Miami Herald - Thursday, December 5, 1985
Michael H. Cottman, Herald Staff Writer

Test results for another 45 prostitutes will be available today.

"This is a group of people that can spread sexually transmitted diseases very quickly to a large group of people," Jim Rabb, who coordinated the testing for the Dade County Health Department, said Wednesday.

The six women with AIDS virus HTLV-III will be counseled, tested and treated today, Rabb said.

"Just because they have the AIDS virus doesn't mean they have AIDS," Rabb said. "But there is a good chance that they could pass the virus along to someone who could get it."

Testing for prostitutes started last month after Dade County Judge Harvey Baxter announced that he will offer defendants found guilty of prostitution or prostitution-related crimes a chance to lessen their sentences by submitting to tests for venereal disease.

Baxter says he hopes the testing will help cure prostitutes of diseases and encourage them to get out of the business. The judge also hopes to slow the spreading of diseases and relieve overcrowding in Dade jails by trimming jail time. First-time offenders, he said, usually receive anywhere from 15 to 30 days in jail and repeaters can get up to 60 days in prison.

Most of the women work the streets in Dade and are between 20 and 30 years old.

Baxter said the line for voluntary tests is growing, but unfortunately, so is the number of disease cases.

"I never dreamt that these cases would be this high," Baxter said. "It's a real eye-opener for me. It will also alert the public to how horrendous the problem is and maybe they will stay away from prostitutes."

Rabb said it's hard to tell just how many people have been exposed to the 45 women because prostitutes sometimes take 10 or 12 partners a night.

"For every case of venereal disease that we find, we can prevent about 20 cases," Rabb said. "We're going to be looking at a lot of women. We're doing 10 or 12 a night now."

Baxter said the doctor who has been conducting the testing is Gerald Greenwald, a once-wealthy Kendall dermatologist who was ordered in January to seek psychiatric care, put on 10 years' probation and told to give 5,000 hours of community service.

Greenwald was accused of hiring an undercover policeman to kill his former wife of 15 years. He intended to have her murdered and collect her insurance money. "We have the community service sentences working here, too," Baxter said.

Baxter said he will continue to send the prostitutes to the health deapartment for testing.

"Up to now, we had nothing," the judge said. "Now we have something to work with. These tests have a helluva deterrent effect on people who offer these services. I tell them if they do get AIDS, it's a sentence of death with no appeal."
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