Announcements

*** Seventh International Conference: Early Deadlines January 28

The 1991 International Conference on AIDS is in Florence, Italy on June 16-21. The earliest deadlines occur next week, January 28:

* Deadline for hotel reservation and deposit;

* Deadline for lower-cost advance registration fee (Lit. 500,000 general, 150,000 student), or for cancellation of earlier registration at no cost;

* Deadline for receipt of abstracts, and for presenting authors of abstracts to register.

The number of participants will be limited to 8,000, so persons are advised to register early to be sure of admission.

The contact for the Conference is: 7th International Conference on AIDS, General Secretariat, Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sani, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.

Telephone (396) 4457888; (396) 4462331; fax (396) 4453369.


*** FAACTS: Alternative Treatment Information Available

by John S. James

A new volunteer group, assisted by specialists in computerized searching of medical and scientific literature, is providing information from journal articles and abstracts to AIDS libraries, activist organizations, clinics, and others interested in treatment alternatives.

FAACTS (Facts on Alternate AIDS Compounds & Treatments) has currently assembled a total of 750 pages of information, on 16 topics. The treatments currently covered are: astragalus, Carrisyn, DHEA, DNCB, glycyrrhizin, DTC (Imuthiol), IL-2, isoprinosine, levamisole, NAC, passive immunotherapy, peptide T, AL 721 and blue-green algae (both treatments covered in one packet together), THA, and transfer factor. Each of the 15 packets contains 25 to 45 pages of information, including five or more selected journal articles, plus additional abstracts.

For information on how to obtain the individual packets, or the complete set (in two binders) plus updates as available, call FAACTS, 415/548-9654, or write to 5337 College Avenue, Suite 517, Oakland, CA 94618.

Comment

We joined the advisory board of FAACTS because we consider the organization a much needed effort to help provide in-depth treatment information. While the same material is available in medical libraries, most people do not have access to a medical library; even if they did have access and knew how to use the library, there would still be the problem of selecting relevant information. The frustration was well expressed recently by one AIDS treatment activist, who went to a buyers' club for information about DHEA, and found "one page of nothing."

This project began when two information specialists offered to do computer literature searches for a friend with AIDS. They wanted to make the service available to more people, and FAACTS was formed to do so. FAACTS is being coordinated by Peter Moreland, who can be reached through the phone number or address above.


Statement of Purpose

AIDS TREATMENT NEWS reports on experimental and complementary treatments, especially those available now. It collects information from medical journals, and from interviews with scientists, physicians, and other health practitioners, and persons with AIDS or HIV.

Long-term survivors have usually tried many different treatments, and found combinations which work for them. AIDS TREATMENT NEWS does not recommend particular therapies, but seeks to increase the options available.

We also examine the ethical and public-policy issues around AIDS treatment research and treatment access.