IT IS TIME TO TREAT AIDS AS HEALTH THREAT, NOT POLITICS

It's past time for Americans to start treating the AIDS epidemic more like
a deadly disease and less like a political problem. The worldwide AIDS
epidemic is outstripping all predictions by health experts at the World
Health Organization and the United Nations AIDS program. Even in the United
States, where more the $600 million has been spent on federal prevention
programs, the rate of new infections has maintained a steady 40,000 or so
per year. A new alarming study reports that four out of every 10 Americans
infected with HIV refuse to tell their sexual partners that they are
carriers of the deadly virus.

The same study, headed by Brown University Dr. Michael Stein, found that
two-thirds of HIV infected carriers who remained silent about their
conditions also did not use a condom. In addition, people infected with the
AIDS virus who had multiple sexual partners were three times less likely to
tell their sexual partners. These are figures about people who know they
are infected with the AIDS virus. An unknown number of people are HIV
positive and don't know that their behavior is a deadly risk for their
sexual partners. Infected humans can transmit the AIDS virus for a decade
with no adverse medical symptoms to tip them off.

More than a decade ago a respected state health official in Austin said he
would tell me something important if I promised to not use his name. My
concerned source said lawmakers who know nothing about what it takes to
stop the spread of contagious diseases have condemned many thousands of
people to death by not allowing health experts to handle the AIDS epidemic
as they would other deadly epidemics. The health official required
anonymity because he feared loss of his job if his name was attached to his
expert medical opinion in print.

Some of those same concerns drove lawmakers around the nation to pass laws
that tied the hands of doctors, health experts and epidemiologists. No
right-thinking person wanted to be branded a homophobe by supporting
actions that could add to the discrimination already experienced by
homosexual Americans, who were bearing the brunt of this tragic epidemic.

But AIDS is not a gay disease, as everyone now knows. Unfortunately for all
Americans, AIDS was spread primarily by homosexuals and intravenous drug
users in this country. Had AIDS been introduced into America and spread by
heterosexual college students, lawmakers would have demanded that this new
medical scourge be handled vigorously, like every other deadly epidemic.
That would mean identifying and treating all carriers and preventing the
spread of the disease.

As a matter of law and good medical practice, sexually transmitted diseases
such as syphilis and gonorrhea are routinely reported to health officials.
Sexual partners are contacted to prevent the spread of these diseases,
which are seldom deadly. But we don't do that with AIDS, which is deadly
and has no cure.

Officials at the Texas Department of Health have begun to send up trial
balloons in the form of forums to discuss "proposals" that would allow
health officials to identify by name people with HIV infections. The idea
is basic ---- identify carriers of the disease, track its progress and curb
its spread. All names would be confidential.

As expected, these proposals have already drawn a firestorm of protests
from established AIDS advocates who fear loss of jobs and health insurance,
plus other forms of discrimination. Lawmakers should concentrate on
preventing the discrimination and allow health experts to concentrate on
saving lives by preventing the spread of this deadly epidemic.