Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - Wednesday, March 27, 1985
Beverly Mills, Herald Staff Writer
Dr. Charles Konigsberg said he is rushing to start a clinic where potential victims can get blood-screening tests.
"Only 12 states have more AIDS cases than Broward County," Konigsberg said. "That means we have more AIDS than the entire state of Maryland. That's a heck of a lot of AIDS."
Unofficial reports indicate that 100 cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome have been diagnosed in Broward, Konigsberg said. The county's number of reported cases has doubled in the past six months, and Konigsberg expects it to double again in the next year.
Konigsberg is forming an AIDS task force of local health officials to discuss how Broward can cope with the problem. The group will begin meeting in about three weeks, he said.
About 8,500 AIDS cases have been reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control since 1981. Nearly half of the victims have died.
Florida has more than 600 reported AIDS cases, making it the third-ranking state behind New York and California. Most of Florida's AIDS victims live in Miami, where more than 300 cases have been reported.
AIDS destroys the body's immune system, making victims vulnerable to deadly infections. Gay or bisexual men, drug abusers, hemophiliacs and recent Haitian entrants stand the highest risk of contracting AIDS, according to medical experts.
The health department plans to set up testing clinics by May 1, after blood screening test kits become available to physicians and health clinics, Konigsberg said. People with positive tests will be told where they can go for more thorough diagnostic tests, he said.
The health department does not have the equipment to diagnose or treat the disease, he said.
The department will give the same test being used to screen the nation's blood supply. A positive blood test only means that a person might have been exposed to AIDS, Konigsberg said, not that a person has the disease or will develop it in the future. A positive test sometimes indicates other medical problems.
One of the major concerns facing the Broward task force is what to do if people in the high-risk groups flood the Broward Community Blood Center to give blood just to get a screening test for AIDS. Because the AIDS screening test is not foolproof, there is a possibility that the blood supply could become contaminated, officials say.
To help prevent the problem, the blood center will not reveal screening-test results to donors, director Charles Rouault said. But the center has only temporary permission to squelch the results since state law prohibits withholding a patient's medical information.
"Sometime between May 1 and June 1 we will have to tell a person the results of his test," Rouault said. "That's why it's so important to get these alternate testing sites."
Scientists believe AIDS is caused by a virus called HTLV-III. Once a person has been exposed to the virus -- whether he has contracted AIDS or not -- his body usually will produce an HTLV-III antibody.
About 30 percent of those exposed, however, do not develop the antibody, so some AIDS carriers may go undetected. The test merely checks for the antibody's presence.
State and federal health officials are concerned about the problem. Dr. Stephen King, the state's chief health officer, told a state House of Representatives subcommittee Tuesday that Florida should spend $581,000 on screening centers in 16 counties.
Konigsberg said Broward County should not wait until state money becomes available for screening centers.
"We're not waiting," he said. "We're going to get cranked up by May 1."
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Copyright © 1985 - Miami Herald. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Miami Herald, Permissions, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693 TEL: (305) 376-3719. http://www.herald.com.
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