NAT ION
Paee 12 THE BATTALION ^ Ty—
—— ^ February 2,.
Oral sex more dangerous than previously thought
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oral sex, long re
garded by many gay men as a low-risk practice, ap
pears to be a surprisingly frequent way of spread
ing AIDS.
A study released Tuesday found that oral sex was
probably the cause of eight percent of recent HIV
infections among a group of homosexual men ex
amined in San Francisco.
In the past, there have been occasional reports of
people apparently catching HIV orally. But health
investigators have had difficulty being certain, since
gay men who have oral sex also may engage in oth
er, riskier sex practices, such as anal intercourse.
Now diagnostic tests allow doctors to narrow
down the timing of HIV infections. They wereusedy
in the latest study, described as the most definitive
on the subject to date.
The work was conducted by the Centers for Dis
ease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the Uni
versity of California at San Francisco, and was pre
sented in San Francisco at a scientific conference.
“While oral sex may still be safer than anal in
tercourse or vaginal intercourse, it is not without risk
and perhaps has higher risk than we would have ex
pected otherwise,” Dr. Helene Gayle, the CDC’s
AIDS chief, said.
The researchers
sought to leam the
means of infection in
102 gay and bisexual
men who had recent
ly caught HIV. When
all other possible
means of infection
were ruled out, oral
sex turned out to be
the only risk behav
ior in eight of these
men. Most of them
said they thought
oral sex had little or
no risk.
Because of the strict criteria used, the real num
ber of cases resulting from oral sex may actually
have been higher. For instance, two men said they
had oral sex but not anal sex. But they also said
they had blacked out once and could not be sure
what had happened, so they were excluded from
the total.
All of
the men
apparent
ly caught
the virus
by giving
oral sex,
rather
than re
ceiving it,
and none
used con
doms.
“We
know that
the only safe sex is total abstinence or sex with a mu
tually monogamous, non-HIV-infected partner."
Gayle said. “Everything else has some degree of risk.
The sense that oral sex is safe sex may have been an
unfortunate message.”
Gayle said she assumes that the risk of oral m:\
when properly using a condom is close to zero.
She also said that if oral sex alone has played a
large role in the spread of AIDS, that would al
ready have become obvi&us during the 20 years ol
the epidemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Insti
tute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that
some gay men turned to frequent unprotected oral
sex alter giving up anal intercourse.
“A lot of us in the public health field have been
saying all along to be careful of unprotected fella
tio.” he said. "People think the risk is loss, but
what’s low?”
Dr. Frederick M. Hecht of San Francisco Gen
eral 1 lospital. a co-author of the studs, said anal in
tercourse may be 100 times riskier than oral sex
"The message is not that every one will get infected
through oral sex,” he said.
Because of declines in unprotected anal inter
course, there has been a big reduction in high-risk
exposure, I lechl said, but there is still plenty of low -
risk exposure through oral sex vsithout condoms.
"While oral sex may still be safer
than anal intercourse or vaginal in
tercourse, it is not without risk and
perhaps has higher risk than we
would have expected otherwise."
— Dr. Helene Gayle
CDC's AIDS chief
News in Brief
Tuesday the number of
charges from the military i
Motorist rescued
from avalanche
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Nine
motorists were rescued by a state
police helicopter Tuesday after
spending the night in their cars,
trapped by huge avalanches that
buried a highway.
The travelers, who had kept in
touch with rescuers by cellular phone
as they waited along the Seward
Highway, were flown out in three
groups and taken to a diner for break
fast. They were in good condition.
“We ate everything they had in the
restaurant, and now we’re starting all
over again,” Darwin Peterson said. “I
told my wife when we get back home,
I’m not going as far as the post of
fice for the rest of the winter.”
Some of the people wrapped up
for the night in sleeping bags, while
others were in a van that had a
propane heater. They spent the time
playing cribbage, getting acquainted
and talking to troopers by phone.
Most Alaskans carry warm cloth
ing, sleeping bags and survival gear
when they travel long distances in
the winter.
Blizzard conditions has prevented
rescuers from dropping supplies
such as food and blankets overnight,
when temperatures dipped into the
low teens. The rescuers had to wait
for the weather to clear to reach the
motorists.
Coal train derails
killing 15-year-old
BLOOMINGTON, Md. (AP) — A
CSX coal train was running downhill
at more than twice the recom
mended speed when it derailed and
crashed into a house at about 55
mph, killing a 15-year-old boy, a fed
eral investigator said Monday.
Investigators will interview crew
members and use computer simu
lation to determine why the 80-car
train was going so fast Sunday and
what caused the derailment, Rus
sell Quimby, a rail safety engineer
with the National Transportation
Safety Board, said.
He said the investigation will fo
cus on the three-member crew,
weather conditions and possible
brake failure or other mechanical
problems.
It was snowing early Sunday
morning when 76 coal hoppers de
railed along 2.4 miles of track near
the Maryland-West Virginia border,
about 130 miles west of Baltimore.
The stretch has a recommended
speed of 25 mph, Quimby said.
Military training for
gay policy approved
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the
first time, the nation’s military ser
vices have written guidelines to en
sure that the Pentagon’s “don’t
ask, don’t tell” policy on gays is im
plemented fairly and uniformly.
Defense Secretary William Co
hen said Tuesday he has approved
new training pro
grams for each
of the services,
including guide
lines for investi
gating harass
ment or threats
against individu
als based on al
legations of ho-
william COHEN mosexuality.
defense secretary As a matter of
policy, comman
ders are not to use complaints of
such harassment or threats as a
reason to investigate the com
plaining person but is supposed to
investigate the source of the threat
or harassment.
“These plans make it very clear
... that there is no room for ha
rassment or threats in the military,"
Cohen said in a written statement.
The Pentagon also announced
fiscal year ended last Sept. 30
fell to 1,034 from 1,145 in the
year-earlier period.
Spokesperson Kenneth Bacon
said 83.5 percent of discharges
resulted from statements by ser
vice members that they were ho
mosexual.
Under the Clinton administra
tion’s policy, gays may serve in the
military as long as they keep their
sexual orientation to themselves. If
they state that they are homosexu
al. they are supposed to be removed
from the service.
Cohen instructed the services to
develop new training guidelines last
December amid widening criticism
that administration policy on gays
in the military was not working.
The criticism sharpened after a
court-martial in which an Army pri
vate was convicted of murdering a
gay soldier harassed with the
knowledge of his superiors.
Vonne
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in
lansfc
house
hat
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Fidelity
Investments
O n Dec. 13,
after tearinj
through hal
China like the pirn
bial bull in a shop.
Imperial Japanese
Army captured the
of Nanking and bei
three* months of loc
rape, torture and m
murder. The massa
32,000 and 369,00
agenda of who one
In a perfect woi
wearing a white ha
any discussion oft
spectacularly knov
has reached levels
perhaps only by th
The Japanese gove
downplayed all Ja]
while the Chinese
have supported the
Perhaps most e
insistence of man)
including figures;
Ishihara, governor
no massacre at
Nanking at all.
Tlie lies on both
sides must stop
before history is
doomed to bear
the repetition of
these crimes.
I he efforts of
the Chinese to
memorialize the
dead of Nanking
(and more impor
tantly for the
Chinese, to blame
deaths) are being
of otherw ise repul
ly high death tolls
ures like this are a
can he kindly lain,
better description
“biased" or perha
: The Chinese a
the official Allied
The Allies counte
highly suspect soi
|f For example,;
the banks of the \
sur\ Ivor Lu Su at
a local peasant, re
were bound in pa
machine-gunned,
and then set on fn
hid in a cave, whi
count. The fact th
couni that well th
jured and on the r
to trust his numbi
plagued by simik
ami the Chinese I
face value.
Fidelity Investments Tax-Exempt Services Company
A division of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc.
82 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02109
1 A relief organ
said it buried 110
month period. In
this time, they cL
J.403b-TEXAM PERF-0100 105,000 victims.
would have had t
^
2i 95090