Mexico Finally Faces Up to AIDS Threat : Disease No Longer Seen as Being Confined to U.S. Side of Border

Events in Mexico often follow events in the United States, and the way Mexican authorities are dealing with the AIDS problem is no exception.

Like its neighbor to the north, Mexico for years denied that AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome--represented a serious problem. Screening donations at public blood banks was considered protection enough.

Otherwise, health officials said, danger from the virus was limited to a few vulnerable groups. Moreover, in macho Mexico, the homosexual practices that tend to spread AIDS are rarely mentioned, except in the vulgar-joke context.

Mexicans, ignoring the fact that the two countries share a long and easily crossed border, comforted themselves in the belief that AIDS would somehow be confined to the United States, which many here consider a hotbed of immorality.

Now these attitudes have virtually disappeared, replaced by the realization that AIDS menaces Mexicans as well as Americans. Six months ago AIDS was news from abroad; today it is local news that crops up almost daily.

AIDS Vigilance Required

“AIDS is becoming a principal public health problem in Mexico” and vigilance is required, Secretary of Health Guillermo Soberon said recently.

Soberon surprised viewers of Mexican television not long ago when, in the course of a special program on AIDS, he called for the use of condoms. This was just one of many signs of growing AIDS awareness.

In Mexico City, where most of this country’s AIDS cases have been registered, the government opened AIDS telephone hot lines to enable people to get information about the disease. Gloria Ornelas, a physician and director of the National Center for AIDS Information, told reporters this week that there are about 360 hotline calls a day.

In several cities, health authorities are cracking down on private blood banks, said to be a source of AIDS. In Cuernavaca on Wednesday, the secretary of health for the state of Morelos said that 90 inspectors have been ordered to search for “clandestine” blood banks. Screening for AIDS-infected blood at private blood banks is considered spotty.

Meanwhile, recently organized homosexual groups have printed pamphlets promoting what they describe as safe sex. And like homosexual groups in the United States, the Mexicans are lobbying for legal protection against discrimination.

Differences Over Threat

Mexican health officials and workers differ as to the extent of the disease here. Some physicians in private practice say the Health Ministry is underestimating the number of cases.

In late April, the nation’s Health Ministry reported 407 cases of AIDS in Mexico. Health Secretary Soberon forecast that the number could jump to 31,000 in the next four years.

The majority of the victims are men, bisexual as well as homosexual. Others include intravenous drug users, recipients of contaminated blood transfusions and heterosexuals with infected partners, according to researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.

Some physicians feel that Mexico faces a greater problem than it is willing to admit. Jose Gomez Medina, president of the National Chamber of Private Hospitals, estimates the number of cases at 1,500, and he thinks the main source is contaminated blood bank supplies.

It appears that the potential cost of treating AIDS patients has prompted the sudden campaign against the illness. In March, Health Secretary Soberon said the victims will represent “a high cost for the country,” but he mentioned no specific amount and suggested no special way of raising the money.

Mexico has become a refuge for desperate AIDS sufferers from the United States. Some drugs reputed to help control the effects of the disease are sold in Mexico but not in the United States, where they have not been approved.

The availability of the drugs in Mexico has led victims to cross the border and buy large quantities of the drugs at Mexican pharmacies. This practice has led some Mexican officials to consider whether the crossings represent a health danger, although no steps have been taken to reduce or halt the traffic.