Many Found Unaware of AIDS Infection : Health Official Cites Evidence From Testing High-Risk Groups

A federal health official told a public hearing on AIDS testing today that most people infected with the deadly virus “remain unaware of their infected status.”

Dr. Ward Cates of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said that 1,079 testing stations were in place at the end of 1986, checking primarily those individuals at high risk--homosexuals, intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs--and found an infection rate of 19%.

“Clearly, most infected individuals remain unaware of their infected status,” Cates said.

James O. Mason, centers chief, told the hearing that “the time to contain a forest fire is when it’s small. Too little information exists on a community basis on the extent of the spread of AIDS.”

Health officials are considering whether to recommend widespread testing for the AIDS virus, including mandatory tests of marriage license applicants and people admitted to hospitals.

But Mason also expressed concern for protecting the privacy of those tested.

“This deadly virus is a common enemy, (but) I can’t overstate the importance” of civil rights questions involved.

Today’s hearing is intended to make recommendations for ways to limit the spread of an incurable disease that some consider the plague of the ‘80s.

“If we do anything, it would be in the nature of recommendations,” centers spokesman Don Berreth said.

About 1,000 state and local health officers and representatives of hospitals, gay rights groups, hemophiliacs and medical associations attended the hearing. The public was invited to speak at workshop sessions.