Link between AIDS, herpes

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 9

Link between AIDS, herpes

NZPA Sydney A theory linking infections such as hepatitis B or herpes to AIDS has been proposed in the latest issue of the “Medical Journal of Australia.” An article suggests that repeated challenges to the immune system from infections such as hepatitis B or herpes and other things such as drugs might slowly paralise the cellular immune system, leaving the victim vulnerable to infections at a time when he or she is run down.

Promiscuous homosexual men are especially vulnerable to the disease.

The article says that evidence shows the spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome has similar patterns to the spread of hepatitis B, a disease also common among homosexual men.

Blood contact occurs during anal intercourse, which

explains why hepatitis B is common among homosexual men. Repeated exposure to infection through the blood vessels of the anus leaves homosexual men vulnerable to transmission of the disease.

“Homosexual persons or others seeks advice about personal risk should be advised to restrict their sexual contact and avoid ‘recreational’ drug exposure,” the article says. In the leading article, Dr Kenneth Mutton and Dr lan Gust, of Melbourne’s Fairfield Hospital for Communicable Disease, discuss some of the most detailed explorations of the disease given by medical people in Australia so far and four further articles in the journal also discuss the disease. The herpes virus infections are a family of virus infections including the herpes simplex, chicken pox and several other viruses.