The New York Times - October 31, 1986
Erik Eckholm

The new centers, in a change of policy, will offer the AIDS antibody test to New Yorkers on an anonymous basis. The City Health Department will open a testing center in mid-Manhattan on Monday, and state officials will soon establish four more in Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

Health officials are also reviving the idea, rejected by Mayor Koch last year because of the opposition of law-enforcement officials, of easing access to clean hypodermic needles, which are now available only by prescription. The sharing of scarce needles by heroin addicts is a major pathway in New York for the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

In the past, city health officials opposed anonymous blood tests and required patients to submit blood samples to a city laboratory through their personal doctors. Though patients' identities are protected in that system, which will continue, officials hope that the new sites will attract people who suspect they have been exposed to the AIDS virus but "who can't afford to go to a doctor, or don't feel comfortable" arranging the test through their doctor, said Dr. Stephen Schultz, Deputy Commissioner of Health.

Shift on Anonymity in Testing

Anonymous testing, sought by homosexual-rights groups to prevent discrimination against virus carriers, has been available for more than a year across much of the country and elsewhere in the state. Dr. Shultz said the Health Department had changed its view on the matter as it gained confidence in the reliability and meaning of the test, and as studies elsewhere showed that its wide availability could help curb the spread of AIDS.

The presence of AIDS antibodies indicates probable infection with the virus and the ability to pass it to others through sexual intercourse or exchanges of blood, through dirty needles, for example.

Although all homosexual men and intravenous drug users are urged to take precautions, studies have found that some, especially those who think there is only a small chance they have been exposed, are more likely to change behavior to protect others if they learn they are infected. This knowledge can cause psychological turmoil, however, and officials will provide intense counseling to test applicants.

Officials estimate that some 500,000 New Yorkers, including half of homosexual men and heroin addicts, already carry the AIDS virus. Scientists predict that between 20 percent and 50 percent of infected people will develop AIDS within 10 years. More than 8,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the city.

New Site for AIDS Testing

The first new testing site will be at the Baumgartner Health Center at 303 Ninth Avenue at 28th Street in Chelsea. Those interested can arrange an appointment through the AIDS hotline, (718) 485-8111. Patients who request it will be identified by number only.

By year's end, the State Health Department will open the other four "storefront" testing centers in areas where intravenous drug abuse is prevalent.

At the same time, the state's anti-drug agency is stepping up efforts to reach addicts by fielding "street teams" of former addicts or others familiar with the drug scene. Teams will seek out drug users in "shooting galleries" and on the streets, said Dennis Whalen, deputy director of the Division of Substance Abuse Services. Initially, the teams will operate in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

The main message will be to end drug use, but advice will also be offered on how to sterilize needles, syringes and "works" with which heroin is prepared for injection. Drug equipment can be sterilized by soaking it for 10 minutes in a 10 percent solution of bleach or a 40 percent solution of alcohol or by boiling it for 15 minutes, in each case followed by rinsing in running water.

Reaching Addicts in Their Milieu

The teams will also emphasize the danger intercourse without condoms poses to sex partners, and to babies born to women who harbor the virus. Addicts will be offered a chance to take the blood test on a voluntary basis, Mr. Whalen said.

Similar programs have shown success in New Jersey and Maryland, Mr. Whalen said. Private groups in New York have already worked at contacting addicts in their milieu and advising them about AIDS.

City and state officials also disclosed in interviews this week that they hope to experiment with a program in which clean needles are exchanged for dirty ones. The proposal last year by former Health Commissioner Dr. David Sencer that needles be made more available was condemned by law-enforcement officials, who said it would encourage drug addiction. But experience in Amsterdam suggests that a needle-exchange program could help fight the disease, Dr. Schultz said. Discussions are now under way to see if agreement can be reached on a "tightly controlled" pilot project.

To promote greater use of condoms, the city Health Department is dispensing them at clinics and studying how to increase commercial sales.

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