San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, November 3, 1992
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor

Ever since they discovered the human immunodeficiency virus 10 years ago, scientists have known that it cannot be spread by any kind of casual contact, and that "unsafe" sexual intercourse or the passage of contaminated blood directly into the bloodstream are the only real routes of infection. So the reaction of AIDS specialists yesterday to Johnson's announcement was sadness.

Said Dr. Paul Volberding of the University of California at San Francisco, who is one of the world's foremost AIDS researchers and who cares for hundreds of acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients at San Francisco General Hospital:

"Magic has been such a symbol of the ability of people with HIV to live and continue to function superbly despite their infection, that this can only be a serious step backward in other people's understanding of the way the virus and AIDS are transmitted."

Volberding recalled how many years it took to teach the public that children infected with HIV pose no danger to other youngsters, even if they kick and scratch and bite during rough school-yard play.

"But I'm afraid now that this will make other adults fear that HIV can be spread through relatively casual means," Volberding said. "Of course we all know that there's blood in a basketball game, and anyone who has ever watched a game knows that's true. But transmitting HIV requires that the blood of an infected person must get into the bloodstream of another person, and although it's always possible to construct artificial scenarios of some remote risk, I don't really think there's any risk at all in a sport like Magic's."

"There's no question that this action is the result of irrational fears, and in some cases of ignorance," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, the former San Francisco health director who is now president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

"This is really a setback in our effort to try to create a rational understanding of the disease and of those who carry the virus," Silverman said."

The experts are virtually unanimous in maintaining that fears are groundless for players of contact sports even if they receive cuts and bruises when they play with HIV-infected opponents.

The risk of contracting AIDS that way "is near zero," said Dr. David Rogers of Cornell University Medical College, vice chairman of the National Commission on AIDS and an adviser to the National Basketball Association.

"This is yet another example of the discrimination suffered by people with HIV," Rogers said. "When somebody who is as admired and respected as Magic Johnson decides he's got to leave his life's work due to people's unwarranted fears, that's a tragedy. It's an example of what has happened to thousands of people who are HIV-positive, and it shows how poorly we've done in our public education efforts."

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1992. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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