Study by U.S. Navy, Mexicans Shows No AIDS in 357 Tijuana Prostitutes

A collaborative study by Mexican health officials and U. S. Navy personnel has found that none of 357 Tijuana prostitutes tested were infected with the AIDS virus, the Navy said Friday.

The results, coupled with similar findings from a separate study of prostitutes and other Mexican citizens at high risk for AIDS, would indicate that infection is not prevalent among prostitutes in the border city--long a destination for U. S. thrill-seekers.

“What is says is that there’s a very low risk factor,” said Chief Craig Huebler, a Navy spokesman in San Diego.

The two recent studies reflect a growing collaborative effort between U. S. and Mexican health officials concerned that the border region could facilitate the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The Navy became involved, Huebler said, at the request of health authorities from the city of Tijuana and the Baja California state government, who lack the volume of sophisticated testing devices and methods found in U. S. institutions.

Navy Conducted Lab Tests

Mexican officials selected the participants in the survey and took the blood specimens, Huebler said, while the Navy’s role principally involved testing the blood for evidence of the AIDS virus.

“The Navy was asked by the Mexican government, because we had the technology,” Huebler said.

The samples were taken almost a year ago, Huebler said, but the results were only final last week.

The issue is an extremely sensitive one in border areas. Any kind of “AIDS scare” in Mexican border cities would probably frighten off U. S. tourists, who represent a prime source of revenue. Some activists in Mexico have charged that the government has deliberately attempted to underestimate the number of AIDS cases--an allegation denied by Mexican officials.

The Navy study tends to confirm the results of a previous binational AIDS initiative in Tijuana, which was conducted by Mexican health officials and the California Department of Health Services. That study found that only 2 of 415 prostitutes surveyed were infected with the AIDS virus, said Dr. Abram Benenson, a professor at the San Diego State University School of Public Health.

Mexican officials, noting the large number of AIDS cases in the United States, have worried that U. S. citizens might spread the disease south of the border. U. S. health authorities, meantime, have expressed concern that prostitutes could be infecting U. S. visitors.

The two recent studies would tend to indicate otherwise.

Tijuana is considered perhaps the third-largest AIDS center in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. As of late last year, Tijuana reported fewer than 100 AIDS cases--a number that many say underestimates the problem.

Many experts believe that a number of factors--notably the relative social disapproval of homosexuality--has resulted in a vast under-reporting of the problem south of the border. Homosexuals and people who use intravenous drugs are among those most at risk of contracting the ailment.

Mexico Asked Navy for Help

The genesis of the Navy study, a spokesman explained Friday, occurred in 1987, when Mexican officials approached the service and inquired about assistance in an AIDS-testing project. (Mexican officials could not be reached for comment Friday.)

The Navy had an obvious interest, a spokesman explained. Tijuana has been an almost-legendary destination for reveling sailors and other military personnel. About 102,000 Navy personnel are based in San Diego; only Norfolk, Va., with 120,000, is home to more sailors among U. S. ports. In fact, some San Diego-based sailors live in Tijuana; that number is thought to be fewer than 100.

For Navy second class petty officers or lesser ranks, there is a Tijuana curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

“We do have Navy personnel who go down to Tijuana, so that is a concern,” Huebler said.

The Navy has conducted similar studies in other nations, Huebler said. The Philippines, with its huge population of U. S. sailors and native prostitutes, is one other area where such a survey has been done, the spokesman noted.

For the Tijuana study, the Navy assistance was provided by the San Diego-based Environmental and Preventive Unit Five, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Naval Environmental Health Center, Bethesda, Md.

The Navy spokesman provided the following account of the study:

Testing occurred during a 30-day period in February, 1988. The women were selected by Mexican officials, who also drew the blood samples.

In addition to the 357 prostitutes, the study also tested 360 women who were not prostitutes, all drawn from a Tijuana family-planning clinic. Of this group, only 2--less than 1%--were found to be infected with the AIDS virus. Both are believed to have contracted the virus via blood transfusions, a Navy spokesman said.

All 717 participants are presumed to have given their “informed consent” to the project. Three Navy officials, two from San Diego and one from Washington, helped with the testing in Tijuana.

The blood samples were coded by Mexican officials and shipped across the border. The samples were tested in a Navy laboratory in San Diego.

Counseling of the two persons infected is to be provided by Mexican health authorities. The study maintained “strict confidentiality,” the Navy said.

Asked about the cost of the study, the spokesman said it was “minimal,” but he could provide no exact figure.