3
The Columns
November 1985
AIDS: The Real Story
By PAUL MARTINI
When AIDS (ACQUIRED
IMMUNODEFICIENCY
SYNDROME) first appeared in
homosexual men in 1981, there
was very little medical worry or
public hysteria. But a disease
that has mounted to an
alarming 14,000 cases in the
U.S. alone in four short years is
cause for panic. And this new
panic has led the headlines of
many European publications
to proclaim the disease’s
spreadings with the warnings
of a new plague.
The shocking thing about
AIDS is that the disease is as
little understood by the public
as it is baffling to researchers.
According to doctors at the
World Health Organization in
Geneva, Switzerland,, the
disease is not worth the
comparison to the plagues of
the middle ages, but it was
acknowledged that a cure was
several years away. The group
was optimistic in hopefully
slowing down the spread of
AIDS through government and
private information programs,
especially aimed at male
homosexuals.
Male homosexuals represent
73% of those identified as
having the disease and
homosexual intercourse is by
far the leading means of
transmission, but heterosexual
intercourse has just recently
been found to transfer the virus.
This contributes to the fear and
panic. Health experts say that
the speed at which the virus
travels among sexually actisic
heterosexuals will determine
how fast the disease will spread,
and whether or not it will
explode into a giant worldwide
epidemic.
According to many medical
experts, only a fraction of the
potential cases of AIDS has
surfaced. Another scary thing
about AIDS is that the time
between getting the infection
and getting the actual disease
itself ranges from 6 months
minimum to as long as 5 years.
Therefore, the disease can
spread very widely before many
of the infected people know
they are victims. So many of the
countries with low AIDS
disease rates are expecting a
large amount of future cases.
Some medical experts in
Canada, which has about 400
known cases, fear the number
of virus carriers will swell to
about 25,000 to 100,000 by the
end of the decade.
AIDS appears to have
originated in Central Africa,
and it is thought to have spread
through Europe, Asis, and
finally to the U.S. Many health
experts have concluded that
AIDS found its way to the U.S.
by either blood transfusions,
traveling homosexuals, or U.S.
military personel visiting gay
bars and bathhouses in
Germany. For unknown
reasons, the U.S. has
experienced thousands of cases
while in the rest of the world
AIDS seems quite rare. The
U.S. has ranked number 1, with
over 14,000 cases, while Brazil
ranks a very distant second with
483 cases. But many world
health experts fear that
countries with low numbers of
AIDS cases will find the disease
rapidly increasing soon.
7,157 deaths have been
attributed to AIDS in the U.S.
alone, but because several
African countries, as well as
Communist Bloc countries,
have not released statistics
concerning the disease, it is not
known exactly how many
people have died worldwide.
AIDS is a diesease that
rapidly destroys cells of the
immune system with the
greatest reproduction rate of
■any known virus. Accordifig to
recent> findings, AIDS is more
than on virus. The 1st
documented case of AIDS
attacked and destroyed the
immune system, leaving the
victim prey to all sorts of
infections and sickness. Many
doctors and researchers now say
that the disease can attack the
central nervous system,
affecting one’s sight, speech,
memory, and ability to walk.
Recent information shows that
in some cases, the AIDS virus
has directly attacked the spinal
cord and brain. AIDS victims
are also very suceptible to rare
cancers and various infections
that are ultimately fatal.
Another frightening thing
about AIDS is that it produces
many genetic variations that
hinder the development of an
effective vaccine. Because of
this, many health experts
believe it will be several years
before a cure is found.
Young Boy Pays The Price
By DALLAS BRITT
Recently NEWSWEEK
released an article about Ryan^
White. Ryan White, 13, is an
honor student at Western
Middle School near Kokoma
Indiana. What’s so important
about that? Ryan does not go to
the school a single day of the
week. Ryans classroom is
located at a desk in his bedroom
and his teacher along with
classmates are nothing but low
voices on a desk telephone.
Young Ryan has AIDS.
Ryan acquired AIDS
through a blood transfusion.
Even though the Indiana State
Health Officials say that a
student with AIDS can go to
school like other students as
long as their condition does not
threaten others.. District
Superintendent of Schools,
J.O. Smith restricted Ryan
from school which he was tc
attend with his friends.
Superintendent Smith called
AIDS, “the most scary, of all
communicable diseases.”
Because of Ryans restriction his
parents have taken the school
officials to Court to sue on
grounds of discrimination.
There are more and more
cases turning up of school
children with AIDS. Through
all of the confusion very few
people listen to the fact that as
of September 9, 1985 only 183
people under the age of 18 have
been diagnosed as having
AIDS. This amount was found
in 23 states in the country.
In states such as Florida,
Indiana, and Connecticut the
courts have issued guidelines
allowing children with AIDS to
continue going to school, but
very few are actually seeing a
classroom. The same policy
has yet to be enforced in the city
of Los Angeles.
The fear by some parents that
their children might contract
AIDS from a classmate is
understandable, but the Center
AIDS: The Myths
for Disease Control in Atlanta
has ruled that casual person-to-
person contact, as would
happen within the confines of
the school among the students,
appears to pose no risk and that
most of the children should be
allowed to attend their school.
Says Stanford Law School
Professor Robert Mookin, “I’m
concerned that school boards
are acting out of fear and
prejudice rather than rational
concerns for the welfare of
children.”
By MARION PEACE
Once thought to be confined
to homosexuals, intravenous
drug users, hemophiliacs and
Haitians in the United States,
AIDS is now recognized as a
worldwide problem with cases
diagnosed on almost every
continent,” says Dr. James
Curran, head of the AIDS task
force at the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) in Atlanta,
Georgia. The belief that AIDS
is a disease of homosexuals'
only and other myths that have
arisen out of fear and ignorance
have prompted experts to
discuss at length the method of
transmission to dispel such
myths. The response to some
of the more common
misconceptions is as follows:
1. Is AIDS a disease of gays?
The answer is no. While 73%
of AIDS victims are homo
sexuals, the disease does strike
heterosexuals. In Kinshasa,
Zaire four cases of AIDS are
diagnosed every day, most of
which involve heterosexuals..
Doctors cite such things as poor
sanitation, use of unsterilized
needles, and blatant promis
cuity for this disproportionate
ratio. Closer to home at the
U.S. Army’s Walter Reed
Hospital, four out of ten AIDS
patients appear to have
contracted it from heterosexual
activity. Dr. Robert Redford of
Walter Reed says “as time goes
by, it will be more evident that
this is a sexually transmitted
disease that is not limited to one
sexual practice.” White House
Staffer Patrick J. Buchanan
who said in 1983, “The poor
homosexuals, they have
declared a war on nature, and
now nature is exacting an
awful retribution,” and others
who saw AIDS as divine
retribution can no longer
consider it a plague exclusively
of gays. Some experts believe
that a many as 270,000
heterosexuals in the U.S. today
may be AIDS carriers. The
belief that homosexuals with
only one or fewer partners do
not get AIDS is also false. It is
possible to get AIDS from only
one partner, and each exposure
increases the risk.
2. Can AIDS be contracted
from casual contact?
AIDS is a virus spread
through sexual contact or
contact with infected blood
cont. on pg. 9
DOUBLES BACH YKAII
- I ftaifnber of new cases—and many experts think the figures are conser-
li'fttn' as-the vatfve; As AIDS spreads, it touches new groups—including children.
Cumulative total of all reported
AIDS cases and deaths from the
disease in the U.S.
In thousands
Known deaths
Adult Cases
6.5% other
1.5% Blood-transfusion
patients
1 % Heterosexual
relations with
AIDS victims or
carriers
1% Hemophiliacs
17% Intravenous
drug users
73%
J D J D
1979 1980
JDJ DJ DJ DJ July 29
1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
11,919 Total cases
Pediatric Cases
5% Hemophiliacs
11% other
14% Children getting
blood transfusions
70% Children of a parent
with AIDS or
carrying AIDS
148 Total cases
Source Centers tor Disease Control