U.K. comes to grips with A.I.D.S.
By
CLAUDIA RADER,
of Reuter, in London
Five years after the emergence of A.I.D.S. stunned the United States, Britain is awakening to the full implications of the killer virus.
In a sudden media blitz, tabloids run daily horror stories about new cases of the disease and editorials expound on the Government’s apparent inaction in the face of what one columnist called “the greatest peace-time challenge... in our lifetimes.” Under growing pressure to take the lead in the fight against A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), the Government is now launching a television advertising campaign and sending leaflets on safe sexual practices to every household in the country. “Your next sexual partner could be that very special person — the one that gives you A.1.D.5.,” says an inscription surrounded by a heart on a leaflet aimed at teenage girls. “A.I.D.S. is not prejudiced. It can kill anyone,” says another. “Don’t die of ignorance,” warns a third. An A.I.D.S. telephone advice line already receives some 2500 calls a week and officials expect the number to rise as the awareness campaign gets underway.
A Government committee under Lord Whitelaw, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s
deputy, has been set up to discuss ways to combat the spread of A.I.D.S. and a special Health Authority is to be established to deal exclusively with the disease.
A.I.D.S. has already killed 284 Britons and the number of victims is doubling about every 10 months.
A further 30,000 are believed to be carriers of the virus, of whom up to 40 per cent could develop the disease. . Health officials say alarmed Britons are rushing to clinics to be tested for exposure to the virus, which destroys the body's natural defences. “In the last two weeks there has been a six-to seven-fold increase in the number of people asking for testing,” said Dr William Harris of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic at London’s St Mary’s Hospital.
“There’s been a realisation, a dawning, on the part of heterosexuals of the risk they have been running,” he added. Doctors critical of the British Government’s inaction point out that five years ago there were as many A.I.D.S. sufferers in the United States as there are in Britain now. Today, about half of the 25,000 Americans who have contracted the disease are dead. One to two million others are thought to carry the virus.
In an effort to curb the spread of A.1.D.5., Britain’s Health Department is also considering distributing free hypodermic needles to drug addicts. In spite of public awareness campaigns, so far shouldered by some 90 A.I.D.S. charities, confusion persists about exactly how the disease is transmitted and fears run deep. A Harris poll earlier this month showed nearly two-thirds of Britons believed the entire population should be tested for A.I.D.S. virus; 82 per cent advised screening everyone entering Britain. Public anxiety was highlighted by a protracted controversy this summer over plans to open Britain’s first hospice for A.I.D.S. victims in west London where some 70 per cent of the country’s A.I.D.S. sufferers live.
The scheme, known as London Lighthouse, was given the goahead in September by local planners in spite of resistance from residents anxious for their children attending a nearby school.
“There was a lot of irrational fear,” said John Fitzpatrick, a director of the Lighthouse project and chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, one of Britain’s leading A.I.D.S. charities.
In an effort to ease panic, the trust runs an A.I.D.S. helpline
and this month launched a pamphlet to reassure church-goers that it is safe to take communion from the chalice.
Yet a new manual distributed to several hundred Roman Catholic priests advises that rubber gloves and disposable spoons be used to give communion to A.I.D.S. victims. The Church of England is also preparing its own guidelines to help priests deal with those stricken by the disease.
The Government has ear marked £2O million to teach the
public about A.1.D.5., but health workers feel more is needqd for hospitals and clinics, which they say are being strained by the influx of people seeking tests or care for A.I.D.S. i -7 .
"Our staff is being very sorely stretched,” said Dr Harris; He said the wait for receiving test results, already an agonising three weeks, could soar as laboratories struggle to diagnose the surge of samples.
While scientists have expressed optimism over recently developed drugs to curb the spread of the A.I.D.S. virus, such as A.Z.T. and Hiva being tested in the United States and Britain, they caution it could be years before an A.I.D.S. vaccine is available.
Meanwhile, British health officials stress that monogamy and careful sexual practices remain the best protection. “The advice to everyone is clear — stick to one partner. If you cannot, make sure a condom is used,” the Social Services Minister, Norman Fowler, said last week, a remark which helped push the share price of London International, makers of the Durex condom, to a record high.
The Government is also considering lifting a long-standing ban on advertising of condoms on television imposed for fear of offending viewers’ sensibilities.