dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) (11/09/90)
Medical News for October 22 to November 4, 1990
Copyright 1990: USA TODAY/Gannett National Information Network
Reproduced with Permission
---
Oct. 23, 1990
---
STUDENTS HAVE AIDS VIRUS:
Two of every 1,000 students tested at 35 U.S. college campuses are infected
with the AIDS virus, a federal scientist reported Monday. That figure is the
same as in a survey 18 months ago. Dr. Brian Edlin, Centers for Disease
Control, says it is reassuring to know the proportion of HIV-positive students
does not appear to be rising. (For more, see special AIDS package below.)
COCAINE SPURS AIDS VIRUS GROWTH:
Cocaine spurred the growth of the AIDS virus in laboratory tests, prompting
researchers to believe the drug could increase infected people's chances of
developing full-blown AIDS. Microbiologists at the University of Minnesota
Medical School said at an Atlanta conference that the HIV virus grew as much
as three times faster in cells exposed to cocaine than in control cells.
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AIDS:
MALES OVER 22 ARE MAJORITY:
AIDS infection was found in .2 percent of 16,500 college students tested,
Dr. Edlin told the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Atlanta.
Almost all infected students were male and over 22, which suggests
transmission is occurring mostly through homosexual contact or intravenous
drug use, Edlin says. More women would be infected if contact were
heterosexual.
INFECTION IN AIDS-RIDDEN AREAS:
Overall AIDS infection figures can be misleading, Edlin says. The actual
campus AIDS infection rates ranged from 0 to .9 percent, with more infection
at schools in areas with high AIDS rates, including San Francisco, Los
Angeles, New York, parts of Florida and New Jersey. (From the USA TODAY Life
section.)
SOME STATISTICS PROMPT CONCERN:
Overall, it is good news, says Dr. Mathilde Krim, American Foundation for
AIDS Research, NYC. She says there is cause for concern where the statistics
are as high as about 1 in 100. "It's like being a little bit pregnant. When
they start relationships, young women still have to take precautions,
particularly if there are multiple sexual partners," Krim said. (End of
package.)
---
Oct. 25, 1990
---
SICK BABIES TO WOMEN WITH HIV-1:
Infants born to women with the AIDS virus have higher mortality rates than
children born to seronegative women, says Wednesday's Journal of the American
Medical Association. A study shows that at 2 years of age, 31.3 percent of
babies born to 443 Haitian women who were HIV-1 seropositive had died,
compared to 14.2 percent of babies born to 4145 Haitian women who were HIV-1
seronegative.
HIGHER COSTS FOR PREVENTION:
Increased precautions against infections taken by hospital personnel cost
about $337 million in fiscal year 1989, Wednesday's Journal of the American
Medical Association says. University of Iowa College of Medicine researchers
found that costs for isolation materials per inpatient admission increased
from $13.70 to $22.98. Two-thirds of the increase was due to rise in rubber
glove use.
---
Oct. 26-28, 1990
---
AIDS VIRUS PATTERN UNCHANGED:
Spread of the AIDS virus in the USA continues to follow a familiar path,
with infected men far outnumbering infected women, and drug abusers and gay
men showing the highest infection levels, says a new federal report. The
Centers for Disease Control finds the virus in: 4 in 100 drug treatment
clients; 1.5 in 1,000 childbearing women; and 8 in 100,000 blood donors.
---
Oct. 29, 1990
---
SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BLACKS:
CHILDREN HAVE OVERWHELMING ODDS:
For black children, the deck is stacked against them from birth. Of the 10
million of them , about half under age 6 are living in poverty and 45 percent
under age 18 are poor. One in 5 infants born to high-risk women at King
hospital in Los Angelas has been infected with HIV. In New York's Harlem
section, the childhood death rate is expected to double this year from AIDS.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Volume 3, Number 35 November 4, 1990
+------------------------------------------------+
! !
! Health Info-Com Network !
! Newsletter !
+------------------------------------------------+
Editor: David Dodell, D.M.D.
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
10250 North 92nd Street, Suite 210, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258-4599 USA
Telephone +1 (602) 860-1121
FAX +1 (602) 451-1165
Copyright 1990 - Distribution on Commercial/Pay Systems Prohibited without
Prior Authorization
The Health Info-Com Network Newsletter is distributed weekly. Articles on a
medical nature are welcomed. If you have an article, please contact the
editor for information on how to submit it. If you are interested in joining
the automated distribution system, please contact the editor.
E-Mail Address:
Editor:
FidoNet = 1:114/15
Bitnet = ATW1H @ ASUACAD
Internet = ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org
LISTSERV = MEDNEWS @ ASUACAD.BITNET (or internet: asuvm.inre.asu.edu)
anonymous ftp = vm1.nodak.edu
(Notification List/ftp = hicn-notify-request@stjhmc.fidonet.org)
Associate Editors:
o Dr. Bruce MacDougall, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
(Bitnet: BRUCEMA@UMASS)
o Dr. J. Martin Wehlou (Bitnet: WEHLOU@BGERUG51)
--
David Canzi