Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - October 2, 1986
Of more than 25,000 AIDS cases reported so far in the United States, 1,133 were initially placed in the "no identified risk" category because there was no clear indication about how they got the disease.
Researchers from the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have begun reviewing these cases and have found that there is usually an explanation of how the disease was contracted.
The investigators have reviewed 591 cases and have re-classified 431 of them. Of these, 206 victims were homosexual or bisexual men, while 129 had heterosexual contact with AIDS victims. The rest were drug abusers who shared needles, belonged to other risk groups or did not really have AIDS.
The findings were presented Wednesday at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, sponsored by the Society for Microbiology.
No Threat in Close Contact
Other research presented there strengthens the belief that acquired immune deficiency syndrome is not transmitted in close daily contact with victims.
Two studies were conducted on dentists who worked in New York and San Francisco, cities with the highest number of AIDS victims. Despite frequent exposure to victims' saliva and blood, none of the dentists and hygenists were infected with the AIDS virus.
"This is more than casual contact," said Dr. Robert Klein of the Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "It supports the many studies that say the risk of infection from casual contact is remote. You should worry more about getting hit by a truck or lightening."
Researchers at the meeting also described two new drug approaches in the treatment of AIDS.
Doctors from George Washington University gave D-penicillamine, a medicine usually used for rheumatoid arthritis, to five men infected with the AIDS virus.
The five took the drug for six weeks. After they stopped taking the medicine, they remained free of the AIDS virus for six additional weeks.
Another drug, CS-85, has been tested against the AIDS virus only in the test tube.
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