A.I.D.S.: killer disease sweeps through Africa
ROBIN McKIE and MIRIAM RYAN report from London on the warning by scientists that urgent measures are necessary to prevent A.I.D.S. spreading worldwide following the speed it has spread through heterosexual communities in Africa.
The deadly disease A.I.D.S. has taken a grip on much of Central and East Africa and is spreading rapidly through heterosexual communities there. Scientists have warned that urgent preventive measures must be taken to forestall a similar spread in Europe and America. Doctors are particularly alarmed about the extent of the African epidemic. Previously, it was thought that A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was an old African disease that had survived unnoticed in isolated pockets there. But, at an international conference on infectious diseases in Cairo last month, scientists reported that A.I.D.S. was now spreading as quickly among African heterosexuals as it was among European and American homosexuals and drug-users. Cases of the disease, which destroys the power to fight various cancers and pneumonias, are doubling every seven or eight months. It is already a major public health problem in several areas. “A.I.D.S. may be an old African disease, but this is certainly a new epidemic,” says one scientist. Already, nine countries are seriously affected and, in some, infections have reached very high levels. In the cities of Zaire one in 10 people is thought to be carrying the virus; and in one study in Uganda, 20 per cent of those sampled were carriers. Men and women are affected equally, and about one in 10 is likely to develop the disease. “Quite frankly, we don’t know what is happening,” ssys Dr Fakhry Assad, director of communicable disease for the World Health Organisation. “There must be special factors responsible for its spread in Africa but we don’t know what they are.” A special W.H.O. conference on the African A.I.D.S. crisis is to be held in October, though scientists face difficulties in collecting accurate information. Those countries affected — Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Congo, Kenya, Zambia, and Tanzania — will release little information because they fear their crucial dollar-earning tourist industries could be badly affected. Nevertheless, European scientists are piecing together a disturbing picture of widespread heterosexual transmission of A.I.D.S. in Africa. One striking example of, transmission from woman to man, and then from man to woman, was provided at the Cairo conference
by Dr Nathan Clumeck, head of infectious diseases at the Brussels St Pierre Hospital. The case involved a wealthy 46-year-old Zairean man who died of A.I.D.S. in 1982. He contracted the disease from a Zairean female prostitute, who also died of the disease. Before his death, he passed the disease to four other women. All subsequently died of A.I.D.S. “From these cases, it is clear normal sexual contact is involved in the transmission of A.1.D.5.,” Dr Clumeck added. According to Dr Clumeck, many female A.I.D.S. patients in both Zaire and Rwanda were prostitutes or had promiscuous husbands. One study of 33 Rwandan prostitutes revealed that 80 per cent had fullblown A.1.D.5., or related conditions. This suggests the A.I.D.S. virus spreads as easily via heterosexual as through homosexual contacts or other conditions involving contamination of blood. In the Zairean capital of Kinshasa, the disease’s African epicentre, almost 2000 cases of A.I.D.S. have been confirmed. “I certainly think A.I.D.S. is spread through normal heterosexual contacts, though we should be careful in interpreting data from Africa,” says Dr Tony Pinching, of the immunology department, St Mary’s Hospital, London. “Poor medical care, particularly infected syringe needles, may also be involved in the disease’s spread. “Nevertheless, A.I.D.S. is un-
doubtedly going to be a world problem for both homosexuals and heterosexuals. A lot of people have got the idea that A.I.D.S. is only a gay disease and think they are protected. That is not the case.” Dr Pinching also rejected the argument that European gays and African heterosexuals were especially at risk because their promiscuous lifestyles, or their lack of proper nutrition, left them immunologically deficient and open to infection. “There is little scientific validity for this. It is purely a matter of numbers of sexual contacts. The more you have the more you are likely to get A.1.D.5.,” he says. He and other scientists warn that there is little chance that a vaccine to counter A.I.D.S. will be developed for at least five years. The West’s best hope is to begin a calm but urgent health education campaign. However, Professor Robin Weiss, of London’s Institute of Cancer Research, stressed that care should be taken in drawing parallels between African and other heterosexual A.I.D.S. victims. The virus may be passed in the same way, but different levels of malnutrition, or infection from other diseases, mean the disease could take effect much more rapidly in Africans. He did acknowledge that “A.I.D.S. may well become a major disease of the twentieth century for both homosexuals and heterosexuals.” Copyright — London Observer Service.
A.I.D.S.: killer disease sweeps through Africa
Press, 17 May 1985, Page 11
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.