                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      December 6, 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

 
"Health Officials Say Casual AIDS Transmission Rare" 
Reuters (12/05/93)  (McCabe, Alec) 
     New York--Despite two new cases in which American children  
contracted the AIDS virus through a rarely documented form of  
transmission, U.S. public health officials say casual AIDS  
transmission is rare and the risk minimal.  In one case, the  
virus was transmitted through a razor shared by two hemophiliac  
teenage brothers, according to the Centers for Disease Control.   
The other case involved a five-year-old, whose infected blood  
apparently permeated a rash on the skin of a two-year-old who  
lived at the same foster home, reported researchers at Rutgers  
University in New Jersey.  While the two cases are rare, they are 
documentary proof that HIV can be transmitted by vehicles other  
than sexual contact or needle-sharing, the two primary means of  
transmission.  The infections probably never would have occurred  
if CDC precautions had been heeded, contend public health  
officials.  Among the recommendations, issued in 1985, are  
refraining from using the toothbrushes of HIV carriers and  
avoiding unprotected contact with their wounds.  Dr. Lawrence  
Frankel of Rutgers University said that the cases are a warning  
to parents to adhere to strict precautions if they have one child 
who is HIV-positive and another who is negative, although he  
cautioned against using the findings to segregate infected  
children.  Related Story: New York Times (12/04) P.33; USA Today  
(12/06) P.10; Chicago Tribune (12/04) P. 20. 
       
"AIDS Creating a Booming Business in Safe Sex Products" 
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/06/93) 
     In the era of the AIDS epidemic, safe sex sells, and so do rubber 
gloves, dentist masks, blood processors, home infusion therapies, 
and medical waste disposal services.  As the virus has influenced 
the country's political and cultural outlook, the demand for  
AIDS-related products and services has at the same time  
transformed and created industries.  Society and industry both  
hope for a cure in the long run.  In the meantime, however, the  
focus is on products and services.  While the expense of  
infectious waste proposal is prompting hospitals to switch to  
re-usable products, AIDS precautions have moved dentists to buy  
more disposable products than ever before.  This trend is evident 
in sales at dental supply companies, which are skyrocketing.  The 
hot seller in recent months has been the hand drill, which is  
thought to be the tool that infected a Florida woman, whose AIDS  
death focused national attention on the possibility of  
contracting the virus in the dental office.  "An awful lot of  
business has been generated because of the fear of AIDS,"  
testifies Marc Selman, who two years ago opened a consulting  
practice to help doctors and dentists deal with growing  
regulations concerning AIDS.  His innovative entrepreneurial  
effort has been transformed into a $1 million business. 
       
"Massachusetts Firms Take Lead in Drug Development" 
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News (12/06/93)  (Rosenberg,  
Ronald) 
     With about a dozen biotechnology firms working to develop AIDS  
drugs, therapies, and vaccines, Massachusetts has taken the lead  
in AIDS drug development.  The most advanced, by far, is Repligen 
Corp. of Cambridge, which is currently developing two  
vaccines--one to delay progression of the disease, and one to  
prevent those coming in contact with the virus from contracting  
it.  Cambridge Biotech Corp. of Worcester has developed Stimulon, 
an adjuvant derived from Peruvian tree bark, which is designed to 
boost the body's immune response to an AIDS vaccine.  Also  
working toward an AIDS cure is Therion Biologics Corp. of  
Cambridge, which is teaming up with Harvard Medical School  
researchers on a live vaccine based on the permanent deletion of  
a critical gene from the AIDS virus.  Other state biotech  
companies involved in AIDS research include Vertex  
Pharmaceuticals Inc., T-Cell Sciences, Procept Inc., the Virus  
Research Institute and Biogen Corp., Hybridon of Worcester,  
Nissin Molecular Biology Institute Inc. of Boston, and Boston  
BioMedica Inc. of West Bridgewater.  Although the national  
Biotechnology Industry Organization claims that the threat of  
drug price controls under the Clinton health care initiative has  
effectively slowed the pace of AIDS-related research, there is no 
evidence of this slow-down in Massachusetts. 
       
"Army Offers HIV Tests Over German Scare" 
Chicago Tribune (12/04/93) P. 1-20 
     In the wake of a large-scale AIDS scare in Germany, the U.S. Army 
is offering free testing for the virus to former American  
military personnel who served there.  Eligible for free HIV tests 
are American citizens who have been treated with blood products  
in German hospitals since 1985 and who have at any time been  
eligible for health care in Army medical facilities, announced  
the 7th Medical Command, based in Heidelberg.  The U.S. Army said 
that investigations into the German pharmaceutical company at the 
core of the national scandal have been completed, and no  
Americans have been identified as potential HIV carriers. 
       
"French Will Offer Youths Condoms at Discount Price" 
Philadelphia Inquirer (12/04/93) P. A13 
     In a government campaign to promote safe sex among adolescents,  
condoms in France will be available to young people for a  
fraction of the normal cost.  Junior Health Minister Philippe  
Douste-Blazy announced that, starting today, condoms will be on  
sale in pharmacies for 17 cents each.  The current price for a  
package of three condoms is $1.70, which is often too expensive  
for most youngsters, according to surveys. 
       
"AIDS Ads" 
Associated Press (12/04/93) 
     Ann Arbor, Mich.--In a move that will break a long-standing  
taboo, condoms will be mentioned in a federally funded public  
service advertising campaign on AIDS to be unveiled Dec. 21 by  
the Centers for Disease Control.  Medical experts have long  
recommended condoms to help prevent the spread of AIDS, but both  
the Reagan and Bush administrations refused to publicly support  
their use.  The campaign, which targets young people, will  
"reflect the changes we're going through here," said national  
AIDS policy coordinator Kristine Gebbie.  She promised that the  
condom ads "will be very different than anything you've ever seen 
before." 
       
"Abbott--AIDS Test" 
Associated Press (12/02/93)  (Gold, Jeffrey) 
     Newark, N.J.--Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of a faulty  
blood test once used by most hospitals and blood banks, had a  
responsibility to warn the public that the test might not always  
detect HIV, ruled a state judge.  The decision permits a New  
Jersey woman to continue her lawsuit against the company, whose  
test was revised after she received contaminated blood during a  
1986 surgery.  The new test, approved in January 1987, is used by 
about three-quarters of the country's hospitals and blood banks,  
including the American Red Cross, disclosed the company.  The  
42-year-old woman has AIDS-related conditions, but has not yet  
progressed to full-blown AIDS.  She charges that Abbott knew of  
uncertainties concerning the effectiveness of the test as many as 
five months before her operation and was negligent in its failure 
to notify the public.  State Superior Court Judge Anthony J.  
Sciuto ruled that the company did not clearly define "false  
negatives," (when a test fails to detect HIV infection), on  
inserts accompanying the tests.  He also said that correspondence 
between Abbott and the Food and Drug Administration  
"conclusively" indicate that the company knew about the test's  
deficiencies.  "While Abbott investigated the problem and sent  
the FDA a proposed statement to be included in the package  
insert, they cannot escape liability," he wrote.  "Abbott  
continued to manufacture, market, and distribute the screening  
test without warning against the sensitivity problem."  While the 
court contends that Abbott "did nothing in the hopes that they  
would not be held accountable," the company has asked for a  
dismissal on the grounds that it was pre-empted by federal  
regulations governing medical devices. 
       
"Finding May Greatly Improve Potential AIDS Therapy" 
Reuters (12/02/93)  (Riordan, Teresa) 
     Washington--Colleagues at the University of Colorado say they may 
have discovered a way to improve the effectiveness of one  
experimental AIDS treatment.  Thomas Cech and Bruce Sullenger  
think they have learned to make an antiviral agent that acts as a 
guided missile, aiming at the exact location within a cell that  
harbors an RNA molecule encoding the AIDS virus.  The agent  
reaches its target, splitting it into two and making it harmless. 
A decade ago, Cech helped make the revolutionary discovery that  
RNA molecules could perform important functions.  Viruses consist 
of strands of DNA or RNA, which can cause an array of diseases  
from the common cold to AIDS, by entering normal cells and using  
them to replicate the virus.  Since this finding, scientists have 
been developing molecules called ribozymes that will slice apart  
disease-carrying RNA molecules.  But promising lab results have  
not been repeated when the molecules are locked in a cell.  Cech  
and Sullenger, in their new report, suggest that this is because  
a cell is much like a large house with many locked doors.  Unless 
the ribozyme emits a specific signal that acts as a password to  
let it enter the room where the AIDS-encoding molecule is living, 
it will be automatically ushered into another room.  Cech and  
Sullenger are developing a type of gene therapy in which genes  
that will encode HIV-seeking ribozymes are moved to bone marrow,  
where blood cells are manufactured.  Newly made cells would  
contain the anti-HIV ribozyme and, ideally, work as a  
"man-to-man" defense. 
       
"AIDS Tests Demanded for U.N. Peacekeepers" 
Reuters (12/01/93) 
     Zagreb--The Croatian Victimologist Society, a pressure group, has 
announced that it wants the United Nations to give AIDS tests to  
peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia.  The organization said it  
would contact the U.N. and the World Health Organization to  
demand compulsory HIV testing among the troops.  "Among the  
15,000 [U.N.] soldiers taking part in the peacekeeping operation  
in Croatia, some come from the high-risk areas of Africa and  
South America, so there is a justified fear that our country  
could be endangered by the spread of AIDS," reasoned Zvonimir  
Separovic, president of the society.  "We don't want to  
discriminate against anyone, but it is in the interest of society 
to protect all those who are potentially endangered, not only  
those who are already ill."  According to Josip Begovac, a  
Croatian AIDS specialist, four U.N. soldiers--two from Kenya and  
one each from Nigeria and Argentina--had been diagnosed with  
AIDS.  Two had died.  But, adds Begovac, "No one can allege that  
U.N. troops are responsible for spreading AIDS."  Croatia  
documented 58 HIV-positive persons over the last eight years, 39  
of whom have died. 
       
"D.C. Condom Sales Top U.S." 
Washington Business Journal (11/12/93-11/18/93) Vol. 12, No. 26,  
P. 3  (Workman, James) 
     October proved to be a fruitful month for condom sales in the  
nation's capital.  According to Information Resources Inc., a New 
York-based market research firm, Washington, D.C., bought more  
condoms per capita than any other city in America--75 percent  
higher than the national average.  And Information Resources  
subsidiary Towne-Oller & Associates reports that condom sales in  
the District rose 15 percent per capita, the highest percentage  
in the country.  Condoms, taboo as they are, have been a hard  
sell in the past.  But acceptance and flourishing of condoms is  
evident in Washington.  The Whitman-Walker Clinic crushed  
traditional barriers and reversed network policies to air  
televised condom ads for the first time in history.   
Condomrageous, a condom store, expanded its wholesale operations  
and plans to move into the Atlanta market.  And Populations  
Services International, a nonprofit organization based in the  
capital, sold 388,000 condoms in Kenya in one month.  Glenn  
McKinney, co-owner of Condomrageous, attributes the booming  
condom business in the District to the area's large gay and  
single population, as well as a high level of awareness. 
       
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