AIDS Alarm : S.F. Sheriff’s Deputies Demand Separation From Those Who Have the Disease

Sheriff’s deputies fearful of catching AIDS from their co-workers have begun circulating petitions demanding a “work environment free from exposure” to people suffering from the deadly disease.

Four deputies have been identified as AIDS victims, Undersheriff William A. Davis said. Two have died from the disease and one is seriously ill in a hospital. A fourth deputy suffering from AIDS was hired Oct. 1.

The department is trying to calm its deputies by scheduling training sessions starting today to educate them about the disease, Davis said.

About one-third of the 300 deputies in the department either have complained about working with AIDS victims or have signed the petitions, Davis said.

A sheriff’s spokesman said Thursday that none of the petitions has yet been received. Officials also said that no deputy has refused to work with an AIDS victim or refused assignment to a city jail where prisoners may have the disease.

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, attacks the body’s immune system and leaves its victims vulnerable to a variety of rare and fatal diseases. It is most common among homosexual men, intravenous drug users, Haitians and hemophiliacs, but several cases have been reported among people outside those high-risk categories.

Researchers suspect that the disease is spread through an exchange of body fluids such as blood or semen, rather than through casual contact.

Some sheriff’s deputies have demanded that their co-workers with AIDS eat alone and not use the same dummy body the rest of the force uses for practicing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Davis said. Others have complained about using the same phone as AIDS victims, he said.

The department bought more mouthpieces for the dummy, but some deputies remain fearful, he said.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is conducting training sessions in which deputies will be told basic information about AIDS--what the disease is and how it is transmitted, according to foundation spokeswoman Holly Smith.

Smith said the foundation also has held training sessions for television stations, banks and other organizations where fear of the disease had spread among employees.

The general manager of the Civil Service Commission has said that city employees who refuse to work with a co-worker who has AIDS could face charges of “insubordination.”

“The preponderance of current medical opinion indicates that persons with AIDS do not present risk factors in the normal course of their employment,” John Walsh, the Civil Service general manager, told the city’s Board of Supervisors.