Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - October 5, 1986
Laura Mansnerus and Katherine Roberts
While it is increasingly clear that heterosexual contact is a major cause of the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Africa and Haiti, Dr. Thomas A. Peterman of the Centers for Disease Control said American studies indicated that among heterosexuals "infection appears to occur at a low overall rate." He estimated that the risk of infection from a single heterosexual encounter with an infected person was less than one-tenth of one percent, although many spouses of AIDS victims have contracted the virus.
There are no comparable data for homosexuals. About 4 percent of AIDS cases in the United States have been attributed to heterosexual transmission.
Researchers also reported resolution of some previously mysterious AIDS cases. After detailed study of some patients whom the Centers for Disease Control had classified as belonging to no identified risk group, a majority were found to be in the two major risk groups: homosexual or bisexual men and intravenous drug users. About 30 percent had had heterosexual contact with AIDS victims.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer of azidothymidine, the first drug shown to slow the ravages of AIDS, said it would be dispensed to most of the 7,000 victims who have suffered pneumocystis carinii, a form of pneumonia. Last month the manufacturer, the Burroughs Wellcome Company, said azidothymidine, also called AZT, would be given only to patients who had suffered an initial attack of the pneumonia in the previous 120 days.
Burroughs Wellcome, which awaits a license to market AZT, will make it available at no charge in the interim.
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