Phantom A.I.D.S. fear hits Britain

Press, 9 August 1988, Page 36

Phantom A.I.D.S. fear hits Britain

By

DAVID JONES

NZPA London People who are convinced they have A.I.D.S. are developing phantom symptoms which threaten their mental and physical health, according to a report. ■ Many become suicidal, others require psychiatric treatment and some refuse to accept negative blood tests, says a report hr the latest issue of the “Journal of the Royal College of Physicians” in London. Increasing numbers of psychologically vulnerable people appear to have adopted the A.I.D.S. pandemic as a vehicle for the expression of their sexual, psychological or psychiatric vulnerability, it said. The report cited the . case of a woman who had slept with two men in recent years and was

worried that she had infected one of them as a result of catching the virus from the other. She had swollen glands, night sweats and other A.1.D.5.-like symptoms, but her blood test was negative. Another case involved a professional man who after three negative blood tests spent 30 minutes a day checking his body for symptoms. He was convinced he had become infected with the H.I.V. virus in a casual encounter with a woman abroad and was so afraid of infecting his girlfriend they had postponed plans to have a baby. The report said that a study showed that more than half of tha patients with these symptoms had made plans for suicide to avoid the catastrophic inevitability of A.1.D.5.” . Hawever, psycho-

therapy in which patients were encouraged to reinterpret their symptoms in terms of anxiety rather than H.1.V., had led to significant improvements, the report said. The British Medical Association has warned that doctors who conduct A.1.D.5.-related tests for insurance companies without a patient’s consent could face disciplinary action. The B.M.A. is writing to the Association of British Insurers asking it to withdraw its latest advice on H.I.V. testing, after complaints by doctors who say they are being asked to perform tests without proper consent. The B.M.A. is concerned that the first a patient might know he has A.I.D.S. is when an insurance company informs refu C ° Ver has be<