Defense Dept. Will Test All Military Recruits for AIDS : Screening Will Begin by Oct. 1

The Defense Department announced today that it will require all military recruits to undergo blood testing for an antibody that can indicate exposure to AIDS.

Dr. William Mayer, the Pentagon’s top medical official, said the screening will begin no later than Oct. 1.

Knowledge about the disease has increased to the point that “this is a simple, prudent, conservative medical step to take,” he told a news conference.

Mayer, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said he believes that the U.S. military will be the first in the world to test its recruits routinely for the AIDS antibody.

The screening will be applied to all those entering the service, including officers, ROTC and academy students as well as the National Guard and the military reserve, Mayer said. He estimated that the testing could cost the Defense Department roughly $1 million a year

Mayer said the tests may be extended to include all 2.1 million men and women now in the armed services if a special medical board now studying the problem so recommends.

75 per Month Expected

Based on research statistics, Mayer said the screening program can be expected to isolate up to 75 individuals per month who have been exposed to the disease.

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, causes the body’s immune system to become unable to resist disease. It has been confined primarily to homosexuals, intravenous drug abusers and hemophiliacs, but there is evidence that it is spreading to the general population.

Mayer said the military screening program will require a series of increasingly complex medical tests and evaluations if the initial blood test is positive.

The blood tests cannot detect the disease itself. Rather, they are designed to detect the presence of an antibody that has been associated with the disease. A positive result indicates only that a donor has been exposed to the disease, not that he has it or will contract it.

If the most extensive blood test available, the so-called Western Blot test, shows a positive finding, a recruit will be advised that he cannot continue to be processed for military service and should undergo an evaluation by a doctor of his immune system, Mayer said.

May Be Admitted Later

If the private physician reports that there is no evidence of a problem, the recruit may ask to be re-evaluated and may be admitted if military physicians concur, Mayer added. Otherwise, he will be denied entry to the military.

Mayer cited several specific concerns for the military that he said justify the screening.

First, the military routinely vaccinates recruits against such diseases as smallpox. If a recruit has AIDS, the vaccination could induce the disease. Secondly, during periods of war, direct blood transfusions are necessary from one soldier to another, and the Pentagon does not want to spread the disease through such transfusions.

Though researchers have said the disease appears to be spread primarily through sexual contact and blood transfusions, Mayer said he could not rule out the possibility that it can be spread through more routine contacts.