AIDS: No to Hysteria

Besides being a medical problem of large and growing proportions, acquired immune-deficiency syndrome has become a social problem as well. Fear and misinformation have harmed patients with AIDS, and may result in widespread but unjustified discrimination against homosexuals--the primary group affected by the disease so far. Where there is danger, society has a right and an obligation to protect itself. But when a particular action offers no public health benefit, the authorities have an obligation to say no to hysteria.

Some people with AIDS have lost their jobs or been evicted from their homes. Some children with AIDS are being kept out of school. None of this contributes to protection of public health. AIDS is a venereal disease. It cannot be spread by casual contact any more than syphilis or gonorrhea can. There is no recorded case of AIDS having been transmitted by talking or shaking hands, or even by coughing or sneezing. Saliva does not appear to be a means of spreading the AIDS virus. Persons who have lived with AIDS patients have not come down with it--as long as they have avoided sexual contact. There is “absolutely no risk” in eating in a restaurant that employs waiters or cooks with AIDS, according to Dr. Neil Schram, chairman of the Los Angeles City / County AIDS Task Force.

Some may say that as long as there is any doubt, caution is the appropriate response--better to be safe than sorry. But in the absence of intimate sexual contact or infection by tainted blood, there is no risk. What’s more, it would be impossible for society to protect itself from casual contact with the AIDS virus. The fact is that it is not just people with AIDS who carry the virus and who present a risk of transmitting it sexually.

Medical literature indicates that individuals who have the disease but who have not developed symptoms are more infectious than are patients with full-blown cases. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 500,000 to 1 million people have already been infected with the virus. Even if these people could be identified, no steps against them would be prudent or possible. Unless there is sexual contact, the public is at no risk from homosexual co-workers or neighbors.

It is understandable that people want to put distance between themselves and a deadly plague, but the facts need to be heard. Reason should not succumb to fear, as appears to be happening. In a poll conducted by Newsweek magazine, 28% of the respondents said that they were avoiding certain places where homosexuals may be present, and 13% said that they were avoiding people whom they know or suspect to be homosexual.

People are justifiably frightened by AIDS, but no one is helped by misinformation and myth. A vaccine is needed to protect people from the disease, and a cure is needed for those who already have it. These are large orders, and they are not helped by uninformed reactions that do more harm than good.