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, October 22, 1985
Arnold Markowitz, Herald Staff Writer
For the delegates to this event, AIDS is the major concern, as can be discerned at the only exhibit drawing a crowd -- an auditorium where one authority after another testifies about nothing else.
"AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease," says Dr. Steven Kleinman, associate medical director of the American Red Cross in Los Angeles. "AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease," he repeats, and then he says it again.
"If you remember one thing, remember that," he commands. "Because that is what I think everybody has to really get in their heads."
A little comforting, perhaps, to a fluctuating audience of 100 or so listeners who already know the sound of the other shoe dropping:
"AIDS is also blood-borne, by the way. We know it's in intravenous drug users and we know you can get it by sharing needles, and we know you can get it from transfusions."
Blood-screening for AIDS is widespread now in blood banks, and the industry considers its direct part of the transmission problem largely solved, but serious concerns remain because the disease still spreads.
Health care workers, including blood bankers, worry about any kind of contact with AIDS victims and those who carry its virus, called HTLV-III.
They are paying close attention to Kleinman and nine other speakers giving one-hour rotating talks.
Until September, the answer to questions about the vulnerability of health care workers to AIDS contagion was that there was no risk.
Information compiled by the National Centers for Disease Control now suggests that there is at least a small risk, particularly to health care workers who accidentally stick themselves with needles after giving injections to AIDS victims.
Testing revealed a number of exposures among 1,758 health care workers, but most already were in high-risk groups -- hemophiliacs, people who need blood transfusions, intravenous drug users and homosexuals.
Only three exposures were discovered among those not in high-risk groups. Tests for infection were negative in one case, positive in the other two.
"We're talking about a very minimal risk," Kleinman said. "If you're a health care worker and get stuck with a needle from an AIDS patient, your risk of becoming infected is less than one percent."
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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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