Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - Tuesday, June 04, 1985
Beverly Mills, Herald Staff Writer
"We don't want to test just anybody off the street," Health Department Administrator Myra Lentz said. "We're discouraging the general public from coming in."
Those who come for a blood test at the AIDS screening clinic at the Broward County Health Department should come prepared to discuss their personal lives -- including their sexual habits, officials said.
Three people signed up for appointments on the clinic's first day. When they come for their blood screening test for AIDS later this week, they will be asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire prepared by state health officials.
Health Department counselors will need to know how the patients think they may have exposed themselves to AIDS in order to give proper information about their chances of having contracted AIDS, Health Department Director Charles Konigsberg said.
"People have to expect some pretty specific questions," Konigsberg said. "But like in the VD clinic, these counselors have been trained to ask them in a nonthreatening, nonjudgmental way."
Konigsberg said the interviewers will not know the identities of their subjects.
A counselor needs to know exactly how a person has come into contact with potentially infected blood and semen, Konigsberg said.
"This is the only way we can give them proper feedback," he said. "Certain sexual practices such as rectal intercourse are more closely associated with AIDS in male homosexuals and bisexuals."
If the person does not belong to a high-risk group for AIDS or does not have symptoms, the department's trained counselors will try and discourage them from taking the $20 test.
The blood test is supposed to show if a person has ever been exposed to the HTLV-III virus that causes AIDS. Studies have shown that within five years of exposure to the virus, only 5 to 19 percent of people develop the fatal disease that destroys the body's immune system, Konigsberg said.
The test is not always accurate, Konigsberg said. And even if a person has been exposed to the virus, Konigsberg said it is not a sure sign that AIDS will develop.
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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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