Source: Standard-Times (MA) Contact: http://www.s-t.com Pubdate: Tue., 17 Feb. 1998 Author: Rowland Nethaway is senior editor of the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald. IT IS TIME TO TREAT AIDS AS HEALTH THREAT, NOT POLITICS It's past time for Americans to start treating the AIDS epidemic more like a deadly disease and less like a political problem. The worldwide AIDS epidemic is outstripping all predictions by health experts at the World Health Organization and the United Nations AIDS program. Even in the United States, where more the $600 million has been spent on federal prevention programs, the rate of new infections has maintained a steady 40,000 or so per year. A new alarming study reports that four out of every 10 Americans infected with HIV refuse to tell their sexual partners that they are carriers of the deadly virus. The same study, headed by Brown University Dr. Michael Stein, found that two-thirds of HIV infected carriers who remained silent about their conditions also did not use a condom. In addition, people infected with the AIDS virus who had multiple sexual partners were three times less likely to tell their sexual partners. These are figures about people who know they are infected with the AIDS virus. An unknown number of people are HIV positive and don't know that their behavior is a deadly risk for their sexual partners. Infected humans can transmit the AIDS virus for a decade with no adverse medical symptoms to tip them off. More than a decade ago a respected state health official in Austin said he would tell me something important if I promised to not use his name. My concerned source said lawmakers who know nothing about what it takes to stop the spread of contagious diseases have condemned many thousands of people to death by not allowing health experts to handle the AIDS epidemic as they would other deadly epidemics. The health official required anonymity because he feared loss of his job if his name was attached to his expert medical opinion in print. Some of those same concerns drove lawmakers around the nation to pass laws that tied the hands of doctors, health experts and epidemiologists. No right-thinking person wanted to be branded a homophobe by supporting actions that could add to the discrimination already experienced by homosexual Americans, who were bearing the brunt of this tragic epidemic. But AIDS is not a gay disease, as everyone now knows. Unfortunately for all Americans, AIDS was spread primarily by homosexuals and intravenous drug users in this country. Had AIDS been introduced into America and spread by heterosexual college students, lawmakers would have demanded that this new medical scourge be handled vigorously, like every other deadly epidemic. That would mean identifying and treating all carriers and preventing the spread of the disease. As a matter of law and good medical practice, sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea are routinely reported to health officials. Sexual partners are contacted to prevent the spread of these diseases, which are seldom deadly. But we don't do that with AIDS, which is deadly and has no cure. Officials at the Texas Department of Health have begun to send up trial balloons in the form of forums to discuss "proposals" that would allow health officials to identify by name people with HIV infections. The idea is basic ---- identify carriers of the disease, track its progress and curb its spread. All names would be confidential. As expected, these proposals have already drawn a firestorm of protests from established AIDS advocates who fear loss of jobs and health insurance, plus other forms of discrimination. Lawmakers should concentrate on preventing the discrimination and allow health experts to concentrate on saving lives by preventing the spread of this deadly epidemic.