The San Francisco Examiner - Wednesday, July 30, 1997
Lisa M. Krieger of the Examiner Staff

The outpatient ward is in dire need of repair. The painted walls and carpeting are decades old. Windows are cracked and heaters leak steam. There isn't enough storage. There is inadequate privacy. Signs are not multilingual. The lighting is poor.

The renovation will be more than merely cosmetic - patient care and convenience should get better.

"It will improve our functionality, by making the space more workable," said office manager Nadine Lurie, who is overseeing the renovation.

"Our "to do' list was six pages long. The Giants effort is making this effort addressable. Otherwise, it would just remain a list of what is wrong," Lurie said.

"There are so many demands on the hospital," she said. "The wear and tear has really taken its toll."

The Giants, the first professional sports team to stage a benefit game to support the fight against AIDS, have generated more than $350,000 and attracted more than 110,000 spectators at their first three annual benefit games.

This year's game is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 31. The Giants will play the Anaheim Angels.

Hemophilia update

The date for resolution of the decade-long lawsuit between 6,000 hemophiliacs and the makers of tainted blood-clotting products has been pushed back again, to Sept. 15.

After a delay of months, hemophiliacs had been promised earlier this year that $100,000 settlement checks would be mailed July 8. Later, they were told the checks would be mailed on an unspecified date "later in the summer."

The delays were triggered by two late appeals of the case. Then the settlement was thrown into question by a July U.S. Supreme Court decision questioning class-action procedures in an unrelated case.

Now that the issues are resolved, the judge and attorneys plan to authorize the transfer of funds. Then, patients must sign releases, specifying whether they want the money in a lump sum or installments.

For further updates, call 1-800-42-HANDI Mondays through Fridays, or call the attorneys at 1-800-836-9376 or 1-800-568-5868.

Duesberg "breakthrough'?

Peter Duesberg is once again challenging the medical establishment's consensus that HIV causes AIDS. He will speak on Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. at the Metropolitan Community Church, 150 Eureka St., San Francisco.

Duesberg's theory - that drugs, not a virus, are the cause of AIDS - has been discounted by all major AIDS researchers. But his campaign persists.

Advertisements for the free seminar tout "breakthrough discoveries" and "a stunning new hypothesis" on HIV / AIDS, based on what his team of researchers claims is new and revealing data from the Red Cross, National Institutes on Drug Abuse, and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's new because the majority of people have never heard of it before," said David Rasnick of Duesberg's lab at UC-Berkeley. "The drug-AIDS connection is a secret that has been hidden from people. AIDS is not spread by an infectious organism."

Martin Delaney of the treatment advocacy group Project Inform said he finds the "whole ad deliberately misleading."

"One would think this was another serious presentation about the new AIDS drugs, viral load testing, or treatment strategies," he said. "It is nothing of the kind."

Also controversial is Duesberg's use of the seal of the University of California in his advertisements for the seminar. The university says its policy on use of the seal for unsanctioned, non-university events is "vague." Duesberg's group says it received written permission from the university authorizing use of the seal and endorsing the seminar.

Duesberg, professor of molecular and cell biology at UC-Berkeley, will distribute free articles and a new booklet at the event, plus a $20 video called "HIV=AIDS: Fact or Fiction?"

Local news

*An estimated 25,000 people participated in this year's AIDS Walk, raising about $3.5 million. Corporate interest played a big part in the participation, according to organizers. This year about half of the walkers signed up as members of some 700 corporate or community teams. Proceeds from the event are divided among three dozen AIDS agencies in the Bay Area.

Did Cunanan carry HIV?

Those familiar with Florida's confidentiality law regarding HIV testing say it would be unlawful for the medical examiner's office to disclose the results of an AIDS test it likely conducted during Andrew Cunanan's autopsy.

Cunanan's autopsy report will be made public after the investigations into Gianni Versace's murder and Cunanan's death are concluded. However, the medical examiner said any AIDS tests on Cunanan "would be sealed and segregated."

"HIV testing information is strictly confidential," said Sherry Riley of the state Department of Health's Bureau of HIV / AIDS. "I don't think confidentiality dies with the individual."

Only those with a compelling reason are entitled to know whether Cunanan had the AIDS virus. And only a judge can decide who meets the test.

The toll

Eric Ashworth, 39, a UC-Berkeley grad and literary agent who co-founded New York City's Donadio & Ashworth literary agency, specializing in guiding young authors first into print and then into careers, in Manhattan . . . Michael J. Gonzales, 39, a director and choreographer in Chicago who founded the American Danz Theatre, a not-for-profit group of local dancers who performed at colleges and universities, local park districts, middle schools and grade schools, in East Chicago . . . Robert M. Hays, 38, a passionate plant propagator of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Hays was in charge of the Brooklyn garden's Signature Seed program, in which members receive unusual seeds and plants every spring and fall. Date

. . . . . .Date . . . . . .reported. . Cases. . . . Deaths

S.F.. . . .7/1 . . . . 24,371 . . . 16,803

Calif.. . .7/1 . . . .100,912 . . . 64,832

U.S.. . . .7/1 . . . .548,102 . . . 343,000

HO(rprtd) 7/1 . . .8,400,000 . . 6,400,000

Figures are cumulative since June 1981. Government officials now compile and release statistics quarterly, not monthly.

To contribute to AIDSweek, call (415) 777-7867.

AIDSweek columns are available on the Internet at www.examiner.com / aidsweek / aidsweek.html
970723
SE970705

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1997. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .