Hiv

It's a simple lollipop-like device that tests for the AIDS virus. Just stick it between your gum and your cheek and wait two minutes. No more blood, no more syringes, no more pain. Yesterday, city AIDS services agencies pushed a new oral HIV test, called OraSure, that they say is simpler, cleaner and more effective. They introduced the test to the minority community during a meeting at Congreso de Latinos Unidos in North Philadelphia. "It's so easy," said Floyd Whited, manager of client services for Congreso's AIDS services unit.

In a dramatic expansion of federal disabilities law, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that hundreds of thousands of people with HIV are protected from discrimination at the doctor's office, on the job, and in public places. The court concluded in a 5-4 decision that the Americans With Disabilities Act covers individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus even if they display no symptoms of AIDS. Such people are considered disabled under the ADA because they have a physical impairment that substantially limits a "major life activity" - reproduction, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy concluded.

President Clinton has once again caved in to the rabid right-wing Republicans in Washington, raising the serious medical question: Does he really have a backbone? On Feb. 10, the president signed into law a measure that would require all HIV-positive military personnel who are not nearing retirement to leave their jobs in six months. This applies to at least 1,000 HIV-positive men and women. The president knows this is wrong. He even says so himself. Apologists say the president objected to the measure, but had no choice but to sign it because of political compromise.

Philadelphia has become a graveyard of closed pharmacies. By the end of June, the count was 109 small drugstores closed in the city over the last two years. And more are on the ropes as the last of the big Medicaid HMOs stands poised to cut back reimbursements to druggists. That trade has gone largely to Rite Aid, the only big drugstore chain willing to accept the reduced reimbursements. It's a desolate landscape in which to open a new pharmacy. Surprisingly, someone has. Statscript, at 11th and Locust streets, caters to a large clientele of AIDS and HIV-infected patients.

Ralph Moses can't help but smile with pride as he drives past the well-kept house with its inviting porch and colorful spread of flowers. The men who enter the house - homeless men who are diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS - "are given the opportunity to become a success if they choose it," said Moses, who has AIDS and who fought for seven years to get the house built to give these men "a new lease on life. " Moses, 54, who said he had been sober and drug-free for 11 years and nine months, said he knew the value of a second chance.

When a company conducting clinical research on the AIDS virus said it wanted to be part of a new "medical mecca" on Route 130, eyes widened and doors closed. Last month, Township Council members heard from Willingboro administrators that a start-up company was interested in renting the science laboratory areas in the John F. Kennedy Center, a former high school. At the time, no one raised much concern about the lease, which would bring in money and help the township build a reputation for supporting research.

A deeply tanned Rollie Massimino surveyed the 1st tee at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, set his ball on it and swung his driver to sail the ball a bit to the right of the left-sloping fairway. Satisfied, he stepped back to allow the next player in the foursome to tee off. The former Villanova University basketball coach, now of Las Vegas, was one of the celebrities invited to play Monday in Albert Einstein Medical Center's sixth annual Small Miracles Golf Tournament. Tournament proceeds are earmarked to help construct an HIV outpatient clinic at the hospital in Philadelphia.

NEWS THAT AN actor tested positive for HIV has interrupted the coitus in Southern California's multibillion-dollar adult-entertainment industry, a leading producer said yesterday. The actor's identity and gender haven't been disclosed by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, the clinic where the case was discovered. Vivid Entertainment Group founder Steven Hirsch said at least five companies, including Vivid and Wicked Pictures, have shut down production as the industry awaits details - and more testing.

FORMER WBO heavyweight champion Tommy "The Duke" Morrison wants to resume his boxing career at 42, which on the face of it isn't as ridiculous as it might seem. George Foreman ended a 10-year retirement in 1987 and on Nov. 5, 1994, at the improbable age of 45, won a version of the heavyweight title for the second time by starching Michael Moorer in the 10th round. Ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins remains an elite fighter at 46. Heck, even 48-year-old Evander Holyfield is still active and making noises about how he can win the heavyweight championship for a record fifth time.

AIDS has produced a sense among some gay men that life is cheap, and I guess when life is cheap, a certain casualness toward life isn't such a big deal, either. Consider the following exchange from a recent advice column published by Gay Men's Health Crisis. "I have a friend who is HIV positive," begins a letter to the column. "He doesn't look sick at all, and he's a promiscuous type who likes younger men. The problem is, I know of at least two occasions where he has had unprotected sex without revealing his HIV status.