Deficiency Syndrome

Dana Hill said, "I've never been happier." Sitting nearby, Lynda Smith said, "Things are a lot better than the shelter."Hill and Smith, who both have AIDS, are residents of one of four Baltimore homes designed by the AIDS Interfaith Residential Services (AIRS) for single adults and families.The houses were dedicated yesterday; three of the four opened this year.Hill and Smith's pal, Jeanette Godlewski, said she feels good about her staff job with AIRS but is mindful of its human complexities.

BARCELONA, Spain - Former President Bill Clinton said at the 14th International AIDS Conference here last night that he regretted not having done more about AIDS while he was president and that he erred in not supporting funding for needle exchange programs to prevent the virus' spread among drug users. In an interview with reporters after a conference session, Clinton also urged leaders in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia - regions that have been hit hard by acquired immune deficiency syndrome - to speak out forcefully and develop plans to stop the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

With the help of clowns and jugglers, the United Way of Central Maryland kicked off this year's campaign, which has a goal of $33.2 million.About 1,000 people attended a kick-off breakfast yesterday at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel.More than 300 agencies are funded by the United Way in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties. They assist about 800,000 people a year.This year's campaign, which has been extended from three months to five months, will target 1,800 area companies with 50 or more employees, said Mel Tansill, the United Way director of media and community relations.

PRETORIA, South Africa - No one said Nelson Mandela would be an easy act to follow. Not many politicians would be eager to be measured against the prisoner-turned-president who is revered as nearly holy by his nation and most of the world. But few South Africans could have predicted the trouble that Mandela's heir has had the past few months. After an ambitious start in office a little more than a year ago, President Thabo Mbeki, 58 - the gifted former deputy president and Mandela's designated successor - has become the object of ridicule, a remote president out of touch with his people, a liability, critics say, not a leader.

A Westminster teen was being held without bail yesterday in the Carroll County Detention Center, charged as an adult with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing Thursday night.Christopher Charles Feenstra, 16, of Pennsylvania Avenue, also faces charges of assault with intent to kill, carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure, assault and battery and reckless endangerment.John M. Curran, 33, was reported in critical condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

WASHINGTON -- The global AIDS epidemic is worsening faster than experts earlier believed, according to new figures released yesterday by the World Health Organization.WHO predicted in 1988 that there would be a cumulative total of 15 million to 20 million adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, by the year 2000. But in the last four years, substantial increases in infections in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia have suggested that the 15 million to 20 million total may be reached by the mid- or late 1990s, the agency said in a report.

NEW YORK -- Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. will announce today a new anti-inflammatory drug that the company says could have broad applications for common problems such as rheumatoid arthritis and contact dermatitis.The drug, part of a family known as leumedins, is in the midst of medical trials and won't be on the market for several years at best.But the Baltimore-based company says there has been a significant enough breakthrough to justify the one of the highest-profile news briefings since Nova's founding in 1982.

America's oft-maligned teen-agers are, in fact, tuned in to the nation's problems, eager to help solve them and ready to make sacrifices to assist their parents in surviving hard economic times.These are some of the findings of a new study on the family released today by the American Board of Family Practice, representing the nation's second-largest medical specialty. The study was commissioned, board officials said, to determine the impact of social and psychological factors on the health of America's families.

Joe Smith wanted to finish the 3 1/2 -mile AIDSWALK '91.Since testing positive for the human immunodeficiency virus in 1985, his health has been getting worse; yesterday he finished the course in a wheelchair with friends pushing him through the Guilford, Canterbury-Tuscany and Charles Village neighborhoods."

Contractual health-care workers who treat prison inmates may be required to undergo testing for the AIDS virus if the procedures they perform create a "significant risk" for transmitting the virus.The testing may be required if the health-care providers "regularlyengage in medical procedures that could expose patients to their blood and if the medical evidence shows that patients are subject to a 'significant risk,' " Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. wrote in an opinion to Gov. William Donald Schaefer that was made public today.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Used kitty litter, fake blood, real spit -- the projectiles favored by ACT UP San Francisco are purposefully gross for maximum shock value. Even more incendiary than the group's medium, though, is the message it seeks to convey with such brazen tactics: HIV does not cause AIDS and, in fact, AIDS doesn't exist. In a city that is gay America's unofficial capital, this is like shouting in a synagogue that the Holocaust never happened. And with much the same expected result -- ACT UP SF is a pariah in the world of AIDS activism.

In Baltimore CountySeverna Park man killed when two cars collide on the BeltwayARBUTUS -- One man was killed and another injured late Sunday when two cars -- one of them going the wrong way -- collided on Interstate 695, according to Maryland State Police.John Francis Quigg, 73, of the 200 block of Sycamore Road in Severna Park was driving south in the northbound lanes of the Beltway when his car collided head-on with one driven by John Vasilis Fellas, 27, of the 1100 block of Linden Ave. in Baltimore, said Sgt. Robert Lipsky.

Mae Hepple Scott, who retained her independence despite cerebral palsy and the need for a wheelchair amid a life of seemingly endless struggles, died in her sleep May 16 in her Bolton Hill apartment. She was 33."There's something inside me that won't let me quit, that keeps driving me to continue," Mrs. Scott said early last year, when she was profiled in a Sun article. "I just want to let people know that no matter how bad your life seems to be, there's a reason to go on."Life is worth living.

Dana Hill said, "I've never been happier." Sitting nearby, Lynda Smith said, "Things are a lot better than the shelter."Hill and Smith, who both have AIDS, are residents of one of four Baltimore homes designed by the AIDS Interfaith Residential Services (AIRS) for single adults and families.The houses were dedicated yesterday; three of the four opened this year.Hill and Smith's pal, Jeanette Godlewski, said she feels good about her staff job with AIRS but is mindful of its human complexities.

A Westminster teen was being held without bail yesterday in the Carroll County Detention Center, charged as an adult with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing Thursday night.Christopher Charles Feenstra, 16, of Pennsylvania Avenue, also faces charges of assault with intent to kill, carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure, assault and battery and reckless endangerment.John M. Curran, 33, was reported in critical condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday named Dr. Liza Solomon, a public health researcher and longtime advocate for AIDS patients, to run the office responsible for containing the epidemic and serving the afflicted.The appointment marks the first time that the director of the state AIDS Administration has come squarely from the activist community.Over the years, Dr. Solomon has fought former Gov. William Donald Schaefer's efforts to register the names of people who test positive for the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome -- saying it would violate privacy rights and scare people from getting care.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday named Dr. Liza Solomon, a public health researcher and longtime advocate for AIDS patients, to run the office responsible for containing the epidemic and serving the afflicted.The appointment marks the first time that the director of the state AIDS Administration has come squarely from the activist community.Over the years, Dr. Solomon has fought former Gov. William Donald Schaefer's efforts to register the names of people who test positive for the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome -- saying it would violate privacy rights and scare people from getting care.

WASHINGTON -- The global AIDS epidemic is worsening faster than experts earlier believed, according to new figures released yesterday by the World Health Organization.WHO predicted in 1988 that there would be a cumulative total of 15 million to 20 million adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, by the year 2000. But in the last four years, substantial increases in infections in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia have suggested that the 15 million to 20 million total may be reached by the mid- or late 1990s, the agency said in a report.

America's oft-maligned teen-agers are, in fact, tuned in to the nation's problems, eager to help solve them and ready to make sacrifices to assist their parents in surviving hard economic times.These are some of the findings of a new study on the family released today by the American Board of Family Practice, representing the nation's second-largest medical specialty. The study was commissioned, board officials said, to determine the impact of social and psychological factors on the health of America's families.