Faculty Bibliography

Federal health officials on Oct 30, 1992 called for a new initiative to prevent hypertension in light of evidence that shows great strides have been made in lowering deaths and disability from the condition, also known as high blood pressure

Under pressure from patients, doctors and others, the CDC on Oct 27, 1992 proposed a new definition of AIDS that is expected to have an important effect on public policy and is expected to almost double the number of AIDS cases reported in 1993 by including many more women and drug users

The new definition will include any adult infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who has 200 or fewer CD-4 cells per microliter of blood, or about one-fifth the normal level. No such measurement is now part of the definition. The number of AIDS cases should almost double in 1993, when the change is expected to take effect, said Dr. John Ward, an AIDS epidemiologist at the disease-control centers. He said his agency had previously projected a total of 50,000 AIDS cases in 1993. Ron Taylor, manager of Orange County's programs for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, said he has not crunched the numbers yet, but the new definition is likely to increase the number of AIDS cases by 30 to 40 percent

The new definition also will include any adult infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who has 200 or fewer CD-4 cells per microliter of blood, or about one-fifth the normal level. No measurement of these cells, which are key to the body's immune defenses, is part of the current definition. The number of AIDS cases should almost double in 1993, when the change is expected to take effect, said Dr. John Ward, a CDC epidemiologist. He said his agency had previously projected a total of 50,000 AIDS cases in 1993. Federal health officials have estimated that at least 1 million Americans are infected with HIV. Under the existing definition, more than 230,000 have developed AIDS. About 150,000 have died

Bowing to pressure from patients, doctors and others, federal health officials yesterday proposed a new definition of AIDS that is expected almost to double the number of cases reported next year by including many more women and drug abusers. The definition proposed yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is expected to have an important effect on public policy. With a larger percentage of women and intravenous drug users among the total cases, it could lead to increased spending for care and prevention among those groups. The new definition will include any adult infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who has 200 or fewer CD-4 cells per microliter of blood, or about one-fifth the normal level. No such measurement is part of the current definition

The number of AIDS cases should almost double in 1993, when the change is expected to take effect, said Dr. John Ward, an AIDS epidemiologist at the disease-control centers. He said his agency had previously projected a total of 50,000 AIDS cases in 1993. Although officials said the new change was part of the customary process of public comment, a coalition of AIDS groups was quick to claim credit for forcing federal health officials to recognize that AIDS in women can be different than AIDS in men. Terry McGovern, who directs the HIV Law Project, part of the coalition, said that because AIDS case definitions had been based on the opportunistic infections found primarily in gay men, 'women, injection drug users, and other populations have been systematically excluded, and unable to be officially diagnosed as having AIDS.'

Each participant received seven injections of the experimental vaccine over six months. The vaccine was targeted against B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system that affects at least 20,000 Americans each year and for which current therapies often fail. B-cells are specialized white blood cells called lymphocytes that normally produce disease-fighting antibodies; lymphomas result from the uncontrolled growth of B-cells

In a report in the Oct 22, 1992 New England Journal of Medicine, Stanford University researchers say they have increased the immune defenses of nine lymphoma patients with a therapeutic vaccine made from each patient's own cancer

Each participant received seven injections of the experimental vaccine over six months. The vaccine was targeted against B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system that affects at least 20,000 Americans each year and for which current therapies often fail. The vaccine, which takes three months to make for each patient, is available only at Stanford. It is a form of immunotherapy that can be used only among people who have developed a B-cell lymphoma. The vaccine is not intended to prevent the cancer from developing in the first place, the way polio and measles vaccines are used to protect against those infections. The head of the Stanford team, Dr. Ronald Levy, said in an interview that the number of vaccine recipients had been extended to 17, and that the study had moved into a new phase, giving the vaccine to people with more extensive spread of lymphoma than those in the original study

Each participant got seven injections of the experimental vaccine over six months. The vaccine was targeted against B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system for which current therapies often fail. The vaccine, which takes three months to make for each patient, is available only at Stanford. It is a form of immunotherapy that can be used only among people who have developed a B-cell lymphoma. The vaccine is not intended to prevent the cancer from developing in the first place. The 'results provide hope for a therapeutic vaccine against B-cell lymphoma,' said Dr. Robert Schwartz of Tufts University