                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 7, 1993 


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
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Copyright 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

 
"AIDS in Children" 
Washington Post (Health) (12/07/93) P. 9  (Evans, Sandra) 
     Despite two rare cases of HIV transmission between children that  
surfaced last weekend, public health officials are reassuring  
parents that youngsters are at virtually no risk of contracting  
AIDS from contact with infected playmates at day-care centers or  
schools.  This type of transmission is "a chance of one in  
hundreds of thousands or one in a million," calculates Donald T.  
Dubin, one of six New Jersey researchers who reported one of the  
cases.  Another, Lawrence D. Frenkel, agrees.  "We do not think  
there is any reason to have increased concern from school  
contacts in day-care settings ..." he says.  "There is no need to 
panic."  Still, health officials are emphasizing the need for  
institutions to follow recommended safety guidelines, such as  
wearing disposable rubber gloves when diapering children,  
treating nosebleeds, or bandaging scraped skin and routinely  
cleaning soiled surfaces with disinfectants and disposable  
towels.  Early in the AIDS epidemic, there was debate over the  
treatment of infected children.  Attempts by parents and  
officials to bar these youngsters from schools and day-care  
facilities were often successful.  Health authorities argued that 
transmission was difficult and risks could be controlled in  
school settings.  The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990  
dictates that AIDS-infected children today cannot be kept out of  
schools simply because they are infected. 
       
"Life-Or-Death Matter for Man With AIDS" 
USA Today (12/07/93) P. 7D 
     Although the Food and Drug Administration says it has no  
intention of taking away vitamin supplements, Fred Bingham and  
other AIDS patients are  wary.  Bingham began taking megadoses of 
antioxidant vitamins, amino acids, and herbs to try to combat his 
condition.  Today, he says his immune system is stabilized.   
Founder of Direct AIDS Alternative Information Resources, a  
vitamin-buying group in New York, Bingham believes the supplement 
industry is in need of regulation.  And, even though more  
research is needed, he feels some supplement claims should be  
permitted.  "It's an American's right to choose what type of  
health care they want," he declares.  But Bingham thinks the FDA  
has an "institutional bias" against supplements, particularly  
when they are used for alternative purposes.  Michael Taylor of  
the FDA reassures that it is not the wish of his agency to take  
these products away from users.  "I know there are people who  
distrust us, but the specter that has been raised is just not  
true," says Taylor.  The agency has listed some safety concerns  
about some of the supplement products, but he says most of these  
can be addressed by affixing warning labels.  "We believe  
manufacturers who want to market products should have to support  
their claims," admits Taylor, but adds that consumers should not  
be concerned about FDA restricting access. 
       
"French Premier Pledges More Funds to Fight AIDS" 
Reuters (12/06/93) 
     Paris--"More means must be given to research.  The government is  
making a staunch commitment to this end," vowed Prime Minister  
Edouard Balladur as he pledged more money to help combat AIDS in  
France, the European country with the highest incidence of the  
disease.  The French government this year earmarked an additional 
$20.5 million for experimental purposes, a fourth of which has  
been designated expressly for AIDS, said Balladur.  Also, money  
for publicity campaigns targeting young people would be doubled  
from $1.02 million to $2.05 million, he said.  In France, 15  
people die from AIDS every day.  Approximately 110,000 people in  
the country are infected with the AIDS virus. 
       
"Ceremony to Commemorate the First Licensed Board and Care  
Residence Facility for Homeless People Disabled by AIDS" 
Business Wire (12/06/93) 
     A renovation ceremony on Tuesday afternoon will kick off the  
conversion of one of San Francisco's oldest homes into the first  
licensed board and care residence facility for homeless people  
infected with the AIDS virus.  The Richard M. Cohen Residence, a  
$700,000, 10-bedroom facility, will cater to people who are not  
in need of a medical institution, but are too ill from dementia  
or physical disabilities to live alone.  The building will be  
staffed around the clock, and will be rent-subsidized and  
wheelchair-accessible.  Funds to purchase, renovate, and furnish  
the residence were generated by the Richard M. Cohen Trust, the  
Department of Housing & Urban Development, San Francisco  
Redevelopment Agency, and Dolores Street Community Services, a  
non-profit organization, among others. 
       
"AIDS Therapy" 
Associated Press (12/04/93)  (Recer, Paul) 
     Bethesda, Md.--A panel of experts who advise the National  
Institutes of Health has approved an experiment using a vaccine  
made from an altered mouse virus to boost resistance to the AIDS  
virus in human patients.  The Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, 
which evaluates experimental human therapy proposals that use  
manipulated genes, gave the green light to test the vaccine on 20 
human subjects.  The experiment must now be approved by the  
directors of NIH and the Food and Drug Administration before it  
can be conducted.  The lead researcher of the project, Dr.  
Richard Haubrich of the University of California at San Diego,  
said the vaccine is the first to use HIV genes to trigger action  
by the body's T lymphocytes, the "killer" cells of the immune  
system.  The experimental vaccine is made from a non-infected  
mouse virus that has been modified to include two harmless genes  
from HIV.  The virus would be injected into patients, where it  
would infect cells near the injection site.  This delivers the  
HIV genes to the cell interior, where they command the cell to  
manufacture a protein normally found on the surface of HIV.  The  
immune system will sense this process as a foreign invasion and  
cause the T lymphocyte killer cells to seek out and destroy all  
cells containing HIV genes.  Haubrich expects the experiment to  
get underway in the spring. 
       
"India Faces AIDS Explosion" 
Reuters (12/01/93)  (Balachandran, P. P.) 
     New Delhi--The AIDS virus is spreading so rapidly in India that  
"in a year India will have the highest number of HIV cases in the 
world," warned leading activist Ishwar Gilada, founder of the  
Indian Health Organization, which is at the forefront of the  
anti-AIDS battle in India.  Gilada predicted that the number of  
infections could skyrocket to between 30 and 50 million by the  
end of the decade.  The major problem in India appears to be the  
lack of awareness of AIDS.  Over 70 percent of HIV infections are 
transmitted through sexual intercourse, and the majority of the  
infected persons are prostitutes in the big cities.  Despite  
intense information campaigns, said Gilada, most prostitutes do  
not realize the risks of unsafe sex.  Many still accept the  
refusal of customers to use condoms because they fear rejection  
if they insist on protection, he said.  In addition, activists  
complain that socially conservative Indians are reluctant to  
discuss AIDS publicly because sex is a sensitive subject to them. 
Other HIV and AIDS carriers--mainly drug addicts--can be found in 
the illegal drug area of the Golden Triangle, the region where  
Burma, Laos, and Thailand meet.  Activists say that AIDS is still 
not a priority for government. 
       
"Good (Hidden) News About the AIDS Epidemic" 
Wall Street Journal (12/02/93) P. A14  (Root-Bernstein, Robert S.) 
      
The latest AIDS statistics reported by the Centers for Disease  
Control are odd--nearly indecipherable, and Robert S.  
Root-Bernstein, author of "Rethinking AIDS," is beginning to  
think that it is intended to be that way.  The CDC confirmed  
85,526 new AIDS cases between January and September of this  
year--a 41 percent increase for the same period last year.  The  
first impression is that the crisis is still snowballing.  But  
the CDC stresses that this large increase is primarily due to a  
new, vastly expanded AIDS definition implemented at the beginning 
of the year.  The adjustment was expected to more than double the 
number of reported cases, and it did.  But, says Ross-Bernstein,  
if the number was going to double and if AIDS continued to grow  
at its normal rate too, the total number should not be 41 percent 
greater than last year's totals, but more than 100 percent  
higher.  So, queries Ross-Bernstein, is the number of cases  
skyrocketing, or is it actually decreasing drastically, and why  
the misleading statistics?  He speculates that maybe the CDC does 
not want anyone to realize what some statisticians have been  
predicting for years: that AIDS peaked in America between 1989  
and 1992, and is now on the decline.  Or, he says, perhaps the  
people most susceptible to AIDS have already contracted it and  
the disease will now remain within high-risk groups.  Another  
guess offered by Root-Bernstein is that the safe sex campaigns  
and needle exchange programs, combined with better health care,  
are paying off.  If any of the possibilities is true, he wants  
only to know one thing: "Have we reached the stage in AIDS  
advocacy that we will mislead in order to succeed?" 
       
"Rock Star Elton John Opens AIDS Center in London" 
Reuters (11/30/93) 
     London--On the eve of World AIDS Day, rock legend Elton John  
officially opened the Department of Sexual Health at King's  
College Hospital in London.  Established a year-and-a-half ago,  
the center has treated 40,000 patients for sexually transmitted  
diseases, 10 percent of them for AIDS-related conditions.  The  
46-year-old John helped raise funds for the new center through  
the AIDS Crisis Trust charity. 
       
"Ireland's First Condom Ads Hit Airwaves" 
Washington Blade (11/19/93) Vol. 24, No. 49, P. 19  (van Hertum,  
Aras) 
     Ireland's first condom ads debuted Nov. 10 on independent radio  
stations, reports the Associated Press.  "As condoms have only  
recently become widely available in Ireland, our approach to  
advertising will, we hope, continue the process of normalizing  
condoms," said Peter Roach, a spokesperson for Durex, the company 
broadcasting the ads.  Condoms previously had been available only 
from doctors and pharmacists, until May, when the Irish  
parliament approved the sale of condoms from vending machines.   
The state-operated radio and television network, however,  
continues to refuse to air condom ads, although it does run  
public service announcements promoting the effectiveness of  
condoms as a barrier against HIV and other sexually transmitted  
diseases. 
       
"AIDS and Sex" 
Futurist (11/93-12/93) Vol. 27, No. 6, P. 7 
     At the onset of the AIDS epidemic, very few nations conducted  
statistical research on sexual behavior, citing invasion of  
privacy as the basis for their rejection of the idea.  In the  
past four years, however, research efforts have ballooned in the  
European Community, according to M. Hubert of the Center for  
Sociological Studies in Brussels.  "Sexual Behavior and the Risks 
of HIV Infection" is a special program recently launched by the  
EC.  This study of the years 1991-94 will attempt to link surveys 
conducted in different countries, and try to create a bridge  
between sociological and epidemiological information, explains  
Hubert.  One obstacle facing the program is how to translate  
nuances of words and expressions used among different  
languages--especially when dealing with a highly emotional  
subject like sexuality.  So far, researchers have concluded that  
differences in behavior are more dependent on whether the culture 
values romantic love more than the necessity of protection than  
they are on the level of knowledge about risks of infection.