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DAILY LIVING
The HIV/AIDS News Digest
Monday, April 22, 2002
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INDEX
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POLITICS
1.South Africa Announces Sweeping AIDS Policy Shift

RESEARCH
2. Measles Suppresses AIDS Virus, Study Finds
3. HIV to Hit 30% of South Africa Workers by 2005-Report
4. 92-Week Data From Clinical Study of Gilead's Adefovir Dipivoxil in
Patients Co-Infected With HIV and Lamivudine-Resistant HBV Presented
At
International Medical Meeting

TREATMENT
5. AIDS Drug Fares Well in Big Trial
6. Hemispherx and ACRIA Launch Immunotherapeutic HIV/AIDS Clinical
Trials
in New York City

PREVENTION & SERVICES
7. 'No Glove, No Love' Campaign to Fight Africa AIDS
8. Europe TB, HIV Crisis Looms, Red Cross Chief Warns
9. Agencies revive anonymous AIDS tests
10. Giant Rises Slowly To Take On AIDS

PEOPLE
11. To playwright, AIDS-inspired 'Elegies' as timely as ever
12. HIV Adds Lethal Twist To 'Net Sex Case

FEATURED ORGANIZATION
13. DailyLiving.info


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TODAY'S QUOTE
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"People have a real fear of coming into our clinics. Some don't have
insurance, others don't want it on their record. Anonymous testing is
one of the cornerstones of the AIDS testing program," - Dr. Thomas
Treadwell, director of the Infectious Disease Clinic at MetroWest
Medical Center.


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TODAY'S NEWS
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POLITICS
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1. SOUTH AFRICA ANNOUNCES SWEEPING AIDS POLICY SHIFT
For the first time South Africa is making available state-funded anti-
retroviral treatment to rape victims. After an unusually long
meeting, President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet made a statement that it
would still go on to raise AIDS awareness and advocate lifestyle
changes to limit HIV that already has infected more than 4.7 million
South Africans. The cabinet admitted that anti-retroviral drugs could
increase lifespan if given at certain developmental stage of the AIDS-
related disease. They implied at a universal program beginning next
year, to prevent mother-to-child HIV transference that leads to the
disease, claiming that it would go on with research on the use of
nevirapine (the drug limits mother-to-child transmission) at 18 pilot
sites throughout the country. According to the cabinet, rape victims
would be given counseling on the possible risks in anti-retroviral
treatment, but would be given the drugs at public hospitals as soon
as possible. The government shifted closer to conceding the
connection between HIV and AIDS, which Mbeki has questioned publicly,
claiming its policy was based "on the premise that HIV causes AIDS."
(Reuters, 04/17)
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?
type=healthnews&StoryID=834546


RESEARCH
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2. MEASLES SUPPRESSES AIDS VIRUS, STUDY FINDS
Researchers of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
team reported on Tuesday that HIV-positive children battling measles
could get a temporary break from HIV, thanks to an increased immune
response. Dr. William Moss, who led the team, reported that measles
result in a number of secondary infections but also results in immune
system activation that temporarily suppresses HIV. His team
investigated 93 children infected with both measles and HIV at the
University Teaching Hospital at Lusaka, Zambia and discovered that
the children had increased levels of CD8 T-cells, which are a measure
of immune response. These increased levels of the killer T-cells were
discovered the same time as when the children had suppressed levels
of HIV in their blood. Viral levels shot up again after the children
recovered from measles. "More research will be needed with a larger
study group to fully understand how measles suppresses HIV and
activates the immune system, but our findings may provide clues to
understanding both HIV pathogenesis and immunity," said Dr. Diane
Griffin, a microbiologist who also worked on the study. (Reuters,
04/16)
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?
type=healthnews&StoryID=826723

3. HIV TO HIT 30% OF SOUTH AFRICA WORKERS BY 2005-REPORT
Almost 25 percent of South Africa's workforce is currently HIV/AIDS
infected and, by 2005, the numbers will increase to almost 30 percent,
according to Andrew Levy & Associates, a labor consultancy. Their
report claimed that AIDS deaths will decrease South Africans'
lifespan, which will impact significantly those between their 20s and
40s, the population' s most productive members. "With the
economically active segment of the population being hardest hit,
organizations can expect to lose in excess
of four percent of their workforces over the next 10 years," the
report said.

The country's second largest gold miner, Gold Fields said on Tuesday
that more than 25 percent of its 50,000 employees were HIV-positive
and several of intervention and home care programs had been begun to
address the situation. Analysts also claim a South African Breweries
strategy to spread out into developing countries is partly because of
HIV/AIDS impact at home. (Andile Ntingi, Reuters, 04/18)
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?
type=healthnews&StoryID=842600

4. 92-WEEK DATA FROM CLINICAL STUDY OF GILEAD'S ADEFOVIR DIPIVOXIL IN
PATIENTS CO-INFECTED WITH HIV AND LAMIVUDINE-RESISTANT HBV PRESENTED
AT
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL MEETING
Gilead Sciences announced results from a single-center, open-label
clinical trial of its once-daily, oral antiviral agent adefovir
dipivoxil 10 mg that is being developed for the treatment of chronic
hepatitis B. These data show that adefovir dipivoxil was associated
with significant, sustained reductions in levels of hepatitis B virus
(HBV) DNA through 92 weeks in chronic hepatitis B patients with
lamivudine-resistant HBV and co-infected with HIV. (Business Wire,
04/18)
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?
bw.041802/221080220&ticker=gild


TREATMENT
--------------------------------------
5. AIDS DRUG FARES WELL IN BIG TRIAL
In its initial large clinical trial, the first of a new class of AIDS
drugs has proven to be effective. The drug, named T-20, is the most
sophisticated in a class of drugs known as entry inhibitors that work
to prevent the AIDS virus from infecting the immune system's
cells. "This is really very exciting news," said Dr. Daniel R.
Kuritzkes, an associate professor at the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center and one investigator in the clinical trial.
Experts said T-20 would be used to assist patients whose outlook is
bleak. "It provides an option for people who are failing therapy,"
said Dr. Douglas D. Richman of the University of California at San
Diego and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The drug's developers, Trimeris and Roche, and doctors said yesterday
that they would apply for the drug's approval in the second half of
2002, letting the drug be marketed by next year. Those who were
given T-20 with some current drugs had an average of a 98 percent
decrease in virus levels after 24 weeks, compared to about 80 percent
for those who got only the current drugs, said Dr. Dani P. Bolognesi,
chief executive of Trimeris. However, T-20 has to be injected twice
daily whereas other AIDS drugs are taken orally. (Andrew Pollack,
New York Times, 04/19)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/19/business/19BIOT.html

6. HEMISPHERX AND ACRIA LAUNCH IMMUNOTHERAPEUTIC HIV/AIDS CLINICAL
TRIALS IN NEW YORK CITY
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. and the AIDS Community Research Initiative
of America (ACRIA) have announced the start of two clinical trials
for Hemispherx's experimental drug Ampligen(R) for the treatment of
HIV/AIDS.
One trial will study whether Ampligen(R) can assist the immune
systems response to a carefully monitored interruption of the widely
used Highly Active Anti Retroviral Treatments (commonly known
as "HAART" or "Cocktail" treatments). The other trial will study
whether Ampligen(R) can re-sensitize the immune system to certain of
the HAART or cocktail regimens to which it has become desensitized.
(Business Wire, 04/18)
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?
bw.041802/221082467&ticker=heb


PREVENTION & SERVICES
--------------------------------------
7. 'NO GLOVE, NO LOVE' CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT AFRICA AIDS
An AIDS awareness campaign was started in Uganda with the slogan "no
glove, no love." The campaign is to encourage condom use. It will
build testing and counseling centers in African countries. It will
also raise AIDS awareness through meetings and concerts in Uganda,
Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Slated to begin later this year, the
campaign is supposed to spread to other parts of Africa. "This
campaign is about behavioral change," said Tiahmo Rauf, chairman of
Africans Unite Against AIDS Globally, an American non-governmental
organization leading the campaign. "This is going to be the biggest
movement to raise awareness about the epidemic." (Reuters, 04/18)
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?
type=sciencenews&StoryID=841418

8. EUROPE TB, HIV CRISIS LOOMS, RED CROSS CHIEF WARNS
President of the German Red Cross, Knut Ipsen informs that the former
East Bloc is seeing a swift rise in HIV infections and tuberculosis,
and that unless the infections are fought against, the whole of
Europe faces the risk of a major health crisis. Speaking at the
European Regional Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference this week in
Berlin, Ipsen informed that while Africa and Asia have the more
number of AIDS cases, the former East Bloc, with 250,000 new cases in
2001, has the quickest growth rate. All this, he said, could mean
serious concerns for Western Europe, which is being inundated with
poor East Europeans migrating to Western Europe for jobs. One aim of
this week's conference is to build an action plan with consistent
European standards that will help fight off the potential health
crisis of HIV and tuberculosis. "We are standing in front of a
creeping crisis. Without corresponding (healthcare) programs
millions of people in Europe will die from the rapidly rising number
of HIV infections combined with tuberculosis," Ipsen warned.(Ned
Stafford, Reuters, 04/17)
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?
type=healthnews&StoryID=831474

9. AGENCIES REVIVE ANONYMOUS AIDS TESTS
In November, the Massachusetts state legislature cut $12.2 million
for AIDS education and services from its budget, eliminating
Framingham's free anonymous AIDS testing program. Now two local
agencies are using their emergency money to start a smaller version
of the anonymous AIDS testing and counseling program. "If we do not
provide anonymous testing and counseling, people will not get care
and continue to spread the disease," said Kevin McNamara, director of
the Metrowest AIDS program, where the anonymous testing takes place.

The Metrowest AIDS program and the regional AIDS consortium OnTRAC
transferred a collective $4,000 from their emergency funds to help
Framingham's anonymous testing and counseling program. However, even
though McNamara has enough money pooled to pay for the services until
December, he is worried about the program's future. He does not
think the state will fund the program for 2003, and they will have to
depend on private resources. "No other cuts in the state will kill
people like cutting AIDS," said Steve Moran, chairman of the regional
AIDS consortium OnTRAC. "Anonymous testing and counseling is a
critical way to get people to evaluate their behavior and get the
proper medical care. Without these services, there will be a spread
of HIV and AIDS." Moran said many don't get tested with their
regular physician because they're afraid it will cost them their
health insurance or job security, and others are dissuaded by the
test's cost. (Jenn Abelson, Boston Globe, 04/19)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/109/metro/Agencies_revive_anonymous_
AIDS_tests+.shtml

10. GIANT RISES SLOWLY TO TAKE ON AIDS
Australia is helping China to fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic by
providing funds. Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, has the
highest rate of HIV/AIDS in China. Yunnan, which shares a border with
Burma, Laos and Vietnam, is also a popular Chinese tourist
destination. According to a recent British Medical Journal report,
Yunnan is where the "second phase" of China's AIDS epidemic is
situated. While most infections continue to be drug related, the rate
of sexual transmission is rising consistently. The Chinese Government
has for long, been unwilling to accept the spread of the country's
problem. According to the government and foreign agencies China would
have nearly 10 million people with HIV/AIDS by 2010, unless
preventive acts are taken. The Yunnan/Australian Red Cross HIV/AIDS
Prevention Project has been attentive on training youth peer
educators as an extremely effective ways of getting messages about
virus transmission across to the populace. The messages are simple:
how to stop HIV transmission; the connection between the virus, drug
use and sex;
other sexually transmitted illnesses; care and support of HIV/AIDS
afflicted. However, in a country where let alone drug-use, even sex
continues to be taboo, this is challenging. Funding for work in both
provinces is provided for by the Australian Government's
international assistance branch, AusAID. They have provided $A92,000
for the Yunnan project. The plan emphasizes the necessity for
measures like better education, a national disease surveillance
network and a stop to the custom of selling blood. While the country
still has a long walk ahead, it seems to have moved away – just
recently - from the dark days of when the police of Taishan advocated
setting up an "AIDS patient concentration camp" in an attempt to
contain the epidemic. Australian Red Cross' Audrey Swift, who has led
the youth peer education project for the past 4 years, thinks that
Yunnan's authorities have been more pragmatic about the mushrooming
HIV/AIDS epidemic. But still, HIV/AIDS continues to be hidden from
the 39 million strong, broader Yunnan population. "People are aware
of HIV," Swift said. "They are aware of transmission routes. They
know about it, but they don't seem to apply it to themselves." (The
Sydney Morning Herald, 04/16)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/15/1018333482445.html


PEOPLE
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11. TO PLAYWRIGHT, AIDS-INSPIRED 'ELEGIES' AS TIMELY AS EVER
In 1989, when Bill Russell launched "Elegies for Angels, Punks and
Raging Queens" in New York, the AIDS epidemic was at its peak. "It
felt like we were in the white-hot center of a war," remembers
Russell, lyricist, playwright, and director. "People in the show were
affected - some had lesions - and certainly most of the cast had
known people who'd died." However, Russell feels the show that will
be premiered in Boston on April 25-27 at the Boston Conservatory, is
still relevant. "People are still getting infected - the rates are
actually rising - and people are getting complacent. Even if it were
cured tomorrow, there would still be a place for the show because
it's about the loss we've experienced," he said. Russell began
writing Spoon River-style monologues in the voices of those who died
of AIDS. "I started writing about people I knew who had the disease,
primarily gay men. But as the project developed over a number of
years, I wanted to portray a broader canvas. Many of the pieces are
based on stories I read. I updated one to reflect the advances in
medications," he said. Songs were added "to represent the point of
view of those living with the loss," he says. One is based on the
lives six brothers with hemophilia, who were infected with AIDS from
tainted blood, and later, gave it to their wives. All proceeds
benefit the Boston Living Center, which serves people affected by
HIV/AIDS. (Catherine Foster, Boston Globe, 04/19)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/109/living/To_playwright_AIDS_inspir
ed_Elegies_as_timely_as_ever+.shtml

12. HIV ADDS LETHAL TWIST TO 'NET SEX CASE
Charges against José "Joe" Blas were serious enough: an indictment
alleging the Queens man of encountering a teenage girl in an Internet
chat room and then flying to Florida to have sex with her in a hotel
room. However, earlier this week, the prosecutor disclosed that Blas
is HIV positive and may have knowingly exposed other girls, a fact
that had not been stated in the court papers. After U.S. Magistrate
Robert Levy set bail at $500,000 for Blas, 48, a computer analyst who
has no earlier criminal record. While he has posted bail, Blas was
under house arrest awaiting arraignment in Florida. Louis Freeman,
Blas' lawyer stated that the allegations against his client are "a
complete divergence from his otherwise perfect life." (New York Post,
04/19)
http://www.nypost.com/health/41679.htm


FEATURED ORGANIZATION
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13. DailyLiving.info
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