AIDS Screening Bars 66 From Military, Sources Say

The Pentagon has barred 66 civilians from military service during the last month because they tested positive for exposure to a virus associated with the disease AIDS, informed sources said today.

The 66 were among 71,683 recruits screened since mandatory testing was started Oct. 15 for evidence of the fatal, primarily sexually transmitted disease, the sources said.

“We are coming in lower than our best guesstimate among the health people, and the actual numbers are, indeed, small,” one source said.

“That is not to minimize the severity of the problem, but it is not an epidemic,” the source said. “And it is certainly not a rate for those (already) in the military; it’s a rate for job applicants, for civilians trying to join the military.”

No Actual Cases Reported

The Defense Department has completed a statistical breakdown on 34,996 of the 71,683 recruits already tested. Of those 34,996, 40 had been been exposed to the AIDS virus, producing an incidence rate of 1.14 per 1,000.

No actual cases of AIDS were reported, although an undetermined percentage of people exposed to the virus later become infected with the disease itself.

The rate among tested recruits is lower than that predicted by Pentagon health officials last August when they decided to begin screening all recruits. It is higher, however, than that reported by civilian blood banks, although Defense Department officials discount the validity of such a comparison.

“On Aug. 30, based on what we knew, Dr. (William) Mayer predicted the services would see a rate of two or three out of a thousand,” one source said.

Extended to All Recruits

The source said the figures will be shared with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, because no government agency or private firm has embarked on a screening program as massive as that of the Defense Department.

The Pentagon began screening voluntary blood donors July 1. Starting Oct. 15, the program was extended to all recruits seeking to join the military. Last month, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger decided the testing should be extended to all active-duty and reserve personnel, although that phase is not expected to begin before next year.

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a fatal disease that attacks the body’s immune system. It has been confined primarily to homosexuals, intravenous drug users and individuals who received tainted blood transfusions. However, some evidence now suggests the disease is spreading to the general population.

The blood screen employed by the Pentagon, known as the Elisa test, can do no more than indicate whether people have been exposed to a virus associated with the disease--not whether they will contract it. Under a policy directive signed by Weinberger on Oct. 24, active-duty personnel who test positive but show no signs of the disease will remain in the service, but recruits who test positive are automatically denied entry.