Saudis to Require All Foreign Visitors to Pass AIDS Test

Foreigners seeking visas to travel to Saudi Arabia must first supply a medical report showing no signs of AIDS in their blood, the Saudi Embassy in London said Friday.

An embassy spokeswoman said the Saudi government had drawn up regulations this month requiring “negative AIDS” tests for people intending to visit or work in the kingdom, which employs large numbers of expatriates.

U.S. researchers last week reported two cases of the killer disease in Saudi Arabia, which they said was the first time Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome had been identified in an Islamic country. They said the victims had received transfusions of blood imported from the United States.

The private Regent’s Park Clinic in London said it had set up special facilities to screen the blood of those seeking to visit Saudi Arabia. The tests require three days to complete.

In October, Saudi Arabia began screening donors and imported blood supplies for signs of AIDS, which gradually kills victims by attacking the body’s natural defenses. Its main victims have been homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers, although other persons have caught the disease through tainted blood supplies.