Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Thu, Jul 23 1992 Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 04:33:09 EDT Message-ID: 07-23 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update July 23, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NEW AIDS VIRUS PINPOINTED: California researchers have found a virus that might account for cases of AIDS-like illness in patients with no sign of HIV infection. Sudhir Gupta, immunologist at the University of California, Irvine, said at a press conference Wednesday that he discovered the virus in nine patients who suffer from AIDS symptoms but have no HIV, the AIDS virus. (For more, see special Virus package below.) AIDS RESEARCHERS PINPOINT CELL: AIDS researchers are starting to understand why some people get AIDS quickly and others with HIV stay healthy for 10 years or more. Researchers at the International Conference on AIDS say people who get AIDS quickly carry strains of HIV that reproduce rapidly and kill immune cells aggressively. People who manage to control the virus have a certain immune system cell that's highly active. HALCION UNDER FIRE: A national consumer group and Halcion researchers have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the popular sleeping pill. Doctor Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen Health Research Group says new evidence shows Halcion's risks outweigh its benefits and should be "removed immediately." Reports have linked Halcion to amnesia, anxiety and paranoia. READING THE FINE PRINT: People really do read the fine print on food labels. A poll by the Grocery Manufacturers of America showed 71% read the nutrition label. Nearly two-thirds said nutrition is the most important consideration in choosing a food product, beating out price and taste. Most participants said they would choose Jane Fonda's grocery list if they could have their pick of any star's groceries. HEADLINES HELP: A new study shows doctors are influenced by big, splashy medical studies that make headlines. Researchers examined the way physicians changed their treatment of heart disease in response to three major studies published in the 1980s. They found doctors dramatically increased use of aspirin but cut back on many of prescription medicines shortly after the papers came to light. PASSIVE SMOKE UNDER FIRE: A federal panel has concluded passive smoke is a toxic health hazard. The panel's report on passive smoke's link to increased risk of lung cancer should reach Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Reilly's desk by year's end. If Reilly approves the report, it will become EPA policy. The agency could spur state or federal agencies to ban smoking from public areas. FREE NUTRITION ADVICE OFFERED: The Quaker Oats Company is offering a free series of brochures on nutrition called Healthy Dialogue. Brochures include information about stretching your food dollars and adding more whole grains to your meals. Write to Healthy Dialogue, Department HDA, 1147 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60607. ALTERNATIVE TO INSULIN FOUND: Medical researchers have successfully transplanted pancreas cells into five patients, eliminating their need for insulin, in a study that someday may lead to a procedure that prevents diabetes. The procedure, described in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, involved extracting insulin-producing cells, known as islets, from the pancreas and injecting them into a vein. ELDERLY SPENDING MAY INCREASE: Health care costs helped drive the share of federal spending for the elderly from 16% to 28% since 1965. Congress projects spending -mostly Medicare and Social Security - will reach 34% by 1995. In contrast, programs for children consumed just 5% of federal spending in 1990. The Census Bureau predicts that by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older. Today: One in eight. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON VIRUS: FAMILY STRICKEN WITH VIRUS: Sudhir Gupta found the virus, human intracisternal retrovirus (HICRV), in a 66-year-old California woman who has no known risk factors for AIDS and no HIV. But she suffers from AIDS-related pneumonia and low immune cell count. The mystery virus has also been found in the woman's 38-year-old daughter, but not in her husband. The daughter has no signs of illness, Gupta says. CASES WILL BE INVESTIGATED: Two dozen cases in which patients have AIDS symptoms but no HIV were reported this week at the International Conference on AIDS in Amsterdam. "What this means is we have to look at all the cases of HIV-negative AIDS for exposure to this virus," says Sudhir Gupta. It is "possible" the virus is responsible for all of them, he says. CASES SEEN AS URGENT: Other researchers provided Gupta with blood samples from eight other patients with AIDS-like conditions. Some of those patients have died. Gupta's report was planned for publication August 15 by the National Academy of Sciences, but was released Wednesday in response to a request from Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (End of package.) Health Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM