Heterosexual Risk of AIDS Put Lower in New UC Study

A study of AIDS-infected men and their female sex partners indicates that the virus is far less infectious to heterosexuals than once thought, suggesting that a heterosexual AIDS epidemic in the United States is not imminent, researchers reported today.

But the public health authorities from the University of California at Berkeley cautioned that heterosexuals can still catch the AIDS virus, and that their risk increases with repeated sexual exposure to an infected person and through high-risk sex practices.

“The probabilities are low, but it’s still Russian roulette,” said Nancy Padian, who directed the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Given the low infectiousness of the AIDS virus, it is not likely that the disease will reach epidemic proportions in the heterosexual community any time in the near future, said Dr. Warren Winkelstein, another Berkeley researcher.