- Email: [email protected]
Limitless boundaries
925
infection in AIDS patients. MAC is believed to be a major cause of the wasting syndrome that affects many AIDS patients. Criteria for eligibility for rifabutin under the Treatment IND (investigational new drug) protocol are a diagnosis of AIDS as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control, no history of MAC infection, and a CD4 cell count of200/u.l or less. Rifabutin is the 26th drug to receive Treatment IND status since this programme was introduced in 1987. It was granted this status on the basis of two large controlled clinical studies indicating that it may be effective in preventing or delaying MAC infection in patients with impaired immune systems. There is no evidence from these clinical studies that the drug reduces or delays mortality. The most serious adverse effect of rifabutin seems to be marrow depression. Other common sideeffects include influenza-like symptoms, gastrointestinal disorders, and rash.
probably contracted the virus in his country of origin. Routine HIV-2 screening in New South Wales metropolitan blood transfusion centres will begin shortly. Concern about the spread of HIV infection from the African continent is underlined by figures from the World Health Organisation. Of over 1 million new cases of HIV infection since April, 1991, one-half of these were in sub-Saharan Africa. 90% of newly infected adults (who themselves make up 90% of new cases) have acquired their infection heterosexually. Heterosexual transmission also accounts for a substantial component of UK HIV disease. In the year from March, 1991, to Feb, 1992, 181 (137% of the total) reported cases of AIDS were acquired heterosexually. This figure is a 36% increase on that reported from March, 1990, to Feb, 1991 (135 or 10-1% of the total). I. National centre
in
HIV
epidemiology
and clinical research. Australian HIV
Survecllarece Report 1992; 8 (suppl 1): January.
Food for thought For those readers who have carnivorous inclinations, the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) technical report on veterinary drug residues in food! makes dyspeptic reading. Toxicological and safety data about ten drugs used in animal medications or as aids to animal production are reviewed. They include carazolol (a &bgr;-blocker given to prevent stress-induced sudden death in pigs), anthe1mintics, antimicrobials, and tranquillisers. Drugs given immediately before slaughter may lead to adverse effects among consumers-eg, carazolol in asthmatics. The report recommends both acceptable daily intakes and maximum residue levels for six of the ten drugs under review; insufficient data are available for advice about tranquillisers and tylosin, a macrolide antibiotic. The need for further toxicological studies (eg, on teratogenicity) is also outlined. Attention to improvements in pre-slaughter animal handling should diminish the need for drug treatment. Illicit drug administration to animals was not covered in the report, although this can produce important clinical sequelae .1,3 WHO plans to convene the committee annually and it is to be hoped that non-veterinary drugs given to increase muscle growth and weight gain will be included in their future deliberations. Jomt Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation expert committee on food additives Evaluation of certain veterinary drug residues in food. Geneva: WHO, 1992. 2. Martmez-Navarro JF Food poisoning related to consumption of illicit p-agonist in liver Lancet 1990; 336: 1311. 3 Martinez-Frias ML, Cerreyo A, Rodriguez-PmIlla E, Urioste M. Methimazole in animal feed and congenital aplasia cutis Lancet 1992; 339: 742-43. I
More about tobacco control The worldwide fight against tobacco gained impetus last month with the Australian Government’s announcement of a ban on tobacco advertising and all forms of promotion, including sponsorship of sports. This ban follows that of New Zealand and Canada and is in stark contrast to the British Government’s refusal to consider such an action for 5-6 years. The Australian authorities’ decision is welcome, but it carries several caveats-sponsorship for cricket is excluded from the ban until the end of 1995/96 season, and there are exemptions for internationally televised events held in Australia that would be in jeopardy if immediately covered by the ban. The ban is otherwise all-encompassing; advertisements on billboards, in cinemas, and on non-tobacco merchandise will be prohibited from July 1, 1993. The Australian initiative coincides with the launch of a new journal: Tobacco Control. This venture from the BM] Publishing Group is unusual in that it has an American editor and an Australian deputy editor. The journal will report on tobacco use worldwide, its effects on health, prevention and control, and the activities of the tobacco industry. The editor invites research papers on evaluation of prevention and cessation strategies, tobacco control policies and legislation, epidemiology of tobacco use, and health effects.
Media and mental health The Matthew Trust, a mental health reform group with a particular interest in mentally disordered patients or offenders, has drawn attention to the ways in which the media tend to portray people with mental illness and to deficiencies in the self-regulatory code of practice of newspaper editors in the UK after the Calcutt report that was commissioned as a result of public disquiet about occasional excesses by some parts of the press.! The Trust points not only to the frequent derogatory or prejudicial comments about people with mental illness in newspapers and on television but also to the inadequacy of provisions against intrusions of privacy. The Trust claims that, even for patients or ex-patients in secure hospitals or prisons, confidential information is often imparted to journalists (whether self-declared or working incognito), in defiance of normal standards of professional confidentiality or common decency and, in some cases, in clear breach of the Official Secrets Act. The Trust argues that the code of practice needs strengthening, and that broadcasting services should establish similar or stronger
guidelines. 1. Matthew Trust. The media and the
mentally disordered. 1992. Pp 29. /;26.50 (including postage and packmg). ISBN 1-874362-00-9. (Available from Matthew Trust, PO Box 604, London SW6 3AG, UK).
MEDACT Medical Action for Global Security was launched in the UK last week with a pledge to campaign against not only war but also all non-military threats to our environment, such as poverty, hunger, over-population, environmental degradation, inter-ethnic conflict, and disease. The main function of MEDACT will be to serve as a focus for public education and debate about these issues. The new organisation--created from the merger of the Medical Association for Prevention of War and the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons-also plans to work closely with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Even in a post-cold-war world, many other, perhaps less obvious, areas of potential conflict still exist. For instance, disagreement about rights to shared water systems might be a cause of further international tension, especially in the Middle East and Africa; 155 of the world’s 214 first-order river systems are shared by two or more countries. Further details can be obtained from MEDACT, 601 Holloway Road, London N19 4DJ, UK.
International Diary Fatty Acids— be held in Oslo on Sept 15-19: Conference, PO Box 7609 Skillebekk,
International symposium entitled Metabolism and Biological Effects is
Omega-3
to
Congress Secretariat, c/o Congress (47 2 56 19 30).
N-0205 Oslo 2, Norway
Limitless boundaries
20th international congress of the World Federation of Hemophilia is take place in Athens on Oct 12-17: Eva Veloudakis and Associates, Congress Organizers, 7 Platia Solomou, Psychico 154 52, Athens, Greece (tel 01-64 74 781, fax 01-67 17 575). to
The first
case
of HIV-2 infection in a resident of Australia was a West African man living in Sydney who
recently reported in
infection in AIDS patients. MAC is believed to be a major cause of the wasting syndrome that affects many AIDS patients. Criteria for eligibility for rifabutin under the Treatment IND (investigational new drug) protocol are a diagnosis of AIDS as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control, no history of MAC infection, and a CD4 cell count of200/u.l or less. Rifabutin is the 26th drug to receive Treatment IND status since this programme was introduced in 1987. It was granted this status on the basis of two large controlled clinical studies indicating that it may be effective in preventing or delaying MAC infection in patients with impaired immune systems. There is no evidence from these clinical studies that the drug reduces or delays mortality. The most serious adverse effect of rifabutin seems to be marrow depression. Other common sideeffects include influenza-like symptoms, gastrointestinal disorders, and rash.
probably contracted the virus in his country of origin. Routine HIV-2 screening in New South Wales metropolitan blood transfusion centres will begin shortly. Concern about the spread of HIV infection from the African continent is underlined by figures from the World Health Organisation. Of over 1 million new cases of HIV infection since April, 1991, one-half of these were in sub-Saharan Africa. 90% of newly infected adults (who themselves make up 90% of new cases) have acquired their infection heterosexually. Heterosexual transmission also accounts for a substantial component of UK HIV disease. In the year from March, 1991, to Feb, 1992, 181 (137% of the total) reported cases of AIDS were acquired heterosexually. This figure is a 36% increase on that reported from March, 1990, to Feb, 1991 (135 or 10-1% of the total). I. National centre
in
HIV
epidemiology
and clinical research. Australian HIV
Survecllarece Report 1992; 8 (suppl 1): January.
Food for thought For those readers who have carnivorous inclinations, the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) technical report on veterinary drug residues in food! makes dyspeptic reading. Toxicological and safety data about ten drugs used in animal medications or as aids to animal production are reviewed. They include carazolol (a &bgr;-blocker given to prevent stress-induced sudden death in pigs), anthe1mintics, antimicrobials, and tranquillisers. Drugs given immediately before slaughter may lead to adverse effects among consumers-eg, carazolol in asthmatics. The report recommends both acceptable daily intakes and maximum residue levels for six of the ten drugs under review; insufficient data are available for advice about tranquillisers and tylosin, a macrolide antibiotic. The need for further toxicological studies (eg, on teratogenicity) is also outlined. Attention to improvements in pre-slaughter animal handling should diminish the need for drug treatment. Illicit drug administration to animals was not covered in the report, although this can produce important clinical sequelae .1,3 WHO plans to convene the committee annually and it is to be hoped that non-veterinary drugs given to increase muscle growth and weight gain will be included in their future deliberations. Jomt Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation expert committee on food additives Evaluation of certain veterinary drug residues in food. Geneva: WHO, 1992. 2. Martmez-Navarro JF Food poisoning related to consumption of illicit p-agonist in liver Lancet 1990; 336: 1311. 3 Martinez-Frias ML, Cerreyo A, Rodriguez-PmIlla E, Urioste M. Methimazole in animal feed and congenital aplasia cutis Lancet 1992; 339: 742-43. I
More about tobacco control The worldwide fight against tobacco gained impetus last month with the Australian Government’s announcement of a ban on tobacco advertising and all forms of promotion, including sponsorship of sports. This ban follows that of New Zealand and Canada and is in stark contrast to the British Government’s refusal to consider such an action for 5-6 years. The Australian authorities’ decision is welcome, but it carries several caveats-sponsorship for cricket is excluded from the ban until the end of 1995/96 season, and there are exemptions for internationally televised events held in Australia that would be in jeopardy if immediately covered by the ban. The ban is otherwise all-encompassing; advertisements on billboards, in cinemas, and on non-tobacco merchandise will be prohibited from July 1, 1993. The Australian initiative coincides with the launch of a new journal: Tobacco Control. This venture from the BM] Publishing Group is unusual in that it has an American editor and an Australian deputy editor. The journal will report on tobacco use worldwide, its effects on health, prevention and control, and the activities of the tobacco industry. The editor invites research papers on evaluation of prevention and cessation strategies, tobacco control policies and legislation, epidemiology of tobacco use, and health effects.
Media and mental health The Matthew Trust, a mental health reform group with a particular interest in mentally disordered patients or offenders, has drawn attention to the ways in which the media tend to portray people with mental illness and to deficiencies in the self-regulatory code of practice of newspaper editors in the UK after the Calcutt report that was commissioned as a result of public disquiet about occasional excesses by some parts of the press.! The Trust points not only to the frequent derogatory or prejudicial comments about people with mental illness in newspapers and on television but also to the inadequacy of provisions against intrusions of privacy. The Trust claims that, even for patients or ex-patients in secure hospitals or prisons, confidential information is often imparted to journalists (whether self-declared or working incognito), in defiance of normal standards of professional confidentiality or common decency and, in some cases, in clear breach of the Official Secrets Act. The Trust argues that the code of practice needs strengthening, and that broadcasting services should establish similar or stronger
guidelines. 1. Matthew Trust. The media and the
mentally disordered. 1992. Pp 29. /;26.50 (including postage and packmg). ISBN 1-874362-00-9. (Available from Matthew Trust, PO Box 604, London SW6 3AG, UK).
MEDACT Medical Action for Global Security was launched in the UK last week with a pledge to campaign against not only war but also all non-military threats to our environment, such as poverty, hunger, over-population, environmental degradation, inter-ethnic conflict, and disease. The main function of MEDACT will be to serve as a focus for public education and debate about these issues. The new organisation--created from the merger of the Medical Association for Prevention of War and the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons-also plans to work closely with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Even in a post-cold-war world, many other, perhaps less obvious, areas of potential conflict still exist. For instance, disagreement about rights to shared water systems might be a cause of further international tension, especially in the Middle East and Africa; 155 of the world’s 214 first-order river systems are shared by two or more countries. Further details can be obtained from MEDACT, 601 Holloway Road, London N19 4DJ, UK.
International Diary Fatty Acids— be held in Oslo on Sept 15-19: Conference, PO Box 7609 Skillebekk,
International symposium entitled Metabolism and Biological Effects is
Omega-3
to
Congress Secretariat, c/o Congress (47 2 56 19 30).
N-0205 Oslo 2, Norway
Limitless boundaries
20th international congress of the World Federation of Hemophilia is take place in Athens on Oct 12-17: Eva Veloudakis and Associates, Congress Organizers, 7 Platia Solomou, Psychico 154 52, Athens, Greece (tel 01-64 74 781, fax 01-67 17 575). to
The first
case
of HIV-2 infection in a resident of Australia was a West African man living in Sydney who
recently reported in