Wednesday, June 24, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 3
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it Health official: AIDS war
ecoming U.S. priority
By Kirsten Dietz
Senior Staff Writer
legatee
the file,
ivingwitl
a promise [
gabouiti.
ashman f 1991 about 270,000 cases of
a. r libs will be diagnosed and about
$37 billion will be spent on health
He for these AIDS victims, a public
are pro health adviser for the Texas Depart-
leirhigr bent of Health said Tuesday,
ifonlytlitHP 1 '• Thomas Walch, speaking to
collegt a l ,0ut 60 people at a public health
u j ~ foimm on AIDS at Bryan’s Brazos
1 Center, said these alarming statistics
jiaye spurred the federal govern
ment to make battling AIDS a high
rtaui; priority. He said the government at-
ething; [tack is three-pronged and consists of
Hearch, patient care and educa-
cnpwli tion
Hfhis year, he said, $54 million is
‘ a H i * al3 l e ^ rom l 6e federal govern-
eyjudgtijent to develop programs in six
rentfroiHas: education of school children,
cedintl drug abuse intervention, health edu-
Hon/risk reduction, surveillance of
Hnds, service demonstration grants
lalisw
he
I don’t
allege.
Graphic by M. Rohsner
and regional training center grants.
Texas will receive a share of the
money in each of these areas.
The Reagan administration also
has unveiled a plan to control AIDS,
a plan which has received consider
able opposition, Walch said. The
plan centers around routine AIDS
testing for prisoners, immigrants,
aliens and marriage license appli
cants. Opponents of the widespread
routine testing argue that the results
of the program are not likely to off
set the logistics and costs involved in
administering the program, he said.
While the most conservative esti
mates place the development of a
vaccine more than 20 years away,
Walch said that all the AIDS-related
news is not bad.
“Achievements made in protect
ing the blood supply and the discov
ery of new treatments for AIDS pa
tients represent recent gains of
considerable note,” he said.
In addition, the Senate Labor
Health and Human Services Com
mittee recently recommended that
appropriations for AIDS research in
fiscal 1988 increase from $550 mil
lion to $605 million, Walch said. He
added that the recommendation had
bipartisan support and that funding
for all AIDS-related programs has
increased by at least two-thirds.
ealth expert: AIDS
f 750,000 Americans by 1997
By Robert Morris
Staff Writer
ie!.
n estimated 1.5 million Americans are infected with
/ HTLV-III, the virus that causes AIDS, and more than
^ hall of them will be dead within the next 10 years unless
y acute is found, Dr. Thomas G. Betz said.
I Hetz, the chief of the Texas Department of Health’s
Bureau of Communicable Diseases, gave the lecture on
^ the “AIDS epidemic” as part of an AIDS forum spon-
f sored by the Brazos Valley Public Health Coalition.
■The HTLV-III virus remains in the white blood cells
it attacks and is currently thought to spend four to nine
lears in incubation, Betz said. However, it isn’t the in
lection that kills, it is the ultimate breakdown of the im
mune system that, in at least half the cases, will even
tually cause death, he said.
EAnd those that are infected but fail to develop any
physical symptoms of the illness are able to spread the
virus to others through sexual contact, including penis-
Inna, penis-rectum, mouth-rectum, mouth-vagina,
Huth-penis contact, and/or intravenous drug use, Betz
said.
RAIDS is a sexually-oriented disease, transmitted es-
Hially well through homosexual anal intercourse, yet
It also can be transmitted from heterosexual men to
women and women to men with the latter being the
post difficult manner of transmission, Betz said.
About 70 percent of AIDS victims throughout the
Emtry are male homosexuals and bisexuals. Intrava-
leousdrug users make up 17 percent of the AIDS pop-
ilation, with the heterosexual community making up
percent.
The infection of the heterosexual population has
come from several areas, most of them centered on sex
ual transmission, Betz said.
Sexual activity with bisexuals, prostitutes, other in
fected heterosexuals with multiple partners and the
sharing of intraveneous needles are the only known
causes of AIDS in the heterosexual community, he said.
Yet, he stressed that AIDS is not an easy disease to
catch.
“AIDS outside the human body is very fragile, and
casual contact does not cause AIDS,” he said.
In support of this, he quoted a study of 1,758 ex
posed health-care workers in which 1.5 percent tested
positive for HTLV-III; of those, 23 belonged to a high-
risk group.
Betz defined high-risk groups as homosexuals, bisex
uals, intraveneous drug users and heterosexuals with
multiple sex partners.
It is these groups, especially the first three, that are in
the greatest danger.
At this time, whites make up the majority of the cases
currently detected. However, blacks and Hispanics
have a disproportionate percentage, he said.
Betz emphasized that the majority of AIDS victims
are vital members of the community with an average
education level of 17 years, and 68 percent of them fall
into the 29 to 49 year age bracket.
While Betz said that safe sex, or the use of condoms
to prevent the exchange of body fluids, is an effective
method of prevention, he emphasized that heterosex
ual sexual relations with multiple partners is a danger
ous practice and that homosexual activity of any kind is
extremely risky.
;nca
white
Panel calls education key
to stopping spread of AIDS
nbe
i, we’ve
1
got a
By Kirsten Dietz
Senior Staff Writer
ducation of the public, including
ildren, is the key to stopping the
spread of AIDS, three county and
state health officials agreed Tuesday
during a panel discussion on the
community impact of the disease.
■The panel was part of an af
ternoon public health forum held at
the Brazos Center in Bryan. In
cluded on the panel were Dr.
Thomas Walch, a public health ad-
[viser with the Texas Department of
Health, Dr. Thomas Betz, chief of
the Texas Department of Health’s
Bureau of Communicable Diseases,
and Allen Noah, a Brazos County
Health Department counselor for
people with sexually transmitted dis-
jeases. Dr. Jack Marsh, director of
the Brazos County Health Depart
ment, was the moderator.
|fBecause no cure for AIDS is ex
pected to be developed in the next
few years, people need to learn what
AIDS is and how it is spread so they
can practice prevention, the pan
elists said. This includes those in
[small communities, Betz said, who
believe AIDS occurs only in larger
cities. While the disease is prevalent
in larger cities, he said AIDS is
spreading. For example, he said
Bfazos County, with a population of
about 100,000, has 13 reported cases
of the disease — only slightly lower
than the state average of 15 reported
cases per 100,000 people.
ilBut because the AIDS virus can
incubate up to five years before be
ing detected, Betz said there is no
wav of knowing exactly how many
( people currently are infected.
l“We’re dealing with the tip of the
iceberg, but it’s the rest of the ice-
|berg we’re concerned about,” he
said.
■Walch said children hear frank
discussions about AIDS on television
newscasts and other programs, both
on private and public television. The
/school system and parents need to
match the educational efforts of the
media, he said.
“I personally see no reason why
the school system shouldn’t take a
systematic, K-through-12 (kinder
garten through 12th grade) ap
proach on a very factual, very non-
emotional basis and do the same
thing,” Walch said. “You teach pre
vention all the way from abstinence
to safe sex.
“I understand the perspective
about community values and com
munity needs, but my personal feel
ing is you might as well tell the kids
about what they’re seeing on the TV
or in the streets anyway. That way
you reinforce the very best that can
be taught about both worlds.”
Betz agreed, saying, “I don’t think
a lot of people are getting the messa-
g e ”
The panel also discussed manda
tory AIDS testing. According to law,
testing in Texas will become manda
tory for couples applying for a mar
riage license if the overall state AIDS
prevalence rate reaches 0.83 percent
of the population, Betz said.
However, he said, “We have no
idea how we’re going to determine
that.”
Current rates range from 0.04
percent in low-risk groups to 64 per
cent in sexually transmitted disease
clinics, Betz said. The statewide
prevalence rate falls somewhere be
tween the two, he said.
In general, Betz does not advocate
mandatory testing because he said it
does not benefit the people being
tested.
“Even if they are found to be posi
tive, there’s nothing you can do to
treat their infections,” he said. “
Even if they’re found to be negative,
they may be incubating the virus and
the fact that they’re engaged in sex
ual activities may affect transmission
because they have been given a false
sense of security in that window pe
riod between the time of the infec
tion and the development of antibo
dies.”
Walch and Betz also agreed the
1 PP (
patients who return to the commu
nity and to the schools. Walch said
AIDS patients need support services
because, once the infection is discov
ered, they incur tremendous finan
cial burdens and a large number of
the patients lose their jobs because
they are fired or because they are
too sick to work.
“I think the community should be
supportive and not try to put a tattoo
on a person’s forehead, brand an ‘A’
on their chests and turn them loose
in the streets,” he said.
Betz said that while most people
fear AIDS patients who return to the
community, this fear is unfounded
unless the patient begins to have un
protected sex or to snare needles to
inject drugs (two of the ways AIDS is
spread).
“Most people with AIDS are re
sponsible,” he said; “They realize the
risks involved. In fact, they probably
represent less of a risk to the com
munity that those with asymptomatic
HIV (the AIDS virus) infections who
don’t know they have it and who are
out there thinking that they’re safe
and are not putting anyone at risk.
Yet they are.”
Betz said many parents are wor
ried about children with AIDS at
tending school and infecting their
children. In fact, he said, the in
fected children are the ones at risk.
Because they’re immune systems are
damaged, they are susceptible to dis
eases carried by the other children,
he said.
After the panel discussion, Dr.
Charles Webb, director of Public
Health Region 6 of the Texas De
partment of Health, said the pur
pose of Tuesday’s afternoon semi
nar was to make community leaders
aware that AIDS is an important
problem, even in Brazos County.
While Webb said 300 community
leaders had been invited to the semi
nar, only about 60 people were at
the panel discussion.
“Many of the people who should
be here are not here,” he said.
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"Beehive"
September 30, 1987
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Nikolais Dance Theater
September 22, 1987
"...one of the most extraordinary theatrical wonders of the age.'—THE WASHINGTON
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Rotterdam Philharmonic,
James Conlon, conductor
with Bella Davidovich, pianist
October 13. 1987
"The orchestra...digs in and plays with an almost aggressive enthusiasm and visible
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Peter Nero, Leslie Uggams, Mel Torme"
starring in "The Great Gershwin"
Movember 10. 1987
"...and then, of course, came Gershwin, with whom Peter Hero seems to have a special
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The Canadian Brass
"Christmas with The Canadian Brass"
December 1, 1987
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Tokyo String Quartet
January 28, 1988
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Christopher Parkening, Guitarist
February 15, 1988
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Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band
March 6. 1988
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Two convenient ways to order your tickets:
1. Order by phone. 845-1234. Charge to VISA or MasterCard, OR
2. Request an order form from the MSC Box Office.
Music Series Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3
Regular $95.00 $76.00 .$61.00
Student $81.00 $65.00 $55.00*
•Special two-for-one discount available for Texas A&M students. For a limited time,
Texas A&M students may buy two Zone 3 MSC OPAS season tickets (Music Series only)
for the price of one. Sorry, two-for-one orders accepted in person with fee slip at the
MSC Box Office only.
theatre Series Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3
Regular $103.00 $ 85.00 $ 63.00
Student $ 90.00 $ 75.00 $ 57.00
Combined Series Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3
Regular $188.00 $153.00 $119.00
Student $154.00 $130.00 $100.00
Programs and performance dates subject to change without notice. We regret there
will be no exchanges or refunds.
MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society
'lemorial Student tenter • Texas Aw’d L nixersitv
College Station TX 77844-9081