Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune (CT) - TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: KIDNEWS Page: 3 Word Count: 233
Health experts are telling people not to panic after two surprising AIDS cases were made public last week.
In one case, a teenage boy apparently transmitted the virus to his teen brother. Both boys are hemophiliacs, and a report released by the Centers for Disease Control says that, since they didn't have sex and they never shared the same medical equipment, the only way they could have gotten it was through a razor they shared. In the second case, a 2-year-old boy contracted the virus from his HIV-positive brother, 5. The older boy suffered from frequent nosebleeds at the same time the younger boy had a skin condition that included open sores. The two also shared the same toothbrush, and the older boy may have had a gum disease, which could cause bleeding.
The AIDS virus is most commonly transmitted through sexual contact or shared hypodermic needles. AIDS researchers say the chances of the virus being transmitted through contact between infect blood and broken skin, which is apparently what happened in these two cases, are perhaps 1 in a million. And one researcher, Dr. Lawrence Frankel of Rutgers University, cautioned against using the two cases as reasons to keep HIV-positive kids away from other kids. "Nothing in our research indicates that these youngsters cannot attend school or do whatever a normal child would do," he said.
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