The New York Times - October 21, 1984
Ronald Sullivan

Until mid-1983, 71 percent of AIDS cases reported in New York involved homosexuals, while 17 percent involved intravenous drug users, mostly drug addicts using contaminated needles, Dr. Sencer said in an interview. The percentage of homosexual victims in New York since then has averaged at 61 percent, he said, and that of intravenous drug users has been 25 percent.

He attributed the shift to more conservative sexual life styles of New York homosexuals since AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, was first reported in 1981, and to the difficulty of convincing drug users of the risk of contracting AIDS from contaminated needles.

A Gradual Decrease

According to Dr. Sencer, approximately 71 percent of the total of 1,300 cases of AIDS reported as of July 1983 involved homosexuals, while 17 percent involved intravenous drug users.

Of the 1,300 cases reported since then, he said, homosexuals accounted for 61 percent and intravenous drug users 25 percent.

According to the National Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, 6,402 cases of AIDS have been reported in the country since 1981, 2,651 of them in New York City. All told, 2,993 people have died from the disorder.

Dr. Sencer said AIDS was transmitted primarily through sexual contact. Thus, he said, less sexual activity reduces the chances of contracting the disorder.

He attributed the increased AIDS percentages for intravenous drug users to their addiction apparently outweighing their fear of contracting the disorder. He said educational campaigns also had not succeeded in reaching urban drug users. 100 New Cases a Month

Dr. Sencer said AIDS continued to be the city's most critical health problem and that 100 new cases were being reported to the department every month by physicians and hospitals, as required by city health regulations.

"While the problem is certainly not getting any better, there is no geometric progression of cases as initially feared," Dr. Sencer said. Originally, he said, there was concern that the numbers of AIDS cases would double every three months. Though the rate is increasing, the increase is not as steep as had been feared, he said.

AIDS destroys the body's immune system, which fights off infection, leaving victims prey to such diseases as cancer and a ravaging form of pneumonia. There is no known cure for the disorder.

The disorder is believed to be transmitted sexually or from contaminated needles or blood products. Along with homosexuals and intravenous drug users, other groups at risk in this country include native-born Haitians, hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions, and people who have sexual contact with people who have AIDS.

National Figures Differ

Betty Hooper, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control, said its national tally of AIDS cases did not reflect the shift in percentages reported by Dr. Sencer.

The Federal agency said its tabulations continued to show that 73 percent of the cases involved homosexuals and 17 percent intravenous drug users. Mrs. Hooper said the agency would not have any comment on the shift in percentages reported by Dr. Sencer except to say that New York City's figures have previously differed from national AIDS statistics.

"It appears that the intense educational campaigns in the city have caused a very big change in the sex habits of gay men who had multiple sexual partners," said Mel Rosen, director of the New York State AIDS Institute, an agency of the State Department of Health.

Mark Chataway, a spokesman for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, a volunteer group helping AIDS victims in New York, attributed the lower AIDS percentages for homosexuals in New York to a "local trend" generated by a successful education campaign.

'A Change in Attitude'

He also said that lower rates of venereal disease affecting homosexuals reflected a "dramatic" reduction of promiscuous sexual behavior. "There's been a real change in attitude," he said.

Mr. Rosen said statistics showed that, while the rate of increase of AIDS cases was slowing in the city, it was still rising elsewhere in the country.

At the urging of Dr. Sencer, the city's Board of Health recommended Wednesday that a new blood test to determine the presence of an antibody to the virus suspected of causing AIDS be given only as part of controlled research programs that preserve the confidentiality of patients. Such clinical trials are planned under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health.

The board's recommendation, embodied in a resolution that was approved unanimously, is intended to reduce the opposition to the test by homosexual leaders and some physicians in the city who contend that the test is both highly speculative and conveys the risk of subjecting tested persons to social and economic discrimination and possible criminal penalties if their identities are revealed.

Significance of Test Unknown

While they said the board's recommendation was a "step in the right direction," opponents of the test said they wanted further guarantees of strict confidentiality before they could endorse it.

Many researchers believe that the human T-cell lymphotropic virus, known as HTLV-III, is the probable cause of AIDS.

While acknowledging the limited value of the test and the "threat of great mental anguish for those who receive the results," the resolution approved by the five-member board said the test "provided the opportunity for great scientific strides."

Essentially, the test can detect the presence of antibodies to HTLV-III. But medical experts say that the significance of the presence of such antibodies is unknown.

AIDS experts also said that a positive antibody test would not necessarily indicate whether a person had or would contract the disorder, or whether it indicated immunity or a predisposition against it. They said clinical trials would be required to determine what the presence of the antibodies meant.

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