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From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Subject: Sample Moscow News art.215 Sat, Aug 22 1992
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 22:04:19 EDT

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    DATE(YYYY/MM/DD): 1992/08/19
    TITLE: AIDS: fears are exaggerated
    BY: Sergei Rumyantsev
    SUBJECTS: 28
    SECTION:
    
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    SUMMARY: Problem of AIDS in the world. Is it a problem for Russia?
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         AIDS: fears are exaggerated
         
         Like everywhere  in the  world, the  last ten years have seen the
    publication in  our country  of many  articles warning  people of  the
    impending threat  of mass diseases caused by the AIDS virus. According
    to forecasts,  there was  expected about one million infected patients
    in the  ex-Soviet Union  by 1991. This ominous forecast gave rise to a
    network of  special institutions  whose task was to prevent the spread
    of the "20th century plague". The Academy of Medical Sciences declared
    this problem  to be crucial and a new item of many millions of roubles
    appeared in the public health budget.
         What was  the actual scope of the disaster? Altogether 50 million
    people have  been examined  for AIDS,  but only  627  had  AIDS  virus
    antibodies (for  comparison:  among  the  urban  population  of  Kenya
    antibodies were  found among 50% of examined patients). Over 5 million
    people were  examined in  Murmansk, Arkhangelsk,  Vologda,  Pskov  and
    Novgorod, with  spending for  this over  14 million  roubles. Only  14
    people had antibodies.
         In  official  reports  and  newspaper  items  these  persons  are
    mentioned as  "infected", that  is carriers of the virus, which is not
    quite right.  In fact  the presence  of antibodies in an organism only
    shows that  it has  possibly "met" with this virus. But whether or not
    there is  a virus  in his  or her  body cannot be stated with absolute
    certainty.
         There were  about 70 AIDS patients, including 40 dead, in the CIS
    countries by the middle of 1992. In St.Petersburg, with its population
    of  five  million,  AIDS  caused  death  to  three  patients,  whereas
    oncological diseases  proved lethal  for 300,000 people. The situation
    is almost  the same  in East  European countries.  The cases  of  AIDS
    registered in  China and Japan are still fewer. So, the problem of the
    AIDS epidemic  was highly  exaggerated for many countries. At the same
    time, AIDS  was a  very serious problem for the aboriginals of Central
    Africa, for  a part  of those  residing in  North and  Latin  America,
    especially the USA where the number of the infected and dead runs into
    the tens  of thousands.  Is this  situation typical  for this  disease
    only? Not  at all.  We can  trace here  a certain law-governed process
    which is not new for epidemiology.
         People differ  genetically and  also by  their predisposition  to
    infections. Some  are prone to it, others reveal immunity. Many of our
    contemporaries do  not suffer  from tuberculosis  although  in crowded
    big cities  they inevitably  run into  TB bacilli.  Acute tuberculosis
    that can  kill a  patient in  two or  three weeks has practically been
    done away with. Meanwhile, such a galloping form of TB prevailed among
    Red Indians and Negroes when Europeans first brought in this infection
    during the colonization of America and Africa.
         There are  many other  well-known examples  from the  history  of
    epidemics. During  his travels  to  New  Guinea  N.N.  Miklukho-Maklai
    pointed  out   that  resistance   to  malaria  was  characteristic  of
    aboriginals from  this tropical  area. On the contrary, most newcomers
    from northern  regions, coming to the tropics suffer cruelly from this
    disease. Their  ancestors, natives  of the  planet's northern regions,
    were not  subjected to such strict selection, and therefore they don't
    have natural immunity to malaria.
         The existence  of ethnic  differences in  predisposition to  AIDS
    gives every  reason to  believe that  this infection  is  not  new  to
    humanity as  a biological  species. The  description of  the disease's
    history shows that AIDS caused the death of Erazm Rotterdamsky, one of
    the great  thinkers of  the medieval  period. The  traces of  the AIDS
    agent were  discovered in the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs. Everything
    seems to indicate that as far as one can go in history, the population
    of Europe  and Asia  have experienced  the disastrous  force  of  this
    disease which  was just  as dangerous  as  any  plague.  The  greatest
    chances to survive were given to the descendants of the people who, as
    a result of mutation, developed certain peculiarities of the molecular
    structure of  cells, thanks  to which  their bodies became "unfit" for
    the habitation of AIDS viruses. It is safe to say that the majority of
    Eurasia's population  today, including  Russia, is protected with such
    beneficial mutation.
         On the  contrary, the  aboriginals of  tropical Africa, separated
    from Indo-European  populations by  the impassable Sahara desert, were
    not affected  by the  epidemic and, therefore, could not be adapted to
    the virus.  The descendants  of emigrants, brought from Africa, make a
    significant part of the population of North America. Many of them even
    do not  suspect that they are the offsprings of the Africans from whom
    they have  inherited great  predisposition to diseases. Characteristic
    of most of the aboriginals from the Eurasian continent is the natural,
    genetically predetermined immunity to AIDS.
         The problem  of AIDS  exists undoubtedly.  Just  like  all  other
    diseases, this  infection must occupy a fitting place in corresponding
    scientific, medical  and social programmes and the stress must be laid
    on revealing individual predisposition to AIDS. The urgent development
    of such  methods, as  well as medicines and equipment for their use is
    really a  task of  paramount importance  for medical  science. But, in
    planning the  expenses for  research and  preventive measures, we must
    not give  preference to  the AIDS  campaign to  the detriment of other
    trends of  our puny public health system. The ratio of victims of AIDS
    and cancer in our country is one to 100,000. No  comment is needed.
         St.Petersburg
                                               Sergei Rumyantsev
         
         
         
         
         
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This article is copyright 1992 The Moscow News. Redistribution to
other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American 
Cybercasting Corporation.  For more information, send-email to 
usa@AmeriCast.COM

This article is copyright 1992 The Moscow News. Redistribution to
other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American 
Cybercasting Corporation.  For more information, send-email to 
usa@AmeriCast.COM