Subject: AIDS Among Heterosexuals Is Rising But 'Explosion' in Group Is Unlikely
Date: Published: 10/23/87 63 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    AIDS Among Heterosexuals Is Rising
    But 'Explosion' in Group Is Unlikely
    ---
    By Joe Davidson
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    WASHINGTON -- AIDS among heterosexuals is increasing, but
 a feared "explosion" of the fatal disease in this group
 appears unlikely, according to federal health officials.
    "There is not apparently going to be an explosion in the
 heterosexual population as we saw in the homosexual
 population in '81 and '82," Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
 told a breakfast meeting with reporters.
    But that news must be treated cautiously, he added,
 because one sex act can transmit acquired immune deficiency
 syndrome.  And the disease's greatest rate of increase is
 among heterosexuals, according to Peter Fischinger, AIDS
 coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services.
    While federal figures indicate about 26% of the people
 with the AIDS disease are heterosexuals, only 4% of the
 42,000 AIDS cases in American adults are the result of
 heterosexual activity.  The latter percentage has been rising
 slowly for more than nine months.  Federal officials predict,
 however, that 7% of the AIDS patients in 1991 will have
 contracted the disease through heterosexual contact.
    About half of the 4% figure is related to those who had
 sexual contacts with persons from areas such as Haiti and
 central Africa, where heterosexual sex is the main means of
 spreading the disease.  Within the other half, more than 80%
 are women and nearly two-thirds reported sexual relations
 with intravenous drug abusers.
    Fears of an AIDS explosion were fueled by significant
 increases in the disease between 1983 and 1987 resulting from
 heterosexual contact.  Otis Bowen, secretary of HHS, said an
 outburst of the disease among heterosexuals was averted
 because of educational efforts, which stress that AIDS isn't
 a disease just among homosexuals, as was once commonly
 believed.
    Dr. Bowen said the "toughest problem" in the AIDS fight is
 halting its spread among drug addicts.  "If you could contain
 IV drug abuse, you would be well on the way to containing
 AIDS," he said.
    In a interview after the meeting, Frank Young,
 administrator of the Food and Drug Administration, said he
 has decided that so-called AIDS home test kits must undergo a
 full approval process before marketing, rather than an
 official shortcut of gaining "substantial equivalent" status.
 Granting that designation would get the kits on the market
 quickly by circumventing a "heavy review" by the FDA. 
    But home testing kits -- actually a system in which
 patients would ship blood serum to a laboratory -- don't
 provide for confirmatory tests and counseling, and the FDA
 doesn't certify the laboratories, Dr. Young explained.

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