Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; 1510 H St. N.W. Washington DC 20005 Main Phone Switchboard : 202-898-8000 FAX : 202-898-8057 or 202-898-8147 E-mail us: info@upi.com - Friday, 11 November 1988.
But they cautioned that the decrease, rather than marking a decline in infection rates, likely meant that men who suspected or knew they had been exposed to the virus simply were not applying to serve.
"We think self-deferral probably is the most likely explanation," said Marta Gwinn, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control's AIDS program.
The government began testing military recruits for AIDS in October 1985. Of the 1.5 million recruits tested since then, 2,162 had the AIDS virus.
Those seeking to enter the armed forces are excluded if a blood test shows they carry the AIDS virus and if the results of that test are confirmed by a second test.
The prevalence of the human immunodeficiency virus in all recruits peaked between April and September 1986 at 1.6 per 1,000 and has declined steadily to 1.2 in the latest testing period, October 1987 to March 1988.
Just 1.2 of each 1,000 men carried the HIV virus in the latest period, down from a high of 1.7 between October 1985 and September 1986, the CDC said.
Among female recruits, testing turned up a slight increase to 0.8 per 1,000, up from 0.7 in the previous testing period. The CDC attributed that to "the possibility that women may be less aware of their risk for HIV infection and thus less likely to self-defer."
Copyright (c) 1988/UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, UPI, 1510 H St. N.W. Washington DC 20005.
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