AIDS Daily Summary November 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 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 ************************************************************ "Virology: A Genetic Clue to Survival with HIV" "HIV Moms' Babies May Be Denied Care" "AIDS Risk Increases for Heterosexuals" "Regular Use Raises Condom Efficacy" "Boy with AIDS Dies After Reaching His Goal" "Illegal Blood Processing Alleged at Japanese Firm" "Cuba to Test Trial AIDS Vaccine on Humans--Paper" "Malegrams: Into Another Hot Zone" "Preventing and Treating CMV Retinitis" "Fatigue and HIV Progression" ************************************************************ "Virology: A Genetic Clue to Survival with HIV" Washington Post (11/13/95) P. A2; Brown, David Scientists in Australia believe they now know why some HIV-infected individuals never become ill. In an article published in the Nov. 10 issue of Science, researchers at the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Victoria report the discovery of an HIV-infected blood donor and seven individuals who received the resulting blood products between 1981 and 1984. One of the five HIV-infected recipients died of a preexisting, unrelated illness, but the other four and the donor were healthy more than 10 years after their infection. The remaining two recipients did not become infected with HIV. In addition, all members of the infected group had normal CD4 levels and bloodstreams with less than 0.1 percent of the normal amount of HIV seen in people with advanced AIDS. Research showed that the donor and recipient viruses had all lost parts of the "nef" gene, a deficiency not seen in all long-term nonprogressors. This identification of a seemingly "harmless" HIV mutant may be useful to researchers seeking to make a vaccine from a "live" virus. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (11/10) P. A1; New York Times (11/10) P. A1; Boston Globe (11/10) P. 6; Toronto Globe and Mail (11/10) P. A7 "HIV Moms' Babies May Be Denied Care" USA Today (11/13/95) P. 3D; Painter, Kim Hundreds of physicians claim they would withhold expensive medical care from babies born to HIV-infected women even if they knew that most of the infants would not be infected. According to researchers, results of the 1991 survey, which is published in the American Journal of Public Health, may be different today because more is known about such children. Still, the majority of the nearly 1,000 neonatologists surveyed were aware of the fact that the infants had about a 25 percent chance of infection. One respondent explained, "Most of our HIV-infected mothers are drug abusers with very unstable social situations. This would definitely influence me to be less aggressive with a baby who might need extensive long-term medical care." Related Stories: Washington Post (11/13) P. A13; Washington Times (11/13) P. A7; Philadelphia Inquirer (11/13) P. A3 "AIDS Risk Increases for Heterosexuals" New York Times (11/13/95) P. A12 A study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health shows that HIV-risk behavior increased among heterosexuals in 23 major U.S. cities between 1990 and 1992. The findings indicate a failure of many safe-sex messages to reach some heterosexuals, said lead author Joseph Catania, especially young adults in the "dating phase" of life who may have multiple sexual partners. The proportion of heterosexuals who claimed to have multiple sexual partners increased from 15.3 percent at the beginning of the decade to 19.3 in 1992, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have found. The majority of the respondents reported using condoms either infrequently or not at all. Related Story: Washington Times (11/13) P. A14 "Regular Use Raises Condom Efficacy" USA Today (11/13/95) P. 1D; Painter, Kim A new study suggests that consistent and correct condom use increases the prophylactics' efficacy. In the American Journal of Public Health, researchers from Emory and Princeton Universities present the results of a study of 41 prostitutes who work in Nevada's legal brothels, where condom use is mandatory. The scientists confirmed that these women, who see an average of six men a day, broke no condoms in 353 consecutive acts. When asked to recall breaks in the past year, the women reported a rate of 0.12 percent, or 49 breaks in 41,127 acts. "The implications of these findings extend beyond the sex worker population," the researchers said. "Boy with AIDS Dies After Reaching His Goal" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/13/95) P. A3 Matthew Allen died last Friday, about one month after reaching his goal of 13 years. Matthew's mother Lydia died in 1986, after having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. The boy's father was not infected, but he was dismissed as minister of education at First Christian Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Matt was rejected from the church's day-care center. The family moved to Dallas but Matt was repeatedly turned away from Sunday school classes. But in a recent interview, Matt said that his elementary school classmates supported him once they discovered he had AIDS. "They treated my like a normal kid before we went public, and they treated me the same after," he explained to the Dallas Morning News. "Illegal Blood Processing Alleged at Japanese Firm" Journal of Commerce (11/13/95) P. 6B Japanese police have arrested the head of a pharmaceutical firm that is suspected of illegally extracting blood plasma from discarded blood and selling it to drug makers for the manufacture of test medicine. Both Mitsuaki Ogawa, president of Nihon Tokushu Kogyo, and an employee of the pharmaceutical-materials manufacturer were charged with infractions of the Waste Disposal and Public Cleaning Law. "Cuba to Test Trial AIDS Vaccine on Humans--Paper" Reuters (11/12/95) A Cuban newspaper reported Sunday that the country may begin human testing of a trial AIDS vaccine in the first half of 1996. Juventud Rebelde quoted Manual Limonta, head of Cuba's Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, as saying that the vaccine, which is already being tested on small animals, would soon be tested on chimpanzees. Limonta added that he would be one of the first human volunteers on which the Cuban vaccine would be tested. "Malegrams: Into Another Hot Zone" Men's Health (11/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 42 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently rejected the request of renowned AIDS researcher Don Francis to continue funding U.S. trials of gp120, an AIDS vaccine candidate produced by the biotechnology firm Genentech. In an interview with Men's Health magazine, Francis says that one reason why he cannot obtain funding for the vaccine could be because there are questions as to how effective it would be. Francis notes, however, that it is for that reason that the trial should be conducted, and that "it would be unethical to do a trial" if they were certain of gp120's effectiveness. Government aid is needed to test the vaccine candidate, he explains, because "the private sector often does not see [vaccine development] as a very profitable item, yet the social need for vaccines is immense." The government and the private sector have therefore collaborated to share the expense, a partnership which was very successful with the first two phases of gp120 testing, according to Francis. However, the NIH fund-determining panel voted against further funding, despite a positive consensus from an NIH expert panel. Now, with the encouragement of the World Health Organization and several developing countries who recognize the true value of vaccines, phase III trials are set to begin in Thailand in about a year, says Francis. "Preventing and Treating CMV Retinitis" Lancet (10/28/95) Vol. 346, No. 8983, P. 1153; Rowe, Paul M. Unlike previous reports, a new study has concluded that oral ganciclovir does not significantly delay the onslaught of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in HIV-infected individuals. But, "most people feel oral ganciclovir offers protection," said Henry Masur at a recent staff conference at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. "Was it a careful study?," Masur questioned. The meeting focused on how sight can be preserved if the infection is identified and treated before symptoms become obvious. Still, many of the newly-available laboratory tests are limited, and oral prophylaxis is expensive and offers no long-term survival benefit. "Fatigue and HIV Progression" Focus (10/95) Vol. 10, No. 11, P. 8 A small study of subjective fatigue concludes that medical variables related to HIV progression predict fatigue and its effects on daily life and work, though it is still unclear whether fatigue is the cause or the result of disease progression. Some 50 percent of the symptomatic males responding to a survey on subjective fatigue said they experienced fatigue, compared to 11 percent in the asymptomatic group and 10 percent in the seronegative group. In addition, a relationship was seen between HIV infection and early awakening and use of sleep medications. Altogether, none of the seronegative respondents said that fatigue interfered with their daily activities, but 9 percent of the asymptomatic group and half of the symptomatic group reported experiencing daily fatigue-related interruptions.