Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Monday July 13, 9:10 pm EST
A review of dozens of different studies shows that schizophrenics need special protection, psychologist Irving Gottesman of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and graduate student Carol Groome wrote in the National Institute of Mental Health's Schizophrenia Bulletin.
"We do believe ... that there is strong evidence that those who have schizophrenia are at higher risk for subsequent HIV infection," they wrote.
"Since the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, people with schizophrenia have moved into the community with reduced capacity to deal with such additional threats to their well-being as infection from HIV," they wrote. "Their disadvantaged social and economic status often places them in contact with known high-risk populations," they added.
"The high incidence of homosexuality, substance abuse, sex for sale and homelessness also places these people in high-risk situations. When combined with their secondary naivete about social realities and negligence toward personal safety and health, the risks escalate even further," the researchers wrote.
More than 540,000 people in the United States have developed AIDS and nearly 340,000 have died of it, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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