                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 2, 1993 


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1993, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
 

"AIDS Patient, Protester Ask Clinton to Do More" 
Washington Post (12/02/93) P. A31  (Devroy, Ann) 
     President Clinton yesterday encountered the public rage of an  
AIDS protester who interrupted his  speech at Georgetown  
University Hospital, and then delivered his own 60-second tirade  
on the administration's inaction before he was finally led away  
unmolested by security.  "Talk is cheap and we need action,"  
shouted the young man, who identified himself as a member of the  
AIDS activist group, ACT-UP.  "We should have never trusted you.  
You are doing nothing while we die," accused the man.  Just hours 
earlier, the same heckler presented a similar performance during  
a program by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala 
and U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.  Clinton calmly  
accepted the activist's criticism, then offered a modest defense. 
The president insisted that his administration had done a "good  
job ... if you measure 'good job' in terms of organizing  
ourselves properly, funding the effort more adequately,  
identifying some of the major problems in the bureaucracy and  
going after them."  He pointed to increased funding for AIDS  
research, the appointment of an AIDS coordinator, and his  
willingness to discuss the disease, among other actions he has  
taken against AIDS.  "I invite you to tell what else you think I  
can do and to ask yourselves what else you can do," he told the  
audience.  The encounter with the protester occurred during a  
speech given after Clinton had visited with seven AIDS patients,  
one of whom also felt the government response to the epidemic was 
inadequate and did some informal lobbying for AIDS money.   
Related Stories: New York Times (12/02) P. A1; Baltimore Sun  
(12/02) P. 12A 
       
"Sexually Transmitted Diseases Lift AIDS Risk" 
Chicago Tribune (12/01/93) P. 1-5  (Kotulak, Ronald) 
     A new study showing rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) 
in young adults that surpass expected numbers has raised concerns 
among public health authorities that AIDS, too, may become more  
common in the general public.  "If STDs are out there in big  
numbers, and HIV is another STD, then we can expect HIV  
infections to increase in this group," summarizes epidemiologist  
Sandra Melnick, a project officer at the Women's Interagency HIV  
Study for the National Institutes of Health.  Melnick adds that  
this is probably already occurring because HIV rates in  
adolescents are rapidly increasing.  According to Dr. John Ward,  
chief of the AIDS surveillance branch of the Centers for Disease  
Control, adolescents are especially vulnerable because they are  
experimenting with sex for the first time and often do not take  
safe-sex measures to prevent STDs.  Other studies  suggest that  
people with STD infections are at a much greater risk for HIV  
infection, says Melnick.  Prompt action for the prevention and  
treatment of STDs--including health education promoting  
abstinence, condom use, limiting sex partners, and knowing  
partners' sexual histories--is necessary to curb infection rates, 
she says. 
       
"Scotland's Elegant Capital Deals Calmly, Quietly With Sudden  
Outbreak of AIDS" 
Baltimore Sun (12/01/93) P. 8A  (Schoettler, Carl) 
     AIDS and widespread intravenous drug use surfaced simultaneously  
in Scotland and, almost overnight, presented the country with an  
HIV problem, most severe in the capital city of Edinburgh.  City  
and regional health authorities recognized the threat early, and  
responded quickly with inventive ideas and far-reaching programs  
that were virtually nonexistent in the West.  Preventive measures 
such as needle exchange and condom programs--which are still  
controversial in the United States--have been given credit for  
the dramatic reduction of HIV infections among IV-drug users.   
And Edinburgh provides these services in the most non-judgmental  
of manners, without undue fuss, sensation, or  
self-congratulation.  "We don't tell people not to use drugs,"  
explains Frank Gough, a member of the Harm Reduction Team of the  
Spittal Street Center.  "Our main thing is trying to get a clean  
set of works [injection paraphernalia] to the clients who are  
using."  The city's efforts to stop the spread of AIDS through  
sex include programs like the C-Card, which entitles the  
cardholder to a virtually unlimited supply of condoms.  The  
Scottish Prostitutes Education Project (ScotPEP) provides  
information, advice, education, and support services to  
commercial sex workers, in addition to distributing thousands of  
condoms.  Ruth Morgan-Jones, director of ScotPEP, says the group  
has a policy of not refusing to help people under a certain age.  
"If we find a young boy of 14 who is working, we will give him  
information on how to protect himself," she says.  "Our role is  
to prevent HIV within the sex industry.  And we see that being  
possible only if we're prepared to accept the people who work." 
       
"Filipino Marchers Call for War on AIDS" 
Reuters (12/01/93) 
     Manila--Philippines Health Minister Juan Flavier on Wednesday  
marched through Manila's financial district with 5,000 other  
demonstrators, as they called for an all-out war against AIDS.   
Cries of "condom, condom" and "safe sex, safe sex" were heard as  
the marchers warned the country about the dangers of the virus in 
their country, which houses one of Asia's largest commercial sex  
industries.  Flavier said that if people did not begin taking  
precautions, the number of infected Filipinos could reach 500,000 
in the next five years.  If the spread of AIDS is not curbed, he  
said, it will begin affecting the economy because the majority of 
infected persons would be under 45 years old and members of the  
country's most productive sector.  Of 463 confirmed HIV  
infections in the Philippines, 111 progressed to cases of  
full-blown AIDS, and 72 carriers died, Flavier said.  But health  
officials estimate that for every confirmed case of HIV, 100  
others go undetected. 
       
"St. Louis U. Takes Strides Toward AIDS Vaccine" 
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/30/93) P. 3C  (Schlinkmann, Mark) 
     A potential AIDS vaccine studied at St. Louis University produced 
antibodies which destroyed a non-deadly laboratory strain of the  
AIDS virus, the school announced Monday.  The vaccine, developed  
by an Austrian company, is called gp160.  Through genetic  
manipulation, it includes a synthetic protein that apes one  
protein HIV.  When injected into the human body, the vaccine  
generates production of antibodies that prod the immune system  
into defending itself against the lab strain of the virus.  The  
vaccine appeared to display no major side effects.  "We don't  
know if this means that the vaccine will work against a 'real  
world' strain of HIV, but we're on the right track," said Dr.  
Robert Belshe, a professor of internal medicine.  The study,  
which involved 60 volunteers at St. Louis University and four  
other schools, is a promising step toward the development of an  
AIDS vaccine, Belshe said, although that event is at least five  
years in the making. 
       
"Tainted Blood Infects 30 Children in Canada" 
Boston Globe (11/30/93) P. 10  (Langan, Fred) 
     Because the Canadian Red Cross did not begin testing blood  
supplies for HIV until November 1985, 30 children have contracted 
the virus through contaminated blood given to them at the  
country's leading children's hospital.  "Certainly this is a  
higher incidence than anybody expected," commented Dr. Susan  
King, director of the HIV Information Project at the Hospital for 
Sick Children in Toronto.  But because nearly 17,000 children may 
have been exposed to tainted blood between 1980 and 1985, doctors 
predict that the number of infected children will surely rise.   
The incidence of child infections was highest among those who  
underwent heart surgery.  In April, the hospital began alerting  
the parents of 1,700 heart surgery patients to the possibility  
that their children may have received contaminated blood.  The  
high number of children who tested HIV-positive almost certainly  
points to an adult population that also received tainted blood  
within the same time frame.  "We estimate there could be as many  
as 1,000 people across Canada who don't know they're infected,"  
disclosed Jerry Freise, spokesperson for the HIV-T Group, which  
represents people infected with AIDS through blood transfusions.  
"People shouldn't panic, but they should be concerned enough to  
have a test.  Otherwise people infected won't get treatment and  
they may pass on the virus to others." 
       
"Tainted-Blood Victims, Families to Receive $17,000 More" 
Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (12/01/93) P. A5  (Mittelstaedt,  
Martin) 
     Canadians who contracted the AIDS virus through contaminated  
blood will receive improved compensation under a new agreement.   
The adjusted package provides an additional $17,000 for each  
patient and their families.  The additional money will be  
generated by four pharmaceutical firms whose blood products were  
tainted.  To secure the money under the compensation package,  
patients must sign a waiver saying they will not litigate; the  
four companies are named on this waiver.  "Anything we can do to  
enhance the package is good," said Ontario Health Minister Ruth  
Grier.  Earlier in the year, Canadian provinces and territories  
offered a $139-million compensation package for those infected  
through contaminated blood.  Under the new package, which is  
worth about $150 million, infected patients will be eligible for  
$30,000 annually for life.  More than 1,000 Canadians contracted  
HIV from tainted blood and blood products before compulsory  
testing was mandated in 1985. 
       
"Some Biotech Firms Say Clinton Plan Hurts" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/01/93) P. C1  (Shaw, Donna) 
     Four of 10 biotechnology firms engaged in AIDS research claim  
that President Clinton's health-care proposals hinder their  
ability to attract funding, according to an industry survey by  
the Biotechnology Industry Organization.  The poll cited that 47  
percent of the 30 responding companies said their AIDS research  
was being delayed or curtailed by the lack of money.  Another 63  
percent contended that research would fall back even further if  
Clinton's initiatives--especially those concerning drug  
prices--were approved.  Two specific elements have drawn the ire  
of the biotechnology industry because they do not include direct  
price-control provisions.  As submitted to Congress, the plan  
calls for a "breakthrough-drug committee," an advisory panel that 
could review introductory prices, although it wouldn't have the  
power to curtail them.  The plan would also permit the Health and 
Human Services secretary to prohibit Medicare payments for a drug 
whose price she thinks is too high.  The administration justifies 
these by saying they are aimed at price-gouging by drug  
companies.  But biotech officials insist that small, more  
innovative firms are feeling the burden--even if they are not the 
intended target.  Investors simply are not willing to take the  
risk, they say. 
       
"Health-Care Reform Must Include Insurance Coverage for AIDS  
Victims" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/01/93) P. A17  (Shalala, Donna E.) 
     Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, thousands of infected  
people have been systematically excluded from the private  
insurance market, notes Health and Human Services Secretary Donna 
E. Shalala.  Insurance companies and employers alike have used  
various tactics to keep infected employees from receiving  
coverage.  The result, says Shalala, is an estimated 27 percent  
of AIDS patients who are uninsured.  Medicaid covers 45 percent  
more, while 4 percent are covered by Medicare.  The rest live in  
fear that one day their limited coverage will be priced beyond  
their reach, or simply disappear altogether.  Shalala contends  
that the lack of insurance coverage can prevent HIV/AIDS patients 
from taking advantage of research and treatment devices.   
Clinton's health reform can stop this, she asserts, by providing  
affordable, portable, and permanent coverage for all Americans.   
First, the reform package will ban exclusion on the basis of a  
pre-existing condition and bar the use of lifetime or  
disease-specific limitations.  Secondly, the Medicaid population  
will be incorporated into the regional health alliances and given 
a comprehensive package equal to that of other Americans.  Next,  
all plans will provide extensive coverage of expenses for  
outpatient prescription drugs, which can normally amount to  
thousands of dollars per year.  Finally, says Shalala,  
out-of-pocket medical costs will be limited to no more than  
$1,500 for individuals or $3,000 for families. 
       
"U.S. Prison Systems Struggle to Cope With HIV/AIDS Pandemic" 
Nation's Health (11/93) Vol. 23, No. 9, P. 12 
     In 1991, the Centers for Disease Control reported that prisons  
had the highest incidence of HIV of any public institution.  And  
with inmate cases of HIV/AIDS continuing to spiral out of  
control, few correctional facilities can ignore the issue.  The  
increase in HIV infection has caused a small resurgence in  
prison-related legislation; two bills out of 25 that were  
introduced this year have already been approved.  Another factor  
is pressure from prison and civil rights groups, which want a  
guarantee that inmates are not tested without permission, receive 
proper medical attention, are protected from discrimination and  
violations of confidentiality, and have access to accurate  
HIV/AIDS information.  Some prisons, however, have been  
criticized for facilities that are inadequate or negligent in  
terms of providing care and support services for infected  
inmates.  Providing these needs for prisoners is now one of the  
most serious prisoners' rights issues.  Systems are faced with  
the challenge of trying to find the most effective way to deal  
with HIV/AIDS in correctional facilities.  In addition, they must 
consider the increasing number of incarcerated women and teens,  
the growing incidence of TB, and the demand to improve treatment  
for drug addicts.  In light of these challenges, state and local  
officials, prisoners, and their advocates are teaming up to  
determine the best ways to implement policies for infected  
inmates. 
       
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