‘A.I.D.S. cannot be kept out’
PA Wellington The latest steps to combat A.I.D.S. announced by the Minister of Health, Dr Bassett, last week will not guarantee that New Zealand blood supplies will be free of the deadly disease, according to the Health Department
As soon as the necessary equipment becomes available early next year, all blood donations will be tested for the htlv3 antibody. A positive result to the antibody test means that the donor is infected with the A.I.D.S. virus, or has come into contact with the virus in the past.
However, a spokesman for the Health Department, Dr Keith Ridings, said yesterday that overseas reports indicated that a few people could become carriers of the virus and lose the antibodies. Such infected blood would not be detected using the antibody test.
“Our aim is to minimise the risk. The antibody test will go a long way but the ideal would be a virus test, which has not yet been developed,” he said.
“I do not think it is possible to eradicate A.I.D.S. completely from blood transfusions.”
Dr Ridings said that the antibody test would cost
about $500,000 a year, and New Zealand would possibly be the first country to begin using it nationally. “It is feasible for a small country because our size keeps the cost down. I would imagine Australia would probably decide to do it too.”
So far no “homegrown” case of A.I.D.S. has been detected. Three men who contracted the disease overseas have returned to New Zealand. One has since died.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome breaks down the body’s immune system, -leaving it highly susceptible to infections and
disease such as some cancers.
Homosexuals, who have a particularly high risk of contracting the disease, have been asked by the Health Department not to give blood. The A.LD.S. Support Network, an educational and welfare group formed by the homosexual community, has been wary that the A.I.D.S. antibody test might be used to discriminate against homosexuals. The group’s co-ordinator, Mr Bruce Burnett, said that the test showed whether a person had had contact with the virus, but not whether a person would develop the
disease itself. “Because no-one can tell what a positive result means, it will just leave individuals in an anxious limbo, unsure of whether they are incubating A.LD.S.” he said.
Mr Burnett said that there was a risk, particularly in the United States, of someone’s obtaining a list of people who tested positive for the antibody and labelling them homosexual.
“Here in New Zealand we can probably be-much more trusting of our health authorities and believe that they will keep all names totally confidential,” he said.
‘A.I.D.S. cannot be kept out’
Press, 22 November 1984, Page 1
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