The New York Times - October 4, 1986
Thomas W. Netter

The Geneva-based organization, which began coordinating international activities against the disease this year, also declared that the spread of the viral infection had reached pandemic proportions, affecting 74 countries.

"We believe that it is in the interest of the public and of countries to be aware of this epidemic," said Dr. Jonathan M. Mann, director of W.H.O.'s program to fight AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. "An epidemic that affects all continents is by definition a pandemic. This is in fact the state of infections today."

AIDS, first diagnosed five years ago, kills by dismantling the body's immune system, especially in the case of certain kinds of cancer such as Kaposi's sarcoma. It is especially prevalent among homosexual and bisexual men and intravenous drug users since it is spread primarily by an exchange of blood. It has also struck hemophiliacs and other people receiving transfusions of tainted blood. #31,646 Cases Recorded Dr. Mann said relatively few AIDS patients survived more than five years.

He said at a news conference Friday that W.H.O. had recorded 31,646 cases worldwide by mid-September, up from 20,476 cases reported at the start of the year. Of 100 countries surveyed, 74 reported cases, he said.

By far the largest concentration of AIDS is in the United States. Dr. Mann put the number of cases there at about 25,500, up from 17,400 in January. Of all known AIDS cases, about 86 percent are in the Americas, he said.

He also reported a sharp increase in 22 European countries, to 3,127 cases from 1,630 at the start of this year. The increase is paticularly steep in West Germany, France and Italy, where officials are reporting 6 to 12 new cases a week.

The number of cases was put at 293 in Australia and New Zealand, up from 153, and at 52 in seven Asian countries, up from 32. Striking Increase in Africa

The most striking increase of all was in Africa, where 10 countries reported 1,003 cases by mid-September, up from 31 reported at the start of this year. Dr. Mann ascribed the higher figure to the abandonment of an "ostrich-like attitude" among African officials and a growing awareness that the scope of the AIDS problem needed to be identified to prevent a health catastrophe.

Until this year, African officials had been unable to gather statistics on AIDS or reluctant to, apparently in the belief that highlighting the scope of the disease would shift the focus of international health efforts from other diseases and health problems thought to be more widespread. In addition, health-monitoring abilities in Africa leave much to be desired, W.H.O. officials say, while the combination of cultural and language barriers also prevents adequate statistical analysis.

Some researchers say they believe the AIDS virus orginated in Africa.

Dr. Mann said the number of people infected with the AIDS virus, but still not suffering from the affects of the disease, could be from 25 to 100 times higher than current figures. The number of cases reported to W.H.O., he said, represented only the "tip of the iceberg.

"AIDS cases reported to W.H.O. give a limited reflection of the scope of the AIDS problem in the world," Dr. Mann said. "However, given the emotional and political climate which tends to characterize AIDS issues, we consider the reporting of even a fraction of known cases by national health authorities to be an expression of national willingness to deal constructively with the problem."

Dr. Mann said W.H.O. believed there was "no treatment in sight" that would be effective in a large-scale medical campaign to fight AIDS despite recent reports of experiments with drugs to treat the disease. Dr. Mann described the new treatments as "no breakthrough of the kind that lets us say we have now seen the light at the end of the tunnel." </txt> _{ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS)} <org> WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) </org> <per> NETTER, THOMAS W </per> <nexsqn> 145567861005 </nexsqn> <edt> Late City Final Edition </edt> <sec> 1 </sec> <pg> 9 </pg> <sortpg> 0009 </sortpg> <cl> 1 </cl> <dsk> Foreign Desk </dsk> <nexpd> 19861005080000 </nexpd> <pdate> 19861005 </pdate> <day> Sunday </day> <pdm> 10 </pdm> <pdd> 5 </pdd> <pdy> 1986 </pdy> <sqn> 556786 </sqn>
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