Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune (CT) - MONDAY June 13, 1988 Edition: SPORTS FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 6 Word Count: 518
Jon Van, Chicago Tribune
The antidiscrimination call and a warning that anyone infected with the AIDS virus should be considered in need of care reinforced messages delivered this month in two AIDS reports issued in Washington.
Reports from the presidential commission on AIDS and the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine stressed measures to prevent discrimination and said that anyone infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including those not showing symptoms of AIDS, should receive care.
Dr. Jonathan Mann, director of the World Health Organization's AIDS program, told the 7,000 delegates to the Fourth International Conference on AIDS that fighting discrimination is not just a humanitarian stance for AIDS patients, but a necessary public health measure.
People who fear loss of jobs and separation from family if they are found to be infected will avoid all contact with health agencies, jeopardizing efforts to stop the spread of the virus, he said.
"In thinking about AIDS, some seek to oppose the 'right of the many' to remain uninfected against the 'rights of the few' who are already HIV- infected," Mann said. "This is a false dilemma, for the protection of the uninfected majority depends precisely upon, and is inextricably bound with, protection of the rights and dignity of infected persons."
Mann also suggested it may be time to rename acquired immune deficiency syndrome to reflect that it is HIV infection that must be addressed, not the collection of symptoms and diseases that defines AIDS.
Though world health officials estimate there are 200,000 cases of AIDS worldwide, they also say a conservative estimate of the number of people infected with the virus is 5 million.
"The term AIDS, although once very useful, may have outlived its usefulness," Mann said.
The annual conference is a meeting place where scientists exchange research information about AIDS. But Dr. Lars Olof Kallings, chairman of the organizing committee, said the scientists are striving to put more of a human face on the disease this year, rather than strictly emphasizing research information.
Quilts commemorating Americans who have died of AIDS decorate the convention hall in Stockholm where the meeting is being held. Before the opening ceremonies, a film featuring AIDS patients and people around the world who are at risk for the disease was shown.
Also, several leading figures in AIDS research, including Dr. Luc Montagnier of Paris and Dr. Robert Gallo of the United States, copioneers in the discovery of the virus, posed at a news conference with T-shirts advertising a worldwide AIDS day to be held Dec. 1.
In another presentation, Dr. Philip Pizzo of the U.S. National Cancer Institute reported that the experimental drug AZT was found to improve the symptoms of brain deterioration in children with AIDS.
Pizzo said a study of 21 AIDS-infected children, who got the disease from their mothers before birth or from blood products, showed that 62 percent suffered clear neurological damage from the virus, and "in every case they were improved" after taking AZT.
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