European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 05, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse A decade of aids critics demand government do More two researchers for a Connecticut Laboratory work on an aids Deborah Mesce the associated press hat activists want is a Manhattan project where the government pulls out All the financial stops to find an aids cure and a vaccine to protect against a 1 infection just As it did in developing the. Atomic bomb. A a. A. What they want is a Leader like Franklin d. Roosevelt who can galvanize America for an All out Effort against aids As Roosevelt did against the Axis. What they be gotten is a Federal budget for aids research and prevention that has risen to $1.7 billion this fiscal year. But instead of a Roosevelt they have gotten the leadership of presidents Reagan and Bush. And that they say is not enough. Quot the sense we get is that the agencies that Deal with aids in their various bureaucracies along and Deal with it. But what we re from above is someone saying a move on this. This is important a a a Saiof Robin Haueter of the aids Coaliron to unleash Power. Known As act up. A this is no longer just an activist View but one also being voiced More frequently by mainstream groups including the National commission on aids established by Congress in 1988 to advise lawmakers and the president Quot in terms of leadership of articulating. That there is a crisis that this is health emergency of our times it has been most disappointing Quot said or. David a Quot Rogers a professor at Cornell University. Medical College in new York and vice chairman of the said or. Louis Sullivan Secretary of health and human services has tried to a elevate the Issue but neither the White House nor Congress has been very effective in confronting a virus that has. Infected an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million americans. A it Sullivan defends the administrations response to the epidemic pointing to the growth in spending on aids research prevention and education. That number has about $6 million a year in. 1982.to $1.7 billion this year. Other aids related spending brought the total to $3 spending for aids research and prevention now is As great As for cancer even though 10 times More people died of cancer last year Quot Sullivan said aids Quot is a significant Public health problem that has a High priority for my a a All told from 1982 through the end of this fiscal year the Federal government will have spent $6.5 billion on aids research education and prevention. At approved in 1987, is still the Only. Drug approved by the food and drug. Administration for fighting the aids virus. Other drugs have been approved to fight and protect against the opportunistic infections that kill most people with aids weakened immune systems. The experimental drug Del is expected. To be the next anti viral to be approved and act up has been holding it up As a test of the of Day a new leadership under or. A David Kessler and the Agency s commitment to fighting aids. Activists initially had called on the Fra to give Del a 30-day.review and then approve it instead the Fra has scheduled an advisory committee meeting for july 90 Days after Bristol Myers Squibb formally asked the Fra for approval to sell Del commercially. Fra officials note that at was approved in a record 107 Days Quot we need to do a better Job explaining what s involved in drug review Quot Kessler said in a recent interview. Quot we re finally at a Point where people understand that the Agency does t test drugs. ,. People finally understand that we Don t develop a la / world. Continued from Page a. Cry Quot silence is Itei a Quot so Many people we know have died. Over the past years that i done to think anyone except those who have been through a War can understand that kind of death and destruction Quot said Mark Kostopoulos 30, who was diagnosed with aids 18 months ago. Five years after that first mention in the cd newsletter the puzzlement Over those first aids cases had Long grown into Dep concern by then 21,5.17 americans had the disease 11.713 had die the cd was predicting aids would 1 increase tenfold Over the next five years 270,000 would have aids by the end of. 1991, and 179,000 would die. The grim estimates have fallen uncomfortably close to the Mark by years end cd officials say aids deaths since 1981 will top 150,000 and. That More than 41.000 additional cases will be diagnosed bringing the total to about a 250,000. It is estimated another 1 million to. 1.5 million americans carry the his virus which festers into aids alter an average 10-year incubation. A worldwide the numbers Are More Stark the world health organization estimates the total number of aids cases at 1 5 million with another 8 million to 10 million people infected. By the end of the decade. Who projects 40 million will be infected. If there is a thin Ray of Hope it is this. While the numbers Aren t getting better in the United states there is growing evidence they Are getting worse at a. A. Slower Pace than originally thought. Quot the horizons Are More sure Quot said or. James Curran director of the cd s his aids division. Quot we re not talking about something that is going to affect 250,000 new people a year. But. It is not going to drop off from where it is _ a health officials Are seeing a. Quot maturation a of the epidemic away from the initial High risk group of homosexual a men into other distinct segments of the population Curran said. A while Gay White Are the largest affected group transmission through. Intravenous drug use and heterosexual -. Activity is increasing. Quot. a in 1986, 66 percent of aids cases came from homosexual activity and 18 r e percent through intravenous drug use. Now Gay liaisons account for 55 percent and in drug use for 24 percent. R a in 1986, 60 percent of aids patients were White 25 percent Black anti 14percent hispanic Only 7 percent were women. By this year 52 Perc Orrt were White 30 percent Black and 17 percent hispanic. Twelve percent were women. A children under 13 still represent a tiny percentage,.but the Ina ease has been. Frightening. In 1986, 197 cases were. Reported. Last year the number reported was 764, More than triple. A a a heterosexual transmission hovers around 7 percent to 8 percent slightly lower than had been predicted in the 1980s. One third to one half the cases involved a sexual Contact with a known in drug user. Cd epidemiologists say the rate of infection has slowed the estimate of the military continued from Page 1 the defense department is moving aggressively on a number of other aids. Fronts As Wella in the Legal Arena recent military court cases have established the authority of. Comma bikers to Issue Quot sate sex Quot orders to infected troops directing them to use Protection during sex and to inform a a partners of their condition. Violating such -. A orders is a court martial offence a the military is also in the thick of the Hunt for an aids vaccine scientists at the Walter Reed army Institute of research in Washington with a. Substance called Vax syn hiv-1 that has shown Eaily Promise. The so vices have fully adopted centers for disease control guidelines that Call for a military health care providers who May number of americans who carry the aids virus in their blood has remained steady. For several years. But scientists caution that is far from Good news. A. A a a Quot people get confused about it Quot said or. Harold Jaffe of the cd cd a aids his division. Quot they think aids is going away. It just Means that its not getting any the los Angeles times contributed to this Story. Come in Contact with blood or bodily fluids to use gloves gowns masks and Eye goggles As appropriate to safeguard both themselves patients. In addition health care providers who test positive Are prohibited from further patient . The Pentagon has also Takeh Steps to safeguard its military blood Supply. The Arr Ned forces1 blood program which coordinates donations to Stock some 100 military blood Banks collects Between 200,000 and 250,000 pints of. Blood each year most from Active duty donors said Cal. Anthony Polk program chief. A a. The rigorous military screening process Calls for two or More tests of each blood donation resulting in an his positive rate of about one in 13.000 pints a comparable to the red Cross and other civilian. Agencies Polk said. A. A Page 4 a the stripes a wednesday. Juno 5, 1991
