San Francisco Chronicle (SF) - FRIDAY December 27, 1991
Krzysztof Debnicki, Chronicle Foreign Service

The young drug addict is one of the uncounted thousands of HIV virus carriers in Poland and one of the 40 or 50 who come out to beg on Warsaw's streets each day.

As in other Communist countries, AIDS was a taboo subject in Poland for many years. Like drug addiction, which did not become a serious problem until the mid- 1970s but now has an estimated 200,000 people in its grip, it was considered one of the evils of capitalism, invented by the CIA as a scourge against peace-loving socialist peoples.

Information was kept secret even after people started to die. Most Polish AIDS victims are thought to be drug addicts rather than homosexuals; attempts to develop a profile are hindered by the fact that homosexuality in Poland is still very much in the closet.

1,900 CARRIERS, OR 100,000

According to the Polish Health Ministry, there are only 70 patients with full-blown AIDS, and just 37 have died. The same ministry also claims that there are only 1,900 HIV carriers.

But MONAR, or Youth Against Drug Addiction, a group that is successfully running a number of rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, says there are 80,000 carriers, and former Deputy Minister of Health Zbigniew Halat puts the number at 100,000.

There is hardly any treatment available; AZT is far too expensive for all but the wealthiest. There were hopes last year that indigenous production of the drug could begin, but the estimated price tag -- $600,000 -- is prohibitive for a national health program barely able to provide basic services for its 38 million citizens.

MOST ARE YOUNG

Most of Poland's drug addicts are in their 20s or younger, despised by their families, rejected by friends and society at large.

Pawel comes from a well-to-do middle-class professional family.

"When I told them that I was HIV-positive, their first reaction was: 'What will the neighbors say?' So I decided to leave."

Beata, a 19-year-old from a working-class background, begs in front of St. John's Church in Warsaw's Old Town. At 16, she was already addicted to "compote," a highly toxic low-grade homemade heroin produced from poppy straw. She believes her infection stemmed from sharing needles with fellow drug users.

"My father became furious when he learned that I was infected and turned me out from my home," she said. "I haven't seen my family for two years now.

"One can survive begging and living on staircases when it's warm, but it's a nightmare during the winter."

DANGEROUS QUEST

The first to offer help to people like Beata was Marek Kotanski, MONAR's founder. His campaign to find places where HIV carriers could live with dignity turned out to be far more difficult and dangerous than he expected, primarily because of the vociferous opposition of local residents.

The group was first given a dilapidated old house in Kaweczyn on the outskirts of Warsaw this past spring.

"There were only eight or nine of us," said one of the HIV carriers. "At first the locals were terrified, and then (they) became aggressive. We were pelted with stones every night. There were demonstrations against us, demanding that we leave, then threats of burning the house down.

"The people know very little about AIDS, and what they know is mostly untrue. They believe that one can become infected through a mere presence of an HIV carrier, by riding on the same bus, that mosquitoes can carry the infection."

The group was forced to leave despite appeals by popular politicians such as Jacek Kuron and assurances by the Health Ministry that AIDS does not spread so easily.

But few in Poland believe this. Skepticism toward officialdom runs high, one of the psychological holdovers of communism.

'DOCTORS AVOIDED US'

Life for the Kaweczyn group hardly improved when they were moved to rooms at the conference hall of the Health Ministry.

"We were assigned a separate bathroom, our own plates, forks, knives and spoons, and were told to wash them ourselves," one of the HIV carriers said. "Every day, the porter was making sure that none of us had touched the main door handle. Small wonder when even doctors working at the ministry avoided us."

MONAR now operates two residential centers for HIV carriers; 1,500 people are on the waiting list for the next available bed.

One of the centers is in Konstancin, an upper-class, wooded locality close to Warsaw, where things seem to have settled down after initial troubles.

The other is in Piastow, a provincial town of 24,000. After initial hesitation, the Roman Catholic Church decided to help AIDS victims; the Piastow center is run by the Camilian order and the Rev. Arkadiusz Nowak.

'WHY EXPOSE OUR CHILDREN?'

Nowak has had to fend off abuse from residents of Piastow and their protest group, the Remonstrative Committee. After threats and an unsuccessful Molotov cocktail attack, the center is under constant police protection, and Piastow's only patrol car stands watch at the gate.

"We don't want AIDS here," said one of the protest committee's leaders. "There are empty Soviet barracks in secluded areas where these people could be lodged. Why expose our children?"

Those who have a place at one of MONAR's or the few state-run clinics can consider themselves fortunate. Others find it difficult to rent a flat, find a job or persuade a dentist to treat them.

Piotr, 28, a famished-looking gay man from Pultusk, has been carrying the HIV virus for four years and admits that he has probably passed it to others.

"Now, I abstain from sexual contacts, but somehow the word spreads about me," he said. "I move from town to town seeking jobs and flats to rent. After some time, my boss and my landlord find out that I am a carrier and tell me to go. So I move again.

"This is hell, not life."

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1991. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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