dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) (11/16/89)
Volume 2, Number 41 November 8, 1989
Editor: David Dodell, D.M.D.
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
10250 North 92nd Street, Suite 210, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258-4599 USA
Copyright 1989 - Distribution on Commercial/Pay Systems Prohibited without
Prior Authorization
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Medical News
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Medical News for Week Ending November 5, 1989
Copyright 1989: USA TODAY/Gannett National Information Network
Reprinted with Permission
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Nov. 1, 1989
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FOSCARNET DETERS BLINDNESS:
Foscarnet, an antivirul drug that fights an AIDS-related eye infection, is
effectively controlling a blinding retinal disorder, reported the American
Academy of Ophthalmology. Study: The disorder was controlled in 88 percent of
60 patients treated in clinical trials. Trial results will go to the Food and
Drug Administration for approval of the drug.
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Nov. 2, 1989
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GLOBAL AIDS OUTLOOK BLEAK:
Complacency and increasing outbreaks are two major reasons the AIDS
epidemic will likely be worse than expected in the 1990s, said the World
Health Organization Program on AIDS. Also, the gap between the pace of the
epidemic and prevention and control efforts could widen. Future: 5.4 million
new AIDS cases, 10 million to 20 million HIV cases.
SINGLE WOMEN AT RISK FOR AIDS:
A new Gallup poll shows 6 million single women in the USA ages 18 to 40 are
at moderate to high risk of getting AIDS. Why: Because they have multiple sex
partners and are not using condoms regularly. Other findings - smart, rich
women are fooling themselves into believing AIDS is not an issue for them.
(From the USA TODAY Life section.)
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Dental News
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Dental News from the American Dental Association
U.S. AIDS cases top l00,000
Since June l98l when the first cases of AIDS were reported, state and
territorial health departments have reported greater than l00,000 cases of
AIDS and greater than 59,000 AIDS-related deaths to the Centers for Disease
Control.
AIDS is now a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children and young
adults in the U.S., ranking l5th among leading causes of death in l988 and
seventh among estimated years of potential life lost before age 65 in l987.
Although homosexual/bisexual men still account for most reported AIDS
cases, I.V. drug users, their sex partners and their children represent an
increasing proportion of all cases. The proportion of AIDS cases among women
also has increased from 7 percent of cases reported before l985 to ll percent
of cases reported in the first six months of l989.
The l00,000 AIDS cases reported in the U.S. as of July l989 represent the
minimum number of persons with severe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-
related disease. Because of the combination of underdiagnosis and
underreporting of AIDS cases and severe manifestations of HIV infection,
reported AIDS cases underestimate the number of persons severely affected by
HIV since l98l.
The number of AIDS cases are one indication of the larger epidemic of HIV
infection. An estimated l-l.5 million persons are affected with HIV in the
U.S., according to the CDC. A study of homosexual/bisexual men in San
Francisco suggests that 54 percent of infected persons will develop AIDS
within l0 years of infection and that up to 99 percent will eventually develop
AIDS. AIDS research programs established
Eighteen AIDS treatment research programs based in the communities where the
impact of the AIDS epidemic is severe, will be established, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services announced.
The new Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS will receive $9
million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The
programs will enlist many community-based physicians and their patients in
studies of AIDS drugs and will serve many people who, until now, have not been
included in clinical trials of promising experimental AIDS therapies,
including blacks, HIspanics, women and IV drug users.
Doctors in private practice, community hospitals and at large inner-city
hospitals will be involved.
Until now, federally-funded clinical trials of experimental AIDS therapies
have been conducted by investigators at the National Institutes of Health or
at 46 university-based research hospitals. Safer transfusions predicted
The odds of getting an AIDS infection from a blood transfusion were l in
28,000 two years ago, and the risk is dropping more than 30 percent a year.
This results from fewer AIDS carriers donating blood, an American Red Cross
study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found.
The blood supply is probably safer now than it has ever been, the study
concludes. But another report in the journal warns that some people at high
risk still donate blood, despite appeals to refrain.
A third study reported that more than 95 percent of people who receive
AIDS-tainted transfusions become infected, and half of them develop AIDS
within seven years.
The research shows that in general women are safer donors than men. The
riskiest blood is from men making donations for the first time, and some
people still give simply to learn whether they are infected.
Based on data from l7 million Red Cross donations, the organization
estimated that in l987 l3l units of AIDS-contaminated blood were transfused
throughout the U.S. despite screening efforts. They estimate that the number
of infectious units fell to 87 in l988.
Only l4 clear-cut cases of transfusion-associated AIDS have been reported
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control since widespread screening of blood
began in l985.
The Red Cross said one way of further reducing the already-slim risk of
AIDS-infected blood is to recruit and keep female donors. Another is to
emphasize frequent donations by already tested donors rather than attracting
new donors.
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Volume 2, Number 41 November 8, 1989
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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 (602) 860-1121
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David Canzi