
patients was 26 months, compared to 14 months for patients of 
doctors with the least experience with AIDS.  The study found a 
decreasing risk of death for each successive patient a doctor 
treated.  The areas where experienced doctors were attentive were
monitoring of the patients immune cell count, prescribing drugs 
for pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, and in providing aggressive 
anti-HIV therapy.  In a second study reported at the meeting, 
researchers at the New York City and New York State health 
departments reported an increased incidence of invasive cervical 
cancer in women with HIV.
      
"Deaths from AIDS in U.S. Outpace New HIV Infections"
Washington Times (02/01/96) P. A3;  Price, Joyce
     Since 1993, the number of Americans that die of AIDS each year 
has surpassed the number of new infections by 10,000 to 20,000.  
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, said the epidemic is starting to wane.  He 
was responding to a report by Dr. Robert Biggar of the National 
Cancer Institute, who estimates that 60,000 Americans die of AIDS
each year and 40,000 are becoming infected with HIV.  Biggar says
the plateau is the result of people in high-risk groups taking 
precautions to protect themselves from infection.  Biggar said, 
however, that new infections are rising among young people, 
especially minorities and heterosexuals.  Troy Petenbrink, of the
National Association of People with AIDS, says he finds it hard 
to believe that the new infection rate is lower than the AIDS 
death rate.
      
"Army Sergeant with HIV Feels Deserted by Policy"
Washington Post (02/01/96) P. A3;  Priest, Dana
     A sergeant who has been with the U.S. Army for 10 years would be 
forced out of the military by an HIV-related provision in the 
Defense authorization bill President Clinton is expected to sign 
early next week.  Marie got the disease from her late husband.  
She has not told her young daughter or her co-workers, although 
she was diagnosed five years ago.  Marie said she feels anger for
the bill's sponsor, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Calif.), who said 
that service members become HIV-infected by injecting drugs, 
having heterosexual sex with prostitutes, and having unprotected 
homosexual sex.  Dornan, when learning of this woman's situation,
said, "It sounds like a tragic case."  He added, however, that 
service members with AIDS put an extra burden of others by not 
being able to serve overseas.  Some high-ranking military 
officials have supported the policy change, saying that 
HIV-positive service members impair military readiness.  
Administration officials say they hope to have an alternative to 
the provision prepared when Clinton signs the bill.
      
"Students Lobby for AIDS Funds in Washington"
Baltimore Sun (02/01/96) P. 3B;  Respers, Lisa
     Six teens from a Baltimore County high school lobbied for funding
for AIDS research in Washington on Wednesday.  The members of 
Student AIDS Advisory of Baltimore County, along with Dr. 
Michelle A. Leverett, director of the county health department, 
met with Patricia Fleming, director of AIDS Policy for President 
Clinton.  Fleming said she was impressed with the students' 
initiative.  "Peer education has proven to be effective," she 
said.  The students gave Fleming a scroll with 150 signatures 
from students calling for continued support for AIDS research.
      
"Japan Reports Change in Pattern of Contracting AIDS"
Reuters (01/31/96);  Yoshikawa, Miho
     The way in which people in Japan contract HIV has changed, with 
most infections now occurring in men who contract the disease in 
Japan rather than abroad.  Until now, men's trips 
abroad--especially to Southeast Asia--were thought of as the main
source of AIDS in Japan.  Kenji Soda, of the Yokohama City 
University and a member of the government panel on AIDS, 
estimates that 70 percent of the people with HIV in Japan were 
infected inside the country.  The Japanese government reported an
increase in the number of new AIDS cases on Wednesday, and 
attributed the rise to widespread complacency and ignorance.  The
report said that 446 new cases of HIV and AIDS were reported in 
1995.  The government said that 57 percent of the people affected
were men.  Sexual transmission is the source of most of the AIDS 
cases, a Health Ministry official said.
      
"Gilead Sciences Announces Statistically Significant Anti-HIV 
Activity of GS 840"
Business Wire (01/31/96)
     Gilead Sciences Inc. reported on Wednesday the results of a Phase
I/II clinical trial of GS 840 (adefovir dipivoxil) for the 
treatment of HIV-infected patients.  According to Gilead, GS 840 
was well-tolerated and produced sustained improvements in 
surrogate markers of HIV infection, including a reduction in HIV 
viral load and progressive increases in CD4 cell counts.  The 
data also suggest that the drug may decrease levels of 
cytomegalovirus (CMV) in semen and may therefore be active 
against the disease.  GS 840 is a member of a new class of 
antiviral compounds known as nucleotides that can remain active 
within both healthy and infected cells for prolonged periods.
      
"Inquiry Criticizes Red Cross Officials"
Toronto Globe and Mail (01/30/96) P. A1
     More than 70 allegations have been made against top officials of 
the Canadian Red Cross as a result of the federal inquiry into 
the tainted blood tragedy.  The Red Cross is accused of not 
excluding blood from high-risk donors, misrepresenting Red Cross 
policies, withholding information, and giving inaccurate 
information at critical points.  The organization is challenging 
the finding's of misconduct.  More than 1,000 Canadians became 
infected with HIV with the tainted blood in the 1980s.  The 
inquiry found that, among other missteps, the Red Cross failed to
inform potential donors of the conditions under which they would 
be high-risk, and voluntarily refrain from donating blood.
      
"CDC Study: AZT Reduces HIV Risk From Needlesticks"
American Medical News (01/15/96) Vol.39, No.3, P. 18
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 
that health care workers who took AZT to prevent infection after 
exposure to HIV through accidental needlesticks reduced their 
chance of infection by 79 percent.  An AIDS expert who counsels 
hospital workers exposed to HIV said that drug combinations for 
AIDS may be a better solution.  HIV can quickly develop 
resistance to AZT.  Many health care workers exposed to HIV on 
the job already take the drug to fight infection, although the 
government has not approved it for that use.  The CDC said this 
study provides evidence that the drug can prevent infection and 
should be approved by the government for such cases.  But Dr. 
David Rimland, an AIDS expert at the Veterans Administration 
Medical Center in Atlanta, said the recommendation may not be the 
best advice, because AZT can cause side effects and other drugs 
are becoming available.  The CDC does not know how much AZT 
lowers the risk of infection, and says care-givers who are 
exposed to HIV should consider the type of injury when 
considering whether to take the drug.  The study found that the 
largest risk of infection was associated with a large amount of 
tainted blood, AIDS patients who were close to death, and when 
the worker had stuck themselves with a large needle that had been
in the patient's veins.
      
"Surveillance of Tuberculosis and AIDS Co-Morbidity--Florida, 
1981-1993"
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (01/19/96) Vol.45, No.2, P.
38
     Because people infected with HIV have weakened immune systems, 
they are more susceptible to tuberculosis (TB).  In 1987, 
extrapulmonary TB was added to the surveillance case definition 
for AIDS and in 1993 pulmonary TB in people with HIV was added.  
In many areas surveillance for AIDS includes assessing the 
completeness and accuracy of reported cases based on links with 
the registries for TB and other diseases.  In December 1993 the 
Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services matched 
TB and AIDS case lists to verify TB data, include more complete 
TB data on the AIDS records, and identify cases in the AIDS 
records with unreported TB.  They matched all 16,559 reported 
cases of TB in Florida between 1984 and December 1993 with all 
36,002 cases of AIDS reported in the state from 1981 to December 
1993.  Computer and manual matching found 2,567 patients on both 
lists.  Of that total, 83.2 percent had TB noted on their AIDS 
record, but the remainder did not have TB documented.  Medical 
records were reviewed for 679 AIDS cases with TB that were not 
listed in the TB registry.  In an editorial note, health 
departments are urged to improve their staff's awareness of TB, 
help people with TB get tested for HIV, and  provide TB tests to 
people with HIV.
      
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