dmcanzi@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (David Canzi) (05/27/91)
Medical News for April 29, 1991 to May 27, 1991
Copyright 1991: USA TODAY/Gannett National Information Network
Reproduced with Permission
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May 1, 1991
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AZT COSTS:
Using AZT to add symptom-free years to the life of someone with HIV
infection makes financial sense, a new study says. The treatment, which costs
about $2,600 a year and postpones the onset of fullblown AIDS, results in
$6,500 to $70,500 in medical costs for every year that life is prolonged, say
researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
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May 6, 1991
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AIDS MYSTERY REPORTEDLY SOLVED:
The mystery of the origin of the world's first known AIDS virus, whose
discovery was claimed by both French and American researchers, has apparently
been solved, according to a report in Sunday's Chicago Tribune. French
scientists at Paris' Pasteur Institute say they are now virtually certain the
virus originated in their laboratories.
AIDS DISCLOSURE:
Doctors or dentists with AIDS or HIV should be legally required to tell
patients about it, say 93% of participants in a survey published in Monday's
National Law Journal. The survey of 800 adults covered a wide range of
biomedical issues. Other findings: 79% say someone who knowingly infects
another with AIDS or HIV should be charged with assault or murder; 64% say
doctors shouldn't be prosecuted for helping the terminally ill commit suicide.
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May 14, 1991
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AIDS VACCINE YEARS AWAY:
None of about 20 possible AIDS vaccines has yet emerged as a top candidate
for large human tests, scientists said Monday. Dr. Daniel Hoth, National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says it could take 2 to 10 years
to prove a vaccine stops HIV infection and disease in real-world conditions.
GLIMMER OF HOPE:
A vaccine made from whole inactivated viruses has protected monkeys from an
AIDS-like illness, but some experts consider a whole-virus vaccine too risky
for humans. So other animal studies are focusing on parts of the virus. U.S.
health officials are optimistic enough to start planning for the multinational
studies that eventually will be needed to prove a vaccine works.
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May 16, 1991
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LAST IN LINE:
AIDS sufferers who are women, minorities or drug users are less likely to
get life-extending medical care, says the first study of treatment trends for
an entire state. The analysis of Maryland AIDS patients provides some of the
strongest proof yet that those who get the drug AZT, and the medical attention
that usually goes with it, live much longer than those who don't.
WHITE MEN GET BETTER CARE:
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that white men get
better care than others. Access to insurance can't be the only reason, since
most of the 719 AIDS patients studied had coverage, says Dr. Richard Moore of
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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May 21, 1991
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RED CROSS UNDERGOES CHANGES:
The American Red Cross is making changes in an effort to come to terms with
the age of AIDS. The $120 million reorganization -which includes temporarily
closing each of 53 blood centers on a rotating basis over the next 2 1/2 years
- is the latest attempt to clean up an image tarnished by reports of
inappropriate handling of blood contaminated by hepatitis viruses and HIV.
CONFIDENCE IN BLOOD SUPPLY DOWN:
While Red Cross officials hope the public will be impressed by the
magnitude of the cleanup plan, it won't be easy: Last summer, about the time
the recent string of controversies began, the blood supply was considered safe
by only 44% of people - down from 48% in mid-1988.
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May 23, 1991
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AIDS TESTED DISCUSSED:
The federal government could smooth the way for controversial AIDS testing
policies by covering the medical expenses of everyone infected with the AIDS
virus, says Dr. Marcia Angell, editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Such coverage - plus new anti-discrimination laws - would "give those at risk
an incentive to be tested," Angell says.
AIDS HAS TOLL ON LYMPHOMA CASES:
Grim news emerges from updated projections of the effect of the AIDS
epidemic on non-Hodgkins' lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. Doctors have
known for years that AIDS patients are more likely than healthy people to get
the disease, but a new study by the National Institutes of Health shows the
number is growing sharply among men between 20 and 49.
PATIENTS SURVIVING LONGER:
The increase in lymphoma can be traced to AIDS patients' lengthening
survival. Improving treatment can ward off lethal infections, but AIDS
patients' weakened immune systems still may somehow develop non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma.
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Volume 4, Number 10 May 25, 1991
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David CanziJohn_Graves@cellbio.duke.edu (John Graves) (05/28/91)
In article <1991May27.154130.19915@cs.ucla.edu> dmcanzi@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (David Canzi) writes: > AIDS MYSTERY REPORTEDLY SOLVED: > > The mystery of the origin of the world's first known AIDS virus, whose > discovery was claimed by both French and American researchers, has apparently > been solved, according to a report in Sunday's Chicago Tribune. French > scientists at Paris' Pasteur Institute say they are now virtually certain the > virus originated in their laboratories. This is a very confusing posting. Does this mean that HIV was isolated and identified in the French Pasteur Institute first and not be Dr. Robert Gallo at NIH. If so the French claim would not be anything new and instead would be a breaking of previous agreements about joint independent credit for identifying HIV. If on the other hand this does indeed mean that HIV was produced in the Pasteur lab, this would be quite an important admission of guilt for having started this epidemic out of a piece of lab work. I doubt that this is the case but would certainly like more information than obtained in your briefly worded summary. Please explain what this paragraph means both literally and politically. Thanks. John Allan Graves Unitarian Universalism Duke University An inclusive religion! and all its components () including the Divinity School, \__/ disavow anything I say. II
dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) (05/29/91)
In article <1991May28.144110.10846@cs.ucla.edu> John_Graves@cellbio.duke.edu (John Graves) writes: >>The mystery of the origin of the world's first known AIDS virus, whose >>discovery was claimed by both French and American researchers, has >>apparently been solved, according to a report in Sunday's Chicago >>Tribune. French scientists at Paris' Pasteur Institute say they are >>now virtually certain the virus originated in their laboratories. > >This is a very confusing posting. >[I] would certainly like more information than obtained >in your briefly worded summary. I didn't write it, I only excerpted it from HICN News (which is posted in full in sci.med). The university library doesn't have the Chicago Tribune, so I couldn't look up Tribune article this is based on. I'm going to comment based on my possibly unreliable memory. What I remember reading elsewhere is that the French researchers were claiming that the American researchers did their research using virus samples they had received from the French group. This makes it likely that what the article means is that the virus *samples* used by the American researchers originated in the Pasteur Institute. And somehow this got muddled, so it ended up sounding like the French researchers were taking "credit" for starting the epidemic. -- David Canzi "You see, I believe in freedom." -- John Spragge, explaining his support for the restriction of "irresponsible" speech.
rpetsche@mrg.PHYS.CWRU.Edu (rolfe g petschek) (05/29/91)
In article <1991May29.103535.18656@cs.ucla.edu> dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) writes: >In article <1991May28.144110.10846@cs.ucla.edu> John_Graves@cellbio.duke.edu (John Graves) writes: >>>The mystery of the origin of the world's first known AIDS virus, whose >>>discovery was claimed by both French and American researchers, has >>>apparently been solved, according to a report in Sunday's Chicago >>>Tribune. French scientists at Paris' Pasteur Institute say they are >>>now virtually certain the virus originated in their laboratories. >> >>This is a very confusing posting. >>[I] would certainly like more information than obtained >>in your briefly worded summary. > >I didn't write it, I only excerpted it from HICN News (which is posted I think that a full article can be found in the Tuesday 'Science Times' in the New York Times some two weeks ago. The issue was what the origin of the first identified sample of the HIV virus *isolated in the laboratory from an infected patient* (not made de novo). Credit for this useful and worthwhile discovery (which has resulted in significant worthwhile research, including all vaccine trials, the HIV blood test, identification of very earily victims of HIV etc) had been claimed by both a group at the NIH in Washington and at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. It had been generally thought that the French group correctly claimed precidence, hence the name HIV rather than HLTV-3 which latter was given by the US group. In fact it is now thought that: A viral sample from the French group was taken to the US. This was a relatively vigorous sample and contaminated a sample in the US. In addition it had or would contaminate a sample in France. This explains why the French and US samples had identical genetic make-up, despite the rapid mutations in retroviruses. It also demonstrates that mistakes were made in both laboratories but that all of this could well have happened without and bad faith or scientific misconduct in either laboratory, as it is known that a sample (but not the sample from which the virus was finally isolated in either laboratory) was shared. -- Rolfe G. Petschek Petschek@cwru.bitnet Associate Professor of Physics rgp@po.cwru.edu Case Western Reserve University (216)368-4035 Cleveland Oh 44106-7970