3. NOTICES

CHINA PROPOSES NEW AIDS PROGRAM IN RESPONSE TO WORSENING EPIDEMIC
Although official Chinese statistics state that there have been 23,905 reported HIV/AIDS cases as of the end of March 2001, Health Ministry experts say the number could be over 600,000, and the United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS, estimates that there are currently over one million people infected in the country. Further, reported HIV infections increased 67.4 percent in the first six months of 2001 compared to the same time period last year. China developed a plan in 1998 to keep HIV cases below 1.5 million by 2010, but health officials acknowledge that it was not effectively put into practice.

In response to the worsening epidemic, the government has proposed spending 12 million dollars a year on AIDS prevention, as well as over $117 million this year to improve blood safety to help curb the rapid spread of the virus. As part of this program, health officials hope to publicize information in the media throughout the country about prevention measures. Health officials estimate that this information will reach about 80 percent of individuals in high–risk groups, such as injection drug users, and 75 percent of urban residents. In surveys, only 30 to 40 percent of injection drug users were aware of how to protect themselves from infection, and only about nine percent of commercial sex workers regularly used condoms. Other prevention measures include increased training for health care workers, better care for people with AIDS, and more public education. In addition, China will require HIV screening of donated blood and mandate that at least 85 percent of blood for clinical use be provided by non–profit blood centers. In some rural
villages, particularly in the Henan Province, HIV has spread primarily through unsanitary procedures at blood stations where poor farmers have sold their blood. At these stations, the donated blood was pooled, the plasma was extracted, and the remainder of the pooled blood was returned to the farmers. Surveys of some of these villages found infection rates among blood sellers as high as 43 percent.
[NEW YORK TIMES 8/24/01; ASSOCIATED PRESS 8/3/01, 8/23/01]

BRAZIL TO BREAK PATENT ON AIDS DRUG
Brazil’s health minister, Jose Serra, announced that Brazil would break the patent on the AIDS drug nelfinavir, marketed as Viracept by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche. Viracept is one of twelve drugs used in the “drug cocktail” to fight the AIDS virus. The Health Ministry stated that the government spends 28 percent of its funding for AIDS treatment, which amounted to $303 million in 2000, on Viracept each year. Brazil had been engaged in negotiations on price cuts with Roche for several months, but ultimately rejected the company’s proposed price reduction of 13 percent as too low. In stating its claim, the Brazilian government invoked an article in the Constitution allowing the country to break patents in situations of abusive prices. The health minister stated that he had begun the process of issuing a compulsory license to produce nelfinavir, which could be available to patients in February 2002. According to the government, the domestic production of nelfinavir would save $35 million a year. If Brazil follows through with the license, it will be the first time that the government of a poor country has allowed a generic drug to be produced domestically without the consent of the pharmaceutical company that owns the patent.
[NEW YORK TIMES 8/23/01]

GAVI AND THE VACCINE FUND LAUNCH ASIAN VACCINE DRIVE IN CAMBODIA
In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), the Vaccine Fund began a new effort to vaccinate children throughout Southeast Asia. The five–year, multi–country initiative was launched on August 19 in Cambodia with the administration of a single injection, combined hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine (DTP–hebB) to children and infants. According to UNICEF and the WHO, 8.6 percent of Cambodian children die before their first birthday, and only 64 percent have been immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. In addition to Cambodia, the Vaccine Fund has plans to commit more than $3.5 million for vaccinations in Laos and Vietnam.

The Vaccine Fund was established in 1999 with a $750 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Vaccine Fund has devoted more than $600 million for government vaccine programs in 36 developing countries.
[REUTERS 8/23/01; GAVI PRESS RELEASE 8/17/01, http://www.vaccinealliance.org/press/press_cambodia.html]

DRUG TESTING TO BEGIN FOR vCJD
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have been given federal approval to begin testing the effects of two FDA approved drugs on patients presumably infected with variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, vCJD. The study, anticipated to begin by the end of the year, will involve three dozen severely ill patients who have been given less than a year to live. Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on prions, is leading the research. Patients will receive the malaria drug quinacrine and the schizophrenia drug chlorpromazine, both of which prevented the conversion of normal prions into the abnormal, disease–causing form in mouse cells.

Two women have already received the drugs, and one was described by her family as having shown marked improvement. The 20–year–old British woman, who is believed to be infected with vCJD, is reported to have resumed walking and talking, which she had been unable to do as a result of the progression of the disease. The other woman, an American who is thought to be infected with CJD, showed no signs of improvement. Researchers have urged caution in interpreting the effects of the drugs because the two women are not part of the study, and because a definitive diagnosis of their illnesses cannot be made.
[ASSOCIATED PRESS 8/14/01; BBC NEWS ONLINE 8/14/01]

NEW GLOBAL HEALTH WEBSITE
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new web site that focuses on the relationship between domestic and international health issues. The site provides information on the department’s work on global health issues and also includes global health statistics, reports and publications, and links to the department’s global health partners. The site is accessible at http://www.globalhealth.gov.

NEW PATHOGENS ISOLATED FROM HOUSE FLIES
In a study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida, common houseflies were shown to carry nine pathogens, three of which had not previously been detected in flies. The newly observed pathogens included Acinetobacter baumanni, which has been linked to meningitis, Bacillus pumilus, which can cause food poisoning, and Enterobacter sakazakii, which can cause urinary tract, pulmonary, and blood stream infections. According to the researchers, the results are likely typical of flies throughout the country, as they feed on sugar and organic matter, and can migrate up to ten miles a day. In the study, researchers collected houseflies from the back entrances of four restaurants near the University of Florida. The flies were then transferred to agar plates, and cultured organisms were subsequently analyzed. While the researchers confirmed that the flies spread bacteria to surfaces, it is not clear whether these newly observed bacteria can be transmitted to humans from contact with flies or from surfaces contaminated by flies. The study was funded by Orkin Pest Control, and the results will be presented in December at a meeting of the Entomological Society of America.
[PROMED 8/28/01;
http://www.pctonline.com/articles/article.asp?MagID=1&ID=1510&IssueID=144]