SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

BANGLADESH

AIDS Panel Meets, Lowest Incidence Noted
92WE0529A Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER
in English 3 May 92 pp 1, 10

[Text] Bangladesh has no known case of AIDS at present
but had detected a total of eight cases of positive AIDS
Virus (HIV) so far, out of which one developed full
blown AIDS and died, reports BSS [BANGLADESH
Sangbad Sangstha].

This was disclosed in a report of the Programme Man-
ager in a meeting of the National AIDS Committee
under the chairmanship of Prof. A.Q.M. Badruddoza
Chowdhury, Deputy Leader of the Jatiya Sangsad and
chairman of the committee, held at World Health Organ-
isation (WHO) office in Dhaka on Saturday.

Explaining the status of AIDS in the country, the report
stated that out of the remaining seven persons affected
by HIV, one was a foreigner who was deported to his
own country and the remaining five were under constant
observation.

According to the statistics, Bangladesh still possesses the
lowest rate of AIDS infection, having only one case
detected so far. While the total AIDS cases detected so
far in India was 112, it was 179 in Thailand, six in
Myanmar, 21 in Indonesia, 12 in Sri Lanka and five in
Nepal.

Prof. Badruddoza Chowdhury, while presiding over the
three-hour long meeting, understood the need for
strengthening the AIDS prevention movement instead of
going for curative measures since the treatment of this
disease was yet to be developed. He said since the disease
was originated abroad, therefore measures have to be
taken to check the inflow of persons having AIDS
infection from outside world by air, sea and land routes.
{Sentence as received]

The meeting stressed the need for giving wide publicity
of the dreaded disease all over the country to make the
members of the public aware of it. It has also chalked out
programmes to carry out regular examinations among
high risk groups, and decided to go for modern urine
check system, developed in the west.

The 16th meeting of the National AIDS Committee also
decided to set up a technical committee with only
technical persons in it to deal with the highly technical
issues more effectively than before. It also held discus-
sions on introduction of the subject in the educational
institutions to get the pupils acquainted with its preven-
tion.

Prof. Chowdhury said that since the disease had already
spread in the neighbouring countries, Bangladesh should
take more stronger measures to stop its inflow. The
possibility of involving NGOs has also been discussed.

The National AIDS Committee, constituted in 1985, has
been working as the Advisory Committee to the Govern-
ment. It has already implemented a short-term plan of

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 15

action by conducting sero-surveillance on 13,144 per-
sons, setting of five laboratories for testing HIV antibody
and creating public awareness.

The committee is now implementing an interim plan of
action to ensure better investigation system and preven-
tive methods.

Minister Reports AIDS Total, Other Cases
92WE0599A Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER
in English 9 Jul 92 pp 1, 10

[Article: “9 With AIDS Virus Detected So Far”]

[Excerpt] Nine people carrying AIDS virus have so far
been detected in the country, Health Minister Chowd-
hury Kamal Ibne Yusuf Informed Parliament on
Wednesday, reports UNB.

In a written reply to Sudhangshu Shekhar Halder of
Awami League during question hour, the Minister said
blood of about 1.70 lakh people suspected carrying
acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) had
been tested till May this year.

He, however, didn’t give details of the nine found
carrying the virus of the deadly disease.

Explaining the steps taken to prevent the fatal disease,
the Health Minister said the National AIDS Committee
had recently been reorganised with Dr. Badruddoza
Chowdhury as its chairman.

Programme for prevention and control of AIDS, both
financially and technically aided by the World Health
Organisation, is now in full swing.

Five laboratories, three in Dhaka and one each in
Chittagong and Sylhet, have been set up where AIDS
virus is being tested. Another laboratory will soon be set
up in Khulna, he said.

Under the programme, surveillance teams are collecting
blood samples from suspected people for screening in the
laboratories, he added.

The Minister informed the House that a three-year
mid-term plan prepared by the government to prevent
the killer disease was now awaiting approval by the
donor agencies. The plan is expected to be put into
action from next January.

[Passage omitted]

INDIA

Health Ministry Establishes AIDS Panel

92WE0588A New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
23 Jun 92 p7

[Text] To contain the growing menace of AIDS, a
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) under the
Health Ministry has been set up. Mr. P.R. Dasgupta, a
1963 Maharashtra cadre IAS [Indian Administrative



ice

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JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

He also said that as of the end of May, 3,371 people had
been confirmed as HIV [human immunodeficiency
virus] carriers; 47 had AIDS; and 33 had died.

“The long-term program to stop the disease is very
important, because the spread of HIV could also hurt the
country’s economy,” he added.

Lee also said that despite the hepatitis B immunization
program for newborn babies and children, there are still
children in certain groups of people who do not receive
immunization against hepatitis B and other diseases.

Minister—30 Percent of Migrants Infected With
AIDS

BK2807055092 Kuala Lumpur BERNAMA in English
0338 GMT 28 Jul 92

[Excerpt] Kuala Lumpur, July 28 (OANA-
BERNAMA)—Three out of ten foreign workers who
underwent a medical check-up for their work permits
were found to carry the AIDS virus, Deputy Home
Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub said Monday.

“We are fortunate to have included the medical
screening process. Otherwise, the (AIDS) situation in the
country could have gone out of control,” he said.

He added that despite the alarming trend, the situation
was under control.

He said that those who failed the medical examination,
especially the carriers of the AIDS-causing human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), had been deported.
[Passage omitted]

Twelve Foreign Workers Confirmed HIV Carriers

BK0608092092 Kuala Lumpur Voice of Malaysia
in English 0600 GMT 6 Aug 92

{Text] Health Minister Datuk Lee Kim Sai says there is
no necessity to set up a panel of doctors to conduct
medical examination of foreign workers in the country.
There are adequate rules and regulations for such mal-
practices by doctors even in cases related to foreign
workers. However, malpractices by doctors, such as
giving false medical reports on foreign workers, should
be reported to the Malaysian Medical Council, MMC,
the supervisory body on discipline for the profession.

He was speaking to reporters at the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport on his return from his (?six-day)
visit to China. Datuk Lee also said that 12 of the 5,000
foreign workers in the country who had submitted their
medical reports were confirmed to be carriers of the HIV
virus, which causes AIDS. Samples of their blood were
tested in various laboratories in the country before they
were sent to the Institute for Medical Research for a final
check.

The rest of the workers had yet to submit their medical
reports through their respective employers.

EAST ASIA © 9

SINGAPORE

Over 100 Infected With HIV Since 1985; 27 Dead

BK2006082792 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES
in English 19 Jun 92 p 3

[Excerpts] A third Singaporean has been infected with
the HIV virus after a kidney transplant in India. [passage
omitted]

The first local case of HIV infection was detected in May
1985. By mid-1990, there were 50. cases reported.

Of these, 26 people or 52 percent had been infected
through homosexual contact and 10 people or 20 percent
through heterosexual contact.

Bisexual contact resulted in 12 cases. One patient con-
tracted the virus from a blood transfusion, another from
an unknown source.

Of the 68 Singaporeans infected since mid-1990, half
had the virus through heterosexual contact and 32 per-
cent through homosexual contact.

This means that HIV cases through homosexual contact
are down by 20 percentage points, while the infections
through heterosexual contact have risen by 30 per-
centage points.

Two patients contracted the virus through bisexual con-
tact, five via intravenous drug use, and one from an
unknown source.

This brings the total infected with the virus to 118. Forty
have developed full-blown AIDS. Of these, 27 have died.

THAILAND

AIDS Cases Increase in Chiang Mai
92WE0562A Bangkok NAEO NA in Thai 11 Jun 92
pl2

[Excerpt] [passage omitted] Concerning the spread of
AIDS, which is now posing a major threat to mankind,
public health officials conducted a survey among various
hill tribesmen in Mae Ai District, Chiang Mai Province,
which is a district that borders Burma, and found that
among the 11,632 hill tribesmen in Mae Ai District, 22
percent are infected with the AIDS virus. And this figure
is increasing.

Dr. Somphon Mamkangsa, the director of the Mae Ai
Hospital, said that the AIDS virus is spreading seriously
in Mae Ai District. This has become an alarming matter,
particularly among various hill tribe groups. This is
because the hill tribes lack knowledge about how to
protect themselves from the disease, and they tend to
ignore the advice given by doctors.

The Mae Ai Hospital and the Mae Ai District Public
Health Office, which are well aware of this problem, are
preparing to hold a seminar in order to provide hill
tribesmen with information on how to protect them-
selves from AIDS. This seminar will be held on 18 June
at the Mae Ai Hospital. This seminar will teach hill



JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 19

Health Minister Provides Data on AIDS Cases

TA0608 100792 Tel Aviv ‘AL HAMISHMAR in Hebrew
6 Aug 92 p 12

[Report by Aran Klein and Ya’aqov Lazar}

[Excerpt] There are 186 known AIDS patients and 934
people carrying the AIDS virus in Israel, Health Minister
Hayim Ramon said yesterday in reply to a query by
Knesset Member Efrayim Gur in the Knesset. Since the
start of the year, eight new AIDS patients and 112 virus
carriers have been detected. These figures are among the
lowest in the world. [passage omitted]



SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992 4 AIDS

WEST EUROPE
GERMANY
New Bacterium Found To Infect AIDS Patients [Hamburg DER SPIEGEL, 13 Jul 92]
IRELAND

Rise in AIDS Among Heterosexuals, Gay Men Noted
[Eilish O’Regan; Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 22 Jun 92]
AIDS Incidence Increases, Steps Taken
New Statistics /Stephen McGrath;
Condom Bill Presented
[Mairtin Mac Cormaic and Lorna Reid; Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 9 Jul 92] ..........0

ITALY

Prisoners With AIDS To Be Kept in Hospitals

[Daniele Mastrogiacomo; Rome LA REPUBBLICA, 11 Jul 92]

Reasons Given for Increase in AIDS Cases [Carlo Gallucci; Romi
SPAIN

Report on 1991-92 AIDS Statistics Published {Madrid DIARIO 16, 18 Jul 92]
SWITZERLAND

Government Health Office Releases AIDS Figures [Bern Swiss Radio International, 28 Jul 92] .... 30
UNITED KINGDOM

Medical Associate Considers Policy on AIDS ...

HIV-Positive Surgeons {London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 7 Jul 92]
Patient Tests Rejected [David Fletcher; London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 9 Jul 92] ..

30
31



w» WEST EUROPE

expenditure procedures (such as for the World Cup
soccer championships), to date the plan’s execution has
not gone beyond “the approval of 74 preliminary
projects by the central evaluation group of the Ministry
of Health.” Meanwhile, 700 new people manifest symp-
toms of AIDS every three months. And within just three
years, that number could even double.

SPAIN

Report on 1991-92 AIDS Statistics Published
92WE0612A Madrid DIARIO 16 in Spanish 18 Jul 92
pl2

[Article by E.P.: “6,000 Persons Infected With AIDS
Died in Spain the First Half of This Year, The
European Country With the Most Cases, With an
Increase of 60 Percent Over the Number in 1990”}

{Text] According to data provided by the Carlos III
Institute of Health, the number of acquired immunode-
ficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases that have accumulated
and were reported in Spain during the first quarter of the
year amounts to 14,533. This means that the number of
cases increased by 60 percent during the past year. Of
these, 41 percent ended in the death of the patient—
nearly 6,000 persons.

During this same period, the incidence of AIDS in the
population of Spain went from 226 to 370 cases per
million inhabitants. Of these, 82.7 percent were men. A.
total of 418 persons under age 13 are infected with the
virus.

Moreover, the AIDS illnesses that appeared with the
greatest frequency were opportunistic infections, fol-
lowed by extrapulmonary tuberculosis, caquectic syn-
drome, and Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Another interesting fact to consider, according to the
same source, is that, during the first quarter of this year,
Spain was the European country that reported the largest
number of new cases of AIDS.

Most of those infected with AIDS are users of drugs
administered intravenously. They account for 64.2 per-
cent of the cases—that is, 9,331 persons. Of these cases,
15.7 percent appeared in homosexual males (2,275) and
2.6 percent belong to both groups simultaneously.
Another curious thing is the fact that cases of AIDS
transmitted between heterosexuals increased from 4.54
to 5.6 percent in the past 12 months.

Moreover, the number of AIDS cases transmitted
through transfusions went from 113 to 160, and through
blood products from 294 to 416. The number of cases
involving children of mothers belonging to a risk group
increased from 221 to 353.

The autonomous community with the largest number of
AIDS cases is Catalonia: Last year, their number went
from 2,714 to 3,832 cases, and the incidence of AIDS
from 413 to 637 cases per million inhabitants. Madrid is

not very far behind, with its 3,252 cases as against 1,899

JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

a year ago, which means an increase in the incidence of
from 353 to 666 cases per million. The Basque Country
is the other community with a greater incidence of AIDS,
which went from 823 cases to 1,319, and with a current
incidence of 619 as against 352 a year ago. The commu-
nities with the lowest number of cases are the Balearic
Islands and La Rioja.

During the past 10 years, 154 Spanish citizens were
infected with the AIDS virus while receiving a blood
transfusion. Over half of them have since died, according
to the data provided by the Ministry of Health. Several
court rulings have forced INSALUD [National Institu-
teof Public Health] and two regional services to pay
compensation to patients infected through transfusions.

SWITZERLAND

Government Health Office Releases AIDS Figures

LD2807163892 Bern Swiss Radio International
in English 1100 GMT 28 Jul 92

[Text] More than 2,500 people in Switzerland have
AIDS. The latest Government figures released by the
Federal Health Office also show that nearly 1,600 people
have died from the disease. The cantons of Geneva,
Basle City and Zurich have most AIDS cases per head of
the population. Zurich also registered the highest
number of new cases, 107 in the past six months.

UNITED KINGDOM
Medical Associate Considers Policy on AIDS

HIV-Positive Surgeons
92WE0591A London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
in English 7 Jul 92 p 4

[Words in boldface, as published.]

[Text] The British Medical Association yesterday ruled
out banning HIV-positive doctors and surgeons from
practising because of the risk of losing “a lot of very good
people,” writes Wendy Holden.

Despite calls from other bodies for regular AIDS testing
for health staff following newspaper allegations that a
south-east London eye surgeon is HIV-positive and may
have placed up to 1,500 patients at risk over 10 years, the
BMA said doctors were “under an obligation” not to
practise if they were HIV-positive and would put
patients at risk.

A senior Government AIDS adviser agreed that doctors
infected with HIV should be allowed to keep their
infection a secret from the hospitals and patients they
worked with. Prof. Miles Irving, a member of the advi-
sory committee on AIDS and on the HIV committee of
the Royal College of Surgeons, said that more stringent
rules to pinpoint infected doctors would only lead to
discrimination and drive them underground.


16 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

Service] officer, who has just returned from Uganda and
a World Bank AIDS programme, will head the organisa-
tion.

ARs. 280 crore budget for five years has been approved
for NACO. Dr. Shiv Lal has been appointed additional
director (technical). With a staff of 30, NACO will be in
charge of the AIDS programme management; informa-
tion, education and communication (including condom
use), blood safety as well as surveillance, research and
li management and control of sexually transmitted
diseases..
Thirty-five percent of the whopping budget of Rs. 280
crore has been earmarked for communication and 32
percent for blood safety. NACO will be functioning from
the Red Cross building.

HIV Virus Found Among Calcutta Prostitutes
92WEO0589A New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
23 Jun 92 p7

[Article by Usha Rai. Words in italics, as published.]

[Text] A survey just completed in Sonagachi, the famous
red light area of Calcutta, has revealed that one percent
of the prostitutes are HIV positive.

The people of Calcutta have so far been complacent
about AIDS believing it to be outside their domain. Now
it is at their doorstep but, according to officials in the
Health Ministry, the politicians in the State resent the
money being poured into the AIDS awareness campaigns
and the STD (sexually transmitted diseases) clinics that
were set up in Sonagachi for conducting the AIDS
survey.

An AIDS expert has rushed to Calcutta to plead for the
continuance of the clinics as well as to work out the
AIDS control programme for the famous red light area
which has some 6,000 kothas between wards 18 and 26.
The number of rooms in each brothel varies from 5 to 15
and they are used by 10 to 15 girls.

So far the high incidence of HIV-positive and AIDS
cases has been among the prostitutes of Bombay and
Madras. Now Calcutta too has joined their ranks. Dr.
Shivial, deputy director general from public health,
looking after AIDS, has done studies which show that
HIV infection among prostitutes spreads like wildfire.

Among the prostitutes of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital,
HIV prevalence shot from 5 percent in 1985 to 89
percent in 1989. In Bombay, it shot up from 0.5 percent
in 1986 to 32 percent in 1991. HIV prevalence in
Calcutta today is at the same level that it was in Bombay
in 1987.

The seven private clinics functioning in Sonagachi and
the two NGOs running health-related activities in the
area have obviously not been able to generate sufficient
awareness about AIDS.

Last month, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public
Health in Calcutta, collaborated with the Central Gov-
ernment, Society for Community Development and the

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

Vivekananda International Health Centre for the AIDS
survey in Sonagachi. Of the 400 samples taken four were
found to be HIV positive.

The survey categorised the prostitutes into high, middle
and low income groups. Three of the four cases detected
were in the high income group—girls who served as call
girls at five star hotels and those travelling with clients to
Bombay, Goa and other cities. The fourth girl belonged
to the middle income group. The age of the HIV positive
cases varies from 16 to 40 years.

But unfortunately the four cases have not yet been
alerted. AIDS experts fear that once the alarm is
sounded, the girls will go underground. This has hap-
pened in both Bombay and Madras.

Since the majority of the girls are in the profession out of
economic compulsions and the spread of the infection is
invariably the multi-sex male partner, social workers are
promoting the use of condoms.

It is the multi-sex mate who spreads AIDS but unfortu-
nately it is the prostitutes who come under public
scrutiny and are boycotted. The male not only infects the
prostitute but, if she is already infected, carries the
infection back to his family.

Studies done at the clinic for patients of sexually trans-
mitted disease at J.P. Hospital, Delhi, show that 90
percent of the patients are men. Those suffering venereal
diseases run greater risk of picking up the spreading
AIDS too. Further, to support their sexual promiscuity,
many of them are professional blood donors.

While it is easy to convince women on the importance of
condoms, it is more difficult to empower them to con-
vince the women on the importance of condoms but it is
more difficult to empower them. [Sentence as received]

It is easy to stave off men who resist use of the sheath.
The women fear that if they do not give in then the men
will find another partner. “Condom only brothels,” like
those in Thailand, are the solution, say experts working
among prostitutes.

Since Thailand has actually been able to reduce the HIV
positive cases from 15 percent to 1 percent in selected
areas, India is studying the Bangkok technique.

The women are initially brought to the STD (sexually
transmitted disease) clinics and after treatment moti-
vated not to entertain customers who are not protected.
In India, we do not even have figures on the number of
persons suffering from sexually transmitted diseases.

An estimated 13 lakh are treated in the various clinics
for STD. But the actual number is probably much higher.
A baseline survey of STD is proposed in Rajasthan and
Tamil Nadu by the Institute of Venereology in Madras
and the SMS Medical College, Jaipur, respectively.

The Indian Council of Medical Research’s efforts to
wean away the prostitutes from the profession by
offering them a monthly allowance of Rs. 1,500 has not
succeeded.



2 CENTRAL EURASIA

relative growth of new cases of HIV infection: Three
hundred twelve infected persons were revealed in 1989,
146 were revealed in 1990, and 104 were revealed in
1991, even though respectively 29 million, 35 million
and 4 million (!) persons were tested.

One of the accomplishments of Russian science is an
original method of producing and utilizing an effective
drug—azidothymidine. According to the most _pessi-

mistic estimates there are not more than 5,000 HIV
positive persons residing today on Russian territory and
even in all of the former USSR. Thus measures imple-
mented in the country in 1985-1991 made it possible to
stop the first wave of the AIDS epidemic advancing
upon the country.

However, HIV infection is nonetheless seeping into our
country in tiny rivulets, and now the epidemic is gradu-
ally entering a new phase. Foreign homosexual tourists
and businessmen, as well as preachers and journalists,
who are not tested for AIDS as a rule, imported the virus
into the milieu of Moscow’s risk groups. The number of
new cases is rising rapidly. Because of a large number of
sex partners and the unique features of homosexual sex
acts, the virus is spreading faster in this environment
than within the rest of the population. In the next phase,
the virus will move to drug addicts. HIV is spreading in
parallel, at a somewhat slower rate, among prostitutes
and other categories of persons having a large number of
partners (press articles suggesting that HIV is rarely
transmitted from infected women to men during sexual
intercourse are absolutely wrong). Growth of prostitu-
tion and drug addiction is aggravating the problem. All
of this will lead to a new abrupt rise in incidence of HIV
infection in as little as 2-3 years, with a secondary peak
occurring after 7-10 years.

The principal task of our public health in the next few
years is to consolidate our successes in controlling AIDS
and solving the problems of fighting the epidemic that
have thus far remained unsolved. The economic crisis
and collapse of many social structures can lead to a
situation where the possibility for holding the epidemic
back will be lost irretrievably. Disintegration of the
unified AIDS surveillance system will unavoidably be
accompanied by loss of control over the situation: There
are, after all, no plans for establishing strong obstacles
capable of preventing penetration of HIV into the
former USSR. Nonetheless, a noticeable difference in
the scale of morbidity can already be noted today. It is
highest not in Russia, as some think, but in the Baltic
states, and it is lowest in the southern republics.

Allocation of sufficient funds to fight AIDS by the
Russian government is a most important aspect. The
financing of the Russian program to test, treat and
prevent the spread of the AIDS epidemic and curtail its
growth in Russia must be maintained at a level of 10
million rubles annually (in March 1991 prices), which is,
by the way, an order of magnitude less than what the
USA is spending. We need to provide ‘special financing
in freely convertible currency to expensive but promising

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

scientific research. In particular we need to finally orga-
nize and outfit at least one modern scientific center for
HIV infection. For the present, much of the research,
including that oriented on therapy, is being conducted
unsystematically, in poorly equipped laboratories.

Special financing must be given to measures to teach the
population safe behavior. Organizing a special television
program would be useful in this sense.

Some economic reserves could be utilized by reorga-
nizing the existing AIDS control structure. For example
the three centers (Union, Russian and Moscow) in
Moscow or the five centers in St. Petersburg, the three in
Rostov-on-Don and so on could be united without
detriment to the effort.

As far as our political leaders are concerned, it is time for
them to realize that they can’t buy off AIDS by pur-
chasing consignments of disposable syringes with hono-
rariums earned from lectures. Purposeful protection of
the country’s citizens from the terrible disease is also
their direct responsibility.

Clinical Problems of HIV Infection and AIDS

92WE0576A Minsk ZDRAVOOKHRANENIYE
BELORUSSII in Russian No 4, Apr 92 pp 55-61

[Article by Zh. A. Rebenok, Department of Infectious
Diseases (director—Professor Zh. A. Rebenok), Byelaru-
sian Institute for the Advanced Training of Physicians;
UDC 616.981:612.017.1]

[Excerpt][Passage omitted] Under our conditions, diag-
nosis of HIV infection is based on serological examina-
tion of screening groups and risk groups, and relatively
rarely, examination of individuals suspected of infection
on clinical grounds. Suspected individuals subjected to
testing include patients with venereal diseases, atypical
tuberculosis, sepsis, and viral hepatitis B; persons dying
from severe infections or with an uncertain diagnosis are
also tested.

The clinical method of diagnosing HIV infection is
employed at a minimum, even though the clinical
method can in fact be the most effective today.

Unfortunately, detection of AIDS patients in hospital
conditions leaves something to be desired. AIDS is
identified late because physicians are poorly informed
about AIDS, because literature is in short supply,
because personnel lack the practical skills of working
with AIDS patients, because the symptoms are so unique
and atypical, and because the conditions for laboratory
diagnosis are absent.

Treatment is the weak link in the struggle against HIV
infection. Viral DNA synthesis inhibitors—
azidodesoxythymidine, didesoxycytidine, didesoxyi-
nosine and others—have been found to be the most
active controllers of HIV. Among them, 3-
azido-3-desoxythymidine (azidothymidine, AZT, retro-
vir, zidovudine) is widely used as a means of specific
therapy. Its therapeutic effect lies in blockage of the



18 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

contaminated blood and intravenous drug intake are the
two other culprits, accounting for 18.46 and 18.28 per-
cent respectively.

Mr. Dasgupta is of the view that the indexation methods
followed i in India-are “inadequate,” and, as a result, the

reasonable” rate of HIV sero-positivity in
India may be presenting an “incomplete picture.”

Mr. Dasgupta says the AIDS explosion in Uganda was
largely caused by an inordinately high level of sexual
promiscuity, caused by the breakdown of taboos and the
age-old tribal customs as a result of a sudden exposure to
western culture.

But, according to him, the Indian reality is more
daunting because of rapid commercialisation of sex, and
the proliferation of brothels, pickup joints and call-girls.
“The risk factor is much higher when sex is cheap and
quick,” he said. In Bombay, which has been described at
the recently concluded 8th World AIDS Conference in
Amsterdam as the vortex“ of the disease in Asia, NACA
has enlisted the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC)
and the State Government to conduct a door-to-door
community survey in the brothel-infested Khetwadi
area.

Earlier survey reports, based on findings at STD [Sexu-
ally-transmitted diseases] clinics, have put the sero-
positivity in the area at an alarming 35 percent. The
community-based survey, to be completed in early-
September, may show a much lower rate as it is being
conducted on a wider base.

In Calcutta a similar random survey in the flesh-trade
district of Sonagachhee, completed four months ago, has
found only five sero- positive cases after sampling 440.

The thrust of the control programme would be to pro-
mote safe sex and to improve blood safety, Mr. Dasgupta
explained. The level of sero-surveillance is also being
upgraded with the introduction of rapid diagnostic kits,
he added.

These kits, known as Serrodia, eliminate ELISA
[Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay] readings and
instead use a simpler blood agglutination test which can
display results within two hours. Besides, some legisla-
tive measures are also on the anvil as a result of which
hospital authorities and medical practitioners may come
under a statutory obligation to provide treatment to
HIV-positive patients.

There have recently been six cases, including one at the
prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) in the Capital, where HIV-positive patients
have been denied treatment.

It is planned that 35.6 percent of the programme budget
will be spent on promotion of public awareness and
community support, whereas 32.9 percent will be used to
improve blood safety.

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

IRAN

Mojahedin-e Khalq Member in AIDS-Infected
Blood Scandal

LD1906165492 Tehran IRIB Television First Program
Network in Persian 1430 GMT 19 Jun 92

[Text] In a television report, the hypocrites organization
[derogatory reference to the Mojahedin-e Khalq] has
been accused of the inhumane act of transfusion of
AIDS-contaminated blood to more than half a million
people in France. According to a report by the Central
News Unit from Paris, last night the French television
Channel One announced that one of the high-ranking
members of the hypocrites, Dr. Bahman Habibi, during
more than three years of service in the post of scientific
deputy in the French Blood Transfusion Organization
has been the main agent in this inhumane act, and at the
moment is among the main defendants accused of trans-
fusing AIDS-contaminated blood.

According to the report, under pressure from public
opinion and in light of the extent of the disaster, four of
the people found responsible in this incident, including
Bahman Habibi, will be prosecuted.

ISRAEL

Officials Report Data on Number of AIDS Cases
TA0707115192 Tel Aviv HA’ARETZ in Hebrew
7 Jul 92 p A6

{Report by ’Edna Aridor]

[Excerpts] Since 1986, 919 AIDS virus carriers,
including 164 women, have been recorded in Israel.
Almost none of the women belonged to high-risk groups,
and they contracted the virus from unknown carriers.

[passage omitted]

This data was reported yesterday by Dr. Moshe Mashiah,
the Health Ministry director general, and Professor
Avraham Morag, chairman of the Committee for the
Promotion of AIDS Awareness, at a news conference
marking the launching of a guidance desk for overseas
travelers at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Prof. Morag noted that “the increase in the number of
carriers in Israel over the past years reflects the growing
number of people undergoing tests, rather than an epi-
demic. Since the beginning of the year, 97 carriers have
been detected, and it is estimated that their number will
reach 120 by the end of the year. [passage omitted]

Morag added that “only two AIDS cases were recorded
in the past six months—an encouraging, albeit inexpli-
cable fact, mainly since 27 such cases were recorded in
1991. There have been 179 AIDS patients in the past six
years, 130 of whom died and 14 of whom left the
country.” He explained that the disease was brought into
Israel in the second half of the 1980s and that it has
spread to groups of people who have not traveled
abroad.“ [passage omitted]


JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

“There is no justification to know a diagnosis. An
employer has no right to know about a doctor’s health,
other than if he is fit for work,” he said.

But doctors at this week’s BMA annual conference in
Nottingham will call for patients to have the right to
know before an operation if their surgeon has HIV.

Their move follows yesterday’s renewed appeal from
Bexley Health Authority for ophthalmic surgeon Mr.
Peter Curran to contact them. He is on leave from Queen
Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, and the health authority has
not been able to speak to him to confirm or deny the
allegations made about him in a Sunday tabloid news-
paper. Mr. Curran, 45, who also worked privately at the
Blackheath hospital in south-east London, has allegedly
contacted a colleague to say he is aware of the allegations
but has not informed his employers of his position.
Because he has not broken any laws they are unable to
ask police to help find him. Mr. Jim Rumens, the
hospital’s director, said yesterday: “We can’t conduct a
formal search for him because there are no legal or
ethical grounds for us to do so.” He called for the
Government or the Royal College of Surgeons to intro-
duce new rules to force doctors who are HIV-positive to
tell the health authority.

He said: “I think operationally there is a requirement on
an individual consultant to make a hospital aware of his
condition. However, Mr. Curran has operated under the
guidelines and was not under any obligation to do so.”

The hospital has stressed that there is little risk to
patients, with no recorded incident in Britain or else-
where in which surgeons have transferred the HIV virus
to patients during hospital operations. It says Mr. Curran
was mainly involved in laser surgery on cataracts and
squints and, even if the allegation was true, there was
little risk of transmission of the HIV virus. He is under-
stood to have followed General Medical Council guide-
lines, by seeking medical help and counselling.

In Britain, no surgeon who discovers he is HIV-positive
is under any legal obligation to inform the health
authority, although in America he could face up to 10

WEST EUROPE 31

years’ imprisonment for performing surgery without
revealing that he is HIV-positive.

That Senate decision last year was made despite research
evidence that the risk of catching AIDS from a surgeon
was between four to 40 times less than the risk of dying
from anaesthesia.

Patient Tests Rejected

92WE0591B London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
in English 9 Jul 92 p7

[Article by David Fletcher]

[Text] A plea to give doctors the right to test their
patients for the AIDS virus as a matter of routine before
operating on them was rejected by the British Medical
Association yesterday.

The conference in Nottingham said the risk of surgeons
contracting the virus from their patients was not suffi-
cient to justify a policy of testing all patients without
their consent.

Calling for the move, Dr. John Birch, a Grimsby GP,
said it had long been routine to test pregnant women for
syphilis and the time had now come to test for HIV.

He said it was very risky for nurses, midwives, doctors
and surgeons to treat patients who did not know they
were carrying the AIDS virus.

The call was opposed by Dr. John Marks, former BMA.
chairman, who said patients should only be tested on
clinical grounds with their consent. Routine testing was
a mechanical procedure lacking in humanity.

He said: “Any doctor who does an HIV test without
consent will be posed with a terrible dilemma. He would
have to tell a distraught and distracted patient the
consequences of his action and he would be responsible
for the outcome.”

Welcoming the decision, Dr. Stuart Horner, chairman of
the BMA’s ethical committee, said doctors should not
carry out any tests on patients without first seeking
consent.



JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

recommend that state governments adopt the same deci-
sion in keeping with the resolution, which is only in
effect for the federal executive branch.

Decree Bans Mandatory AIDS Testing For Public
Servants

PY1108200192 Brasilia Radio Nacional da Amazonia
Network in Portuguese 1000 GMT 11 Aug 92

[Text] Effective immediately, no public institution can
insists that either a prospective employee or a regular
staffer be tested for AIDS.

Health Minister Adib Jatene and Labor Minister Joao
Mellao Netto yesterday signed a decree stating the above
prohibition because sharing the work place with HIV
carriers does not pose any risk to anyone. The decree also
states that the HIV virus does not affect the performance
ability of infected individuals.

Heterosexual AIDS Numbers Viewed

PY2008192292A Rio de Janeiro Rede Globo Television
in Portuguese 2300 GMT 17 Aug 92

[Editorial Report] The number of AIDS cases among
heterosexual couples is increasing: 12 years ago, such
cases totalled only 5 percent of the overall number, now
this has increased to 23 percent. According to the Health
Ministry, 29,644 AIDS cases have already been regis-
tered in Brazil so far, 13,242 of which have proved fatal.

New AIDS Cases

Sao Paulo O ESTADO DE SAO PAULO in Portuguese
18 Aug 92 p 12

[Editorial Report] The Health Ministry AIDS Division
has reported that over 1,189 new AIDS cases were
reported nationwide between 11 July and 10 August.
Thus a total of 29,644 cases have been registered in the
country since 1980, 23,546 of which were detected in the
southeastern part of the country. A total of 425,000
AIDS carriers are reportedly disseminated throughout
the country.

CUBA

Havana Outlines AIDS Prevention, Control Program
PA1208020792 Havana Radio Havana Cuba in Spanish
0000 GMT 11 Aug 92

[Text] We have seen with great satisfaction that during
the past few days the media has increased its educational
campaign, alerting the community against AIDS, that
terrible disease known as the 20th century’s black
scourge. We are also impressed by the initiatives of the
Union of Communist Youths in this area.

AIDS is essentially a sexually transmitted disease. There-
fore, in order to develop any prevention and control
Program it must be evaluated [20-second break in recep-
tion] has caused great problems in the actions and use of

LATIN AMERICA 13

control and prevention tests. This has created new con-
cepts, such as obligatory tests considered routine in other
health programs and in the control of sexually trans-
mitted diseases.

The technology used in the diagnosis of AIDS is very
costly. Therefore, in some countries it is not accessible to
the great majority, generally the poor people who cannot
afford to pay for medical attention. Cuba has solved this
problem, as it has a high quality testing kit produced in
Cuba at a low cost, which makes it possible to perform
massive tests with reliable results. So far more than 12
million tests have been made, of which a little over 800
have been positive, mainly sexually transmitted cases.
Only seven cases transmitted by blood contact have been
detected, all acquired prior to the implementation of
controls in blood donations six years ago. There are three
prenatal cases because the mothers found out they car-
ried the virus during their pregnancy.

The Cuban program, which also includes special atten-
tion to AIDS carriers and patients, has managed to stop
the disease from spreading quickly as in other countries.
The incidence of AIDS is 0.006 Percent ¢ of the Cuban
population in general.

Since prevention is the most effective method of control-
ling AIDS, Cuba is also trying to improve its sexual
education program which still has some deficiencies.

All Blood Being Screened for HIV Viruses
FL1208195792 Havana Radio Rebelde Network
in Spanish 1700 GMT 12 Aug 92

[Text] As of this month, all blood coming into Cuba’s
health centers is being tested for both of the viruses that
produce AIDS: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Detection of HIV-2
has been added to the traditional tests that rule out the
presence of the first virus, HIV-1, which is the greater
danger at present. Although HIV-2 also causes AIDS, it
is less common in this geographical area.

This new achievement represents an additional effort for
the health system, primarily for the technicians who
work in the diagnostic laboratories. With this test, the
possibility of transmitting AIDS through blood has been
reduced practically to zero.

Vice Minister of Public Health Dr. Hector Terry
explained to the National News Agency the implications
of this measures. He said that the technology for diag-
nostic tests, medicine, and equipment for AIDS preven-
tion continue to have exorbitant costs which less devel-
oped countries cannot pay. Terry commented that many
nations cannot meet the goals of a testing strategy
because the technology is very costly, and this affects the
vast majorities at risk, generally the lower-income citi-
zens.

From April 1986 to 2 July 1992, more than 3.5 million
blood donations have been tested in Cuba with the aim
of eliminating the risk of transmitting AIDS by this
means. In our country, only seven people have been



SJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

structure by providing legal and moral consultation and
aid regarding marriage and family life, and thus enhance
marital ethics and minimize premarital and extramarital
Sex.

3. It is necessary to offer sex education courses to
post-junior- secondary classes and add knowledge about
sex hygiene and venereal diseases as a part of the courses;
and to provide supplementary sex education courses for
adults, and thus urge them to heighten vigilance against
venereal diseases and AIDS.

4, It is necessary to popularize the use of condoms while
promoting family planning, spread knowledge about
prevention of venereal diseases and AIDS, strengthen
health tests for newlyweds and pregnant women, make
efforts to discover people infected with venereal diseases
and AIDS, and prevent maternal-fetal infection. 5. It is
necessary to make surveys and studies of prostitution in
open coastal cities and other large cities, formulate laws
and regulations that suit the needs of different areas,
exercise strict control over special service trades and
places of public entertainment, and carry out close
surveillance and control of the generation and spread of
venereal diseases and AIDS.

6. It is necessary to carry out scientific surveys and
analysis of population groups who take drugs by intra-
venous injection, take effective disease-prevention mea-
sures, and assign personnel to supervise the implemen-
tation of the measures.

Exploratory Work by Medical Specialists

While sociologists were formulating policies, medical
specialists on the China mainland were doing fruitful
exploratory work in virus pathological and clinical study
of AIDS, the “super-cancer.”

In 1987, Professor Zeng Yi, vice president of the China
Academy of Preventive Medicine, headed a research
group and, for the first time, succeeded in extracting a
specimen of the AIDS virus from a foreign AIDS patient.
With this specimen as the antigen, the research group
conducted AIDS etiological and molecular biological
studies. By the end of last year, the research group had
developed a series of diagnostic reagents, including
immunofluorescence reagent, (albumen imprint) [dan
bai yin ji 5751 4101 0603 6619] reagent, and immunoen-
zyme reagent. Of these reagents, the immunoenzyme
reagent was developed for the first time in the world.
This domestically made reagent has good special features
and high sensitivity, is easy to use, and is inexpensive.
With this reagent, a diagnostic result can be obtained
within 30 minutes without any special instruments. Now
300,000 doses of the reagent have been produced to
supply the market across the country. Tests in some
African countries have proved this product quite useful,
and now it is about to be marketed in the United States.

As so far no powerful medicines against AIDS have been
developed, Beijing’s Concord Medical University, in
cooperation with Zhou Lin, a physicist now studying in
the United States, has done research in the application of

CHINA 5

“biological frequency spectrum” technology to the treat-
ment of AIDS. Their work has now scored initial results.
The aim of so-called “biological frequency spectrum”
technology is to regulate the energy of cells in the human
body by the physic bionic method according to the
condition of biochemical reaction within the organism
and change the human body’s physiological functioning,
thus achieving the purpose of curing the disease. Since
1990, Zhou Lin has treated 10 AIDS patients in a
laboratory in the United States. As a result of the
treatment, the patients’ symptoms have been markedly
alleviated. Experts concerned hold that the biological
frequency spectrum treatment, which is painless and
without side effects, is an experimental breakthrough in
the struggle against AIDS.

The research into treatment of AIDS with Chinese
medicines conducted by the Chinese Medicine Research
Institute of China and the National Chinese Medicine
Administration seems to give AIDS patients a gleam of
hope. Professor Chen Keji of Xiyuan Hospital under the
Chinese Medicine Research Institute of China is the first
to use Chinese medicine for the clinical treatment of
AIDS. Applying the traditional Chinese diagnostic
theory on hot and poisonous syndromes, he made up a
prescription containing antipyretics for the treatment of
fever, carbuncles, and inflammation, ingredients that
help remove pathogenic heat from the blood, tonics that
reinforce the kidneys and invigorate the spleen, and
medicines that nourish the heart and improve the human
body’s physical condition. He used this prescription to
treat an American patient in three stages and managed to
alleviate the patient’s symptoms.

The China-Tanzania AIDS Treatment Cooperation
Group has also made progress in applying Chinese
medicine to the clinical treatment of AIDS. From 1987
onward, this cooperation group, jointly set up by the
Chinese and Tanzanian ministries of public health, has
treated 158 patients in (Lida) [li da 0173 6671] City,
Tanzania. After courses of treatment lasting for three to
15 months, the treatment was found very effective in
three cases, effective in 36 cases, and partly effective in
24 cases, giving a general effectiveness rate of 39.89
percent. Both the Chinese and Tanzanian ministries of
public health are satisfied with the results of the cooper-
ation project, and have signed a new cooperation agree-
ment to extend the treatment cooperation operation
until 1994.

Professor Wu Boping, a specialist on the Chinese team of
the China-Tanzania AIDS Treatment Cooperation
Group and a member of the Chinese AIDS specialists
committee, has a sober understanding of the situation.

He said: There is still a very long way to go in the attempt
to apply Chinese medicine to the postponement of death
due to AIDS infection. Like their Japanese counterparts,
who have used minor decoction of bupleurum, Ginseng
decoction, and the sweet ingredient of radix glycyrrhizae
to treat AIDS patients, Chinese doctors’ achievements
can at most be regarded as a good beginning in the
attempt to treat AIDS with Chinese medicine. Success in



28 . WEST EUROPE

In a brief, to-the-point meeting, the Cabinet passed a
decree law to defuse the prison time bomb. All AIDS
patients will be transferred to public hospitals. The text
of the measure is general in nature and does not indicate
which hospitals will be chosen. Given the serious situa-
tion of our health system, it is not difficult to imagine
how hard it will be to find the specialized wards. The job
of choosing the appropriate locations and establishing a
plan of operations will be decided by another decree that
will be drawn up by the two ministries involved in the
matter, justice and health.

However, the measure approved yesterday by the Cab-
inet does not deal with the subject of AIDS alone. It is
the prisons as a whole that will undergo a small but
important revolution. The aim is to avert the climate of
rebellion that is constantly lurking behind bars. The
number of prisoners has risen very sharply. In one year,
it has gone from 25,000 to 45,000 units. Inmates are
often forced to live seven or eight to a cell, with bunk
beds that sometimes are stacked four high, with floors
that risk caving in under the excessive weight, with
rooms designated for interrogations routinely requisi-
tioned in order to accommodate inmates without cells,
and with dining halls transformed into dormitories. It is
the entire social, recreational, cultural, and creative life
that ends up being upset by the pressure of over-
crowding. The government addressed the most explosive
aspect of the prison world: that of the drug addicts and
those with AIDS. They represent the majority of the
inmates, the most irritable, those who often suffer crises
of withdrawal and are the most exposed to the risk of
contracting AIDS.

The next interministerial decree will also have to estab-
lish when illness and incarceration are not compatible.
Until now, we have been working without a specific
criterion. Testing for HIV-positive is not mandatory.
Therefore, only someone who manifested obvious symp-
toms of. the virus was transferred to a hospital. The
transfer was to no avail. Hospital management
responded that there were no beds available and that the
prisoner had to return to jail. As President Nicolo Amato
explained to us a few weeks ago: “Prison directors would
call to advise me of these absurd situations. I urged the
appropriate judges. to intervene and issue orders for
hospitalization. The law exists and a magistrate has not
only the duty but the power to have it enforced in serious
cases. Unfortunately, nothing ever happened. Almost
always, the judges did not respond, and the prison
directors could do nothing but arrange for the inmates to
return to prison.”

The government’s decree law will allow this unnerving
and absurd merry-go-round to be avoided. The judge will
have free reign in ordering hospitalizations. When treat-
ment is over, he can arrange for the prisoner to be under
house arrest. The drug addicts not infected by AIDS will
have a choice. Instead of going to prison, they can enter
rehabilitation communities. That opportunity will be
offered to those in protective custody awaiting trial.

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

The third point of the government’s measure concerns
guarding the outside walls of the prisons. In agreement
with the minister of defense, it was decided to recruit
1,000 of the 6,000 youth who reenlist at the end of their
term of military service to patrol the outside walls of
penitentiaries. The minister of justice explained: “The
provision recognizes the need for an overall reinforce-
ment in the number of guards—a reinforcement that had
already been considered in recent measures and that
establishes that 4,600 new correctional guards will begin
service by the end of the year.” Martelli reminded us that
new prisons have already been built but that they cannot
be used precisely because they lack the personnel. The
minister of justice added, “We will have to wait a few
more months to complete the process of civil service
examinations and hiring the agents.” The decision to
increase the number of correctional officers has been
made in view of a transfer of responsibility for guarding
the inmates during transfers. Until now, the Carabinieri
has provided that service. However, by the end of
August, it will be permanently entrusted to correctional
officers.

Reasons Given for Increase in AIDS Cases

92WE00564A Rome L’ESPRESSO in Italian 19 Jul 92
bp 118-121

[Article by Carlo Gallucci: “More Virus than Ever”)

[Text] AIDS: The Italian case. The epidemic is tending to
stabilize itself in all Western countries, but in Italy it
continues to grow. That is because it predominantly
strikes drug addicts and the very young. That is what the
latest report of the national commission will have to say
about the evolution of the epidemic.

This story of AIDS seems like a well-crafted thriller. You
turn around for only a second, and that is just when a
new drama explodes on the scene. This is the third act of
the epidemic. After the panic of the late 1980's and after
the recent reassurances, now is the moment when the
virus launches its counterattack. It is not at all true that
the infection is weakening, as it seemed a few months
ago. On the contrary, progress in refining the mathemat-
ical model used for the forecasts has not led to very
optimistic conclusions. This is what is suggested in the
new report that the National Commission for the Fight
Against AIDS will make public this week on the occasion
of the VIII World Conference that is beginning on 19
July in Amsterdam. L’ESPRESSO is in a position to
publish in advance the general outline of the report.

First of all, the AIDS operations center at the Superior
Health Institute has discovered that the decline in new
cases of infection since 1987, which was the record year,
was not at all as rapid as had been thought. In addition,
it was discovered that the number of new AIDS cases in
the past year was much higher than the official count.
The growth curve of the epidemic has been corrected.
The new graph reveals an alarming peak during recent
months. Finally, the use of new mathematical models
(formulated in collaboration with Harvard University in
the United States) suggests that the growth in new AIDS


IJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

Experts believe that the diagnostic facilities at their
disposal are inadequate to efficiently identify sufferers.
Here, and in 20 other oblasts in Russia, modern U.S.
equipment is standing idle because of the lack of the
necessary pharmaceutical preparations.

[A. Gavrilov, head of Center for Combatting AIDS,
identified by caption] Unfortunately the situation is such
that even though no case of AIDS has been registered to
date, it could be registered tomorrow. [145654] [video
shows laboratory sign and facilities, including western
equipment, interview]

Information Section Reports AIDS Statistics
AU2508215092 Kiev MOLOD UKRAYINY
in Ukrainian 21 Aug 92 p 3

[Commentary by MOLOD UKRAYINY Information
Section: “Worse Than Husayn”]

[Text] By now, AIDS has been detected in 19 oblasts of
Ukraine and in the Crimean Republic. The greatest
number of cases—45—has been recorded in Odessa,
then there follows Kiev—18 cases, Donetsk Oblast—9,
Kharkiv Oblast—22, and Transcarpathian Oblast—5.

CENTRAL EURASIA 25

Altogether, 101 citizens of Ukraine have been infected
[with the virus], among them 15 children. Nine people
have developed AIDS, and seven of them have already

While in 1991, there were 21 recorded cases of the HIV
infection, during the first half of 1992, the number was
18. Since 1987, the number of Ukraine’s citizens
infected with the HIV virus has increased by a factor of
16.

The United States occupies the first place in the world in
the number of cases of AIDS. In 28 European countries,
the quantity of those affected by the disease has reached
65,875, among which France accounts for 17,836 cases,
Italy—1 1,609, Spain—11,555, Germany—7,553, Great
Britain—5,451, Switzerland—2,228, and Russia—70
cases.

In many countries, there is no registration of persons
testing positive for the HIV virus, however, according to
the WHO information, their quantity is at least ten time
as great as that of persons with full-blown AIDS and
reaches approximately 8-10 million persons.



2 SUBSAHARAN AFRICA

Anti-AIDS Plan Implemented
EA0508182792 Dar es Salaam Radio Tanzania
External Service in English 0400 GMT 5 Aug 92

[Text] Dar es Salaam—The Ministry of Labor and Youth
Development says it has put into action [a] plan that
could prevent HIV transmission among the youths.
Among other things, the plan involves developing edu-
cational materials on AIDS and family life education
and organizing seminars on AIDS and family life educa-
tion for youths. This was revealed yesterday by the youth
development officer in the Ministry of Labor and Youth
Development, ndugu [brother] (Sther Makalasi), when
Presenting a paper to an international conference of
health information to youths with special reference to
AIDS and drug abuse which is ending today in Dar es
Salaam. Ndugu (Makalasi) said the Labor and Youth
Ministry has organized youths at village level to imple-
ment the plan.

ZIMBABWE

Bulawayo Hit By AIDS-Related TB Epidemic
92WE0484A Harare THE HERALD in English
14 Apr 92 p 5

[Article: “AIDS-Related TB Hits Bulawayo”]

[Text] Bulawayo. The director of Bulawayo’s Health
Services, Dr. Barnett Nyathi, said the city is experi-
encing an epidemic of tuberculosis associated with
AIDS.

In a report to the health, housing, amenities and liquor
committee, Dr. Nyathi said Bulawayo recorded 165
deaths from tuberculosis and there were 1,155 new cases
of the disease.

Some 26 deaths were recorded in children under the age
of 15 and 139 adults who died from the disease.

In 1990, tuberculosis killed 87 people, of whom 70 were
adults and the remainder children under 15 years, Dr.
Nyathi said in his report contained in the latest council
minutes.

There were 530 AIDS-related deaths in 1991 compared
to 292 deaths the previous year. The AIDS-related
deaths last year were 11.7 percent of the total deaths
recorded in Bulawayo.

The council clinics recorded 117,264 cases of sexually
transmitted diseases [STD] compared to 110,020 cases
in 1990.

A total of 64,051 STD cases recorded last year were in
men and 25,868 women were treated for various STDs.
The clinics attended to 27,345 cases of pelvic inflamma-
tory diseases in women.

STD remained a major health concern in Bulawayo and
continued to consume a substantial proportion of the
Health Department’s resources, he said.

SJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

This was disturbing in view of the fact that STD was
related to HIV. STDs were preventable, Dr. Nyathi said,
adding controlling STD would help prevent the spread of
HIV infection.

Masvingo AIDS Figures Under-Report Incidence
92WE0618A Harare THE HERALD in English
3 Jul 92 p 3

[Text] Masvingo Province has recorded more than 1,300
cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome since
1987, the provincial medical director, Dr. Peter
Nhindiri, said in an interview yesterday.

The province has one of the highest AIDS figures in the
country.

He said, however, the AIDS figures in Masvingo were
just a “tip of the iceberg” as many cases went unre-
corded. He could not give figures of AIDS-related
deaths.

Dr. Nhindiri said in a recent HIV test on 200 pregnant
women, 30 percent of them were found to have the virus
that causes AIDS.

Tests were also carried out on 200 with sexually trans-
mitted diseases and 59 percent of them tested HIV
positive, said Dr. Nhindiri.

No tests were carried out at growth points, believed to
have some of the highest HIV cases.

Gutu district, which has one of the highest incidences of
AIDS, in 1989 recorded 74 people with full-blown AIDS.
Thirty-four of them were women while 40 were men.

Of the 55 reported cases of full-blown AIDS in 1990, 24
were female and 31 were male.

Last year 47 cases of full-blown AIDS were recorded in
Gutu, 27 of whom were men and 20 women.

Dr. Nhindiri said the figures were far from painting the
true picture. He said it was not possible that AIDS cases
could be on the decline in Gutu.

“The figures are not a true reflection of the real situation.
There is a lot of under-reporting. Most of the cases go
unreported,” he said.

Meanwhile, a medical officer at Gutu Mission Hospital,
Dr. Walter Oosterhuis, told Journalists that of the 356
people who died at the hospital last year, 238 of them
were HIV positive.

Dr. Oosterhuis said AIDS was the biggest problem the
hospital was facing.

He also said the figures did not represent the true picture
of the AIDS situation in the district.

AIDS, which has no cure yet, strips the body of its
defence mechanism, exposing it to disease attacks.



IJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

BOTSWANA

Over 800 May Die From AIDS This Year

92WE0614A Gaborone BOTSWANA DAILY NEWS
in English 4 Jun 92 p 1

[Article by Desmond Montshiwa]

[Excerpt] Between 800 and 900 people may perish from
the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) in Botswana this year, Senior Kweneng District
Medical Officer, Dr. Tore Steen has predicted.

Dr. Steen painted this grim picture on Tuesday at a
three-day AIDS awareness seminar attended by thirty
traditional doctors and faith healers from the Kweneng
District.

About 100 of the estimated 4,000 HIV carriers in Kwe-
neng will succumb to the killer disease by the close of
1992. He said so far at least nine people died from the
disease last year in that district.

Dr. Steen based these projections on statistics from
blood tests conducted on pregnant women and blood
donors in Kweneng last year. He said 36 of the tested 700
clients were found HIV positive. [passage omitted]

SOUTH AFRICA

AIDS Vaccine Trials May Be Set Up
92WE0597A Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES
in English 12 Jul 92 p 4

[Article by Cas St. Leger: “Frenchman Who Discovered
Virus Visits Africa To Collect Specimens; S.A Could
Test AIDS Vaccine”; quotation marks as published]

[Excerpts] The co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, Pro-
fessor Jean-Claude Chermann, is investigating setting up
vaccine trials in South Africa.

Professor Chermann, 53, of the Pasteur Institute, was in
Johannesburg last week to establish whether it would be
suitable for tests aimed at finding a cure for the deadly
disease.

And the renowned scientist is confident that science will
provide a cure: “If we can have five years to break the
epidemic, we will win.” [Passage omitted]

Professor Chermann is gathering AIDS virus specimens
to test whether the South African strains are included in
the global vaccine on which he is working.

He will make no snap judgements on AIDS in South

Africa, but says he will return next December with some
firm answers.

All the basic work towards the production of an AIDS
vaccine is complete. A complete global vaccine will be
necessary to contain the geographic spread of AIDS.
Development of the vaccine will take R6-million, a team
of 200 and two years.

Evaluation of the vaccine will take longer.

SUBSAHARAN AFRICA 1

“We have no right to say to people: ‘Now you are
vaccinated, don’t use a condom,” said Professor Cher-
mann, who has agreed with the World Health Organisa-
tion to start vaccinating in two parts of the world—
Thailand, India or South Africa—where the effects can
be seen quickly.

Medical Research Council To Launch AIDS
Newsletter

MB1008140292 Johannesburg SAPA in English
1225 GMT 10 Aug 92

[Text] Cape Town Aug 10 SAPA—Proposed rights for
AIDS- sufferers and people with the HIV infection will
be listed in the first edition of a regular newsletter on
AIDS to be launched by the Medical Research Council
[MRC] later in August.

The quarterly “AIDS BULLETIN” was prompted by the
dearth of accurate, user-friendly information covering a
wide spectrum of AIDS issues, Chief Editor Dr. Malcolm
Steinberg said in a statement on Monday.

“By providing information on AIDS education, preven-
tion, care and research, we hope to raise the awareness of
all interested individuals about the disease,” said Dr.
Steinberg, who heads the MRC National AIDS Research
Programme.

The first edition would include an interview with
African National Congress Health Representative
Cheryl Carolus on the movement’s AIDS policy, the
draft of South Africa’s AIDS charter on the rights of
AIDS and HIV-sufferers, and an article on the problems
of identifying AIDS cases.

The “AIDS BULLETIN” is available on request from
Michelle Galloway at the MRC, P.O Box 19070, Tyger-
berg, 7505.

TANZANIA

AIDS Scare Causes Hospital Blood Bank
Shortage

AB2807210092 Paris AFP in English 1657 GMT
27 Jul 92

[Text] Dar es Salaam, 27 Jul (AFP) - A blood bank in
Tanzanian’s Muhimbili medical centre here is facing
acute shortage of blood because prospective donors fear
testing positive for the HIV virus that can result in
AIDS.

The Uhuru newspaper Monday [27 July] quoted the
head of the hospital’s blood bank, Pius Magesa, as saying
that the hospital needs a minimum of 50 litres of blood
daily but was now receiving 10 litres.

Since the discovery of AIDS, which has no known cure
or vaccine, it has become compulsory that all donated
blood be screened for the HIV virus.

An estimated 500,000 Tanzanians have been infected
with the virus.



14 LATIN AMERICA

infected through blood transfusions, and this occurred
before the diagnostic tests were begun.

EL SALVADOR

Over 100 AIDS Deaths

PA2208131492A Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish
2038 GMT 18 Aug 92

[Editorial Report] At least 105 persons have died of
acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS, in El
Salvador since the disease appeared for the first time in
the country in 1985. Another 30,000 are asymptomatic
carriers of the disease, Health Minister Lisandro

Vasquez has reported.

GUATEMALA

AIDS Cases Total 541 Nationwide

92WE0548C Guatemala City DIARIO DE CENTRO
AMERICA in Spanish 8 Jun 92 p 3

[Excerpt] Yesterday, the minister of public health and
social assistance, Dr. Eusebio del Cid Peralta,
announced that a cumulative total of 541 cases of AIDS
has been reported in Guatemala since the first one
recorded years ago.

As for the reports from international health agencies that
rank our country among the high-risk nations for the
spread of AIDS, he remarked that they are disturbing to
the health authorities.

Educational programs will be implemented with the
Ministry of Education to prevent the spread of the dread
disease.

He indicated that this is the only thing that can be done
because there is no cure for AIDS. [passage omitted]

HONDURAS

AIDS Affects 4 Percent of Pregnant Women

92WEO0565A Tegucigalpa LA TRIBUNA in Spanish
19 Jun 92 p 18

[Text] Four percent of pregnant women in San Pedro

Sula suffer from AIDS, according to a statement made
on 18 June 1992 by Enrique Zelaya, the Health Minis-
try’s chief of epidemiology.

The physician said that studies of pregnant women who
receive treatment at San Pedro Sula’s Miguel Paz Bara-
hona health center indicate that the number of infected
women is on the increase. The percentage in 1991 was
3.5.

JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

Zelaya reported that the number of AIDS-infected chil-
dren is also increasing, to the point where some 90
children are infected, 64 of whom have already died.

Most of the children, 85 percent, were infected by their
mothers during pregnancy, and 9 percent were infected
by blood transfusions or other means.

Dr. Zelaya, in the course of a lecture to employees of the
Honduran Social Security Institute in San Pedro Sula,
brought up the case of a 13-year-old who contracted the
disease through sexual contact. The child had been
abused since age 11.

The doctor also said that while the number of cases in

Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba is declining, the statistics are

increasing in Santa Rosa de Copan and Comayagua to

the 1 point that they now rank second, after San Pedro
ula.

To illustrate his point, he mentioned that more than 50
percent of the prostitutes in La Entrada, Copan, are
infected by the “Disease of the Century”.

JAMAICA
Development Aid nts Si; With
, Agreements Signed

FL0208201092 Bridgetown CANA in English
1546 GMT 2 Aug 92

{Text} Kingston, Jamaica, Aug 2, CANA—Germany and
Jamaica have signed agreements for J129 million dollars
(1 Jdollar = 4.4 cents U.S.) in German development aid
to the Caribbean island, the Jamaica Government’s news
agency, JAMPRESS, has reported. JAMPRESS said the
bulk of the funds—J105 million dollars—would be a
grant for private sector-run Trafalgar Development Bank
by D.E.G, a German agency that finances investments in
developing countries. Most of the rest of the money will
go towards projects aimed at the prevention of AIDS and
other sexually-transmitted diseases.

MEXICO

Over 10,000 Reigistered AIDS Carriers
7422081314928 Madrid EFE in Spanish 0101 GMT
17 Aug 92

[Editorial Report] Carlos del Rio, director of the
National Council for AIDS Prevention and Control,
reported on 16 August that in the past 11 years at least
10,111 persons have been registered in Mexico as AIDS
carriers. Del Rio noted that 50 percent of these persons
developed the disease and died.


4 CHINA

individuals; that blood and blood products are subject to
AIDS virus antibody tests; that those who have been
infected with the AIDS virus shall not be allowed to
donate human body tissue, organs, blood, or semen; and
that staff members of civil administration, public secu-
Tity, judiciary, and executive departments who, when
performing public duties, discover anyone who may be a
source of the AIDS virus shall immediately send them to
a public health unit for examination. Medical and health
care organizations, upon discoving AIDS patients, shall
take immediate action to isolate them from others and
send them to designated medical units for treatment; and
if people are found to be infected by the AIDS virus or to
have had close ties with AIDS patients, the departments
concerned shall detain them for examination and restrict
their activities, so as to carry out medical observation,
call on them regularly or irregularly, and take any other
necessary measures.

Medical experts suggest that the government take strong
action against such law-breaking activities as drug addic-
tion and prostitution to curb the spread of AIDS through
these channels; be more strict with sterilization of med-
ical instruments, and strengthen surveillance of blood
supplied by blood donors, so as to stop infection from
medical sources; and pay close attention to any indica-
tion of maternal-fetal infection, and encourage the use of
disposable needles...

It Is Also No To C: Out Propaganda, and Do
a Better Job in Self Protection ction

In the last five years, newspapers, journals, radio and
television broadcasts, and other mass media have dis-
seminated a large amount of knowledge about AIDS, and
nearly 30 articles and general handbooks on AIDS have
been published. Exhibitions of general knowledge about
AIDS held in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai received
nearly 10 million visitors. And World AIDS Day, which
falls on 1 December every year, marks the highlight of
anti-AIDS propaganda.

However, the results of these propaganda efforts are not
satisfactory. Even population groups with higher educa-
tion standards have limited knowledge about AIDS. In
late 1989, the China AIDS Surveillance Center con-
ducted a survey among 224 college students, teachers,
and staff of five institutes of higher learning in Beijing.
The findings of the survey showed that many of the
interviewees did not know that use of a syringe needle by
several people can be a channel for the spread of AIDS,
10 percent of the interviewees did not believe or did not
even know that blood is a major means of AIDS infec-
tion, 4 percent of the interviewees did not know that a
Pregnant woman who is an AIDS carrier may pass the
AIDS virus on to the fetus, and 6 percent of the inter-
viewees did not know that AIDS is cause by a virus
infection.

Given the situation among well-educated population
groups in urban areas, one can guess what a limited
knowledge the relatively poorly educated rural popula-
tion may have about AIDS. In March 1990, the China

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

AIDS Surveillance Center and the Yunnan provincial
public health and epidemic prevention center conducted
a survey among 225 drug z addicts in a certain township of
Ruili County in the province to find out how much they
knew about eight aspects of AIDS. The findings showed
that the general rate of ignorance on AIDS was about 80
percent. Only 76 said they had heard the term “AIDS”
before. After having learned about AIDS, they appar-
ently changed their minds, 156 pledging to quit drugs
and 152 saying they were willing to undergo an AIDS
infection test.

Experts concerned have analyzed the China mainland’s
advantages and disadvantages with regard to AIDS pre-
vention and control efforts. The following points are
regarded as advantages: China has a higher degree of
social integration, and propaganda and education orga-
nizations and social work organizations at the upper and
lower levels are well coordinated, which makes it easier
to mobilize all the people to plunge into an operation;
the spread of AIDS is at its initial stage in China, so the
anti-AIDS operation can be carried out more efficiently
if prompt prevention and control measures are taken; the
Chinese people maintain a fine tradition regarding mar-
riage and family life and are well-guided with sound
sexual morality, which can help curb people’s irregular
behavior; and as the family planning program has been
implemented in China for more than 10 years, the use of
condoms can play a part in prevention of AIDS, and the
relatively sound medical service system and free health
care service for workers and staff in urban areas are also
conducive to the detection, tracing, and control of the
disease.

Disadvantages must not be overlooked either. As China
has a large population, the number of patients may be
enormous once AIDS spreads around across the country.
On the other hand, the funds for AIDS prevention,
control, and research at China’s disposal are not to be
compared with those at the disposal of developed
Western countries. The capacity of China’s present med-
ical service system cannot afford a heavy quarantine
workload. As the Chinese population has a high propor-
tion of illiterates and is composed of people of many
nationalities speaking different languages, this may
hinder education in and publicising of medical knowl-
edge. In addition, mysticism about sex, sexual taboos,
sexual repression, and other concepts have, to a certain
degree, served as obstacles to publicising knowledge
about sex and AIDS. Furthermore, the number of theo-
Teticians, educators, and well-trained medical workers
we have lags far behind the actual needs of prevention
and control of venereal diseases and AIDS, which is
another major difficulty.

Experts Propose Taking Up Six Tasks Immediately

1. It is necessary to make full use of mass media and
social organization networks to launch a massive AIDS
prevention and control propaganda and education drive.

2. It is necessary to train a batch of social workers and
consultants, to consolidate the monogamous family



20 CENTRAL EURASIA

Venereal Disease in Kazakhstan

92WE0476B Alma-Ata KARAVAN in Russian
27 Mar 92 p 20

[Article by V. Avaliani: “From the Bed of Love to a
Hospital Bed”)

{Text] It is said that there is so much hatred around. But
judging from the growth of diseases acquired by a most
pleasant means, there is plenty of love as well. Back in
1991 only two syphilis patients were put on record in all
of Alma-Ata in the first 2 months of the year, while in
1992 as many as 30 were registered in the same time
period! Gonorrhea has of course stabilized at a figure of
249 patients per 100,000 population. It can’t be said that
this isn’t many.

Some take the commandment to love one’s neighbor too
literally, and find themselves in bed with just anyone,
often forgetting to even ask the person’s name, not to
mention his place of work or residence. As a result the
operations service responsible for seeking out sexual
partners who had served as an infection source some-
times find themselves in a dead end. Only 33.3 percent
of the persons interviewed could provide any informa-
tion making it possible to “get on the track” of love at
first glance.

Over half of patients with venereal disease are revealed
by medical workers. Only 12 persons applied for assis-
tance on their own. This says a great deal, particularly
that anonymity of treatment, which is stipulated by law,
is not always observed in fact. There are no special
offices in which to carry out quick analyses in hotels,
which is precisely where such feelings flourish. Few
would want to seek a dermatovenerological dispensary in
a strange city after a night of passionate lovemaking in
order to find out, just in case, if they had received a gift
from the goddess Venus.

Even if we ignore visitors to the city, who will ultimately
leave for distant lands, the problem is still an acute one.
It would be sufficient to say that of the 30 syphilis
patients revealed this year, five are in the so-called
decreed contingent, subject to regular mandatory exam-
inations by physicians in connection with the nature of
their activity. Three are taxi drivers, one works in public
food services, and one is a medical worker. Moreover
only one of them has primary syphilis, while the rest
have secondary, recurring syphilis. And even in light of
all of this, it was a couple of months ago that they had
undergone their last medical examination.

Because of the fear of AIDS, and in connection with the
decreasing number of persons going to polyclinics, the
number of microreaction analyses has decreased signifi-
cantly—by two and a half times. And this means that the
risk has risen by that much as well!

Incomplete examination of women in consulting offices
has led to a situation where many with acute gonorrhea
have moved up to the chronic form.

JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

It should not be thought that fresh, young beings cannot
contract the disease: There are 15 adolescents in the city
with venereal diseases. Last year 10 children suffering
gonorrhea were put on record. They were infected by sick
relatives.

In general, the victims of the love-bed are basically
unemployed—28 percent; 21.5 percent are white collar
workers, and 15.5 percent of the total number of patients
are students. That is, people with a lot of time on their
hands, and a lot of money. The age of the bulk of the
patients at the dermatovenerological dispensary is from
20 to 30 years. Had a condom been available to them at
the needed moment, the state would not have had to
spend so much money on their treatment. In developed
countries, “rubbers” are distributed to secondary school
and college students free of charge! This is more humane,
and more beneficial. But for the moment the only way
we are developed is sexually. In this respect we are not
inferior to most countries of the world. But while they at
least fear AIDS, in our country we don’t fear it much,
judging from this careless behavior.

Nine foreign citizens with AIDS were deported some
time ago from the republic. But during the time of their
college studies or while here on business they managed to
“investigate the internal world” of such a large number
of women that one is amazed by their love of life.
Moreover many of their partners were never established.
And it may be possible that the latter are now infecting
their compatriots and foreign tourists, the flow of which
has increased dramatically in the last year or two.

But when it comes to the general trend of who should
fear whom, for the moment foreigners should be fearful
of getting venereal infections from our citizens, while
local aborigines should fear getting AIDS from tourists.

The image of disheveled bedding following a night of
ecstacy, which is so popular today in the movies, can
easily transform into a less romantic image of a hospital
bed in a barrack-type building housing a dermatovener-
ological dispensary. And the numerous sensations expe-
rienced in this bed, witnesses assert, are far more intense,
and equally far less pleasant.

Epidemiologist on AIDS
92WE0603A Moscow RAZVITIYE in Russian No 16,
April 92 p 13

[Article by Dr. Med Sci Vadim Pokrovskiy, laboratory
director, Central Epidemiological Institute: “You Can’t
Buy Off AIDS”)

[Text] By the year 2000, mankind will reach the apex of
a catastrophe that was evoked by the appearance of
AIDS on the planet. The epidemic’s slow development is
producing a habituating effect: A danger which may be a
universal topic of conversation but which comes on
gradually does not seem all that terrible. Articles have
already appeared in our press suggesting that there really
isn’t such a thing as AIDS (PODMOSKOVYE,


JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 AUGUST 1992

Foreicn
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INFORMATION
Service

PRS Report—

Epidemiology

AIDS

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Approved for pablie
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SJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

CAMBODIA
AFP Cites Public Health Ministry on AIDS
Statistics

BK1108142292 Hong Kong AFP in English 0916 GMT
II Aug 92

[Text] Phnom Penh, Aug !1 (AFP)—Nearly 80 percent
of Cambodians do not know what a condom is,
according to a Phnom Penh government study released
Tuesday which found that the virus which causes AIDS
was spreading rapidly though the country. The Ministry
of Public Health study found 45 cases of HIV-positive
people in the country, up from just two cases reported
last November.

It said the influx of foreigners and overseas Cambodians,
along with prostitutes from Vietnam who service them—
coupled with ignorance about protection—were to blame
for the increase. Blood transfusions, lack of facilities for
testing blood donations and dirty needles also account
for the increase, it said.

“People are undereducated and do not know how to
protect themselves against the AIDS disease,” said the
ministry study, which was presented during an annual
session of the National Assembly, which closed Tuesday.

“Seventy-seven percent of the total population said they
don’t know what a condom is and also they don’t know
about its usefulness in protection against AIDS,” it said.
It did not say how many people were surveyed or when.

More than 15,000 soldiers are serving in the U.N.
peacekeeping operation here, and Phnom Penh’s prosti-
tution districts have burgeoned to meet demand.

INDONESIA
Government Confirms Existence of 63 HIV, 24
AIDS Cases

BK1308103092 Jakarta SUARA PEMBARUAN
in Indonesian 5 Aug 92 pp 1,7

[Excerpts] Jakarta, 5 August—It is feared that there will
be an explosion in the number of AIDS and HIV cases in
Indonesia in the next five years. The prediction is based
on the assumption that HIV carriers (including the
unknown ones) will have passed the incubation phase
and AIDS will have shown clinical symptoms by that
time. [passage omitted]

Meanwhile, the latest data recorded by the Directorate
General of the Eradication of Communicable Diseases
and the Enhancement of the Healthy Life show that the
number of AIDS and HIV cases in Indonesia is
increasing. There have been 87 cases—63 HIV and 24
AIDS cases respectively. Nineteen more infected persons
are believed to have died. [passage omitted]

EAST ASIA 7

SOUTH KOREA
Health Ministry To Conduct AIDS Test on Illegal
Aliens

SK0608012092 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD
in English 6 Aug 92 p 3

[Text] A medical checkup for illegal aliens in Korea will
be conducted from Aug 20 through the end of next
month to check for AIDS {acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome], a Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
official said yesterday.

The checkup is not mandatory but those who refuse to
undergo the AIDS test may be expelled from the country
despite voluntarily reporting to the immigration control
office for leniency.

The ministry has asked local businesses employing illegal
foreign workers to submit a list of their names and
worksites.

Based on the list, district health centers scattered across
the country will conduct the AIDS test in due course, the
official said.

About 54,4201 [figure as published] of those who volun-
tarily reported to the immigration control office will be
subjected to the AIDS test.

The ministry has thus far taken rather passive measures
against AIDS prevention as far as foreigners are con-
cerned in view of its sensitive nature.

Since the AIDS test was conducted on foreigners residing
in Korea for the first time in 1986, 13 had been con-
firmed as AIDS patients and were expelled from the
country immediately. Three were later found to be illegal
foreign workers.

The AIDS test will be conducted in such a way as not to
infringe the basic human rights of foreigners because
there is the possibility of retaliatory action on Korean
expatriates by foreign governments if it develops into a
diplomatic row, a ministry official said.

MALAYSIA

Sarawak Called Vulnerable to AIDS
92WE0545A Kuala Lumpur BERITA HARIAN
in Malay 11 Jun 92 p 22

[Article by Misiah Taib: “Sarawak Records Highest Rate
of Sexually Transmitted Diseases”]

[Text] The people of Sarawak must now begin to fight
the epidemic of STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) if
it does not want to be exposed to a threat of AIDS
(acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

With 120 cases per 100,000 people, Sarawak now records
the highest number of STDs in the country. There are
only 45 cases per 100,000 people on the Peninsula.



6 CHINA

some individual cases is still a long way from the
complete conquest of AIDS, which has yet to be accom-
plished through the concerted efforts of all the medical
workers of the world.

0W0707085392B Beijing XINHUA in English
0749 GMT 7 Jul 92

[Excerpts] Beijing, July 7 (XINHUA)—{[Passage
omitted] Meanwhile, the National Strategy for Venereal
Diseases and AIDS Control must not be neglected, said
Dai Zhicheng, director of epidemic control with the
Ministry of Public Health. [Passage omitted]

This year the country has also seen increasing numbers
of people with HIV, which leads to the killer disease,
AIDS.

The cases are most concentrated in border and coastal
areas, including Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian. Many
cases involve Chinese who have returned from foreign
countries.

In Yunnan, intravenous injection remains the major
cause of HIV infection, but in other places most are
caused by hetero-sexual contact.

A recent report from the GUANGZHOU EVENING
NEWS disclosed that more HIV carriers were found in
Guangdong during the first five months of this year,
bringing to 33 the total detected number of cases in the
province. The majority of the carriers became infected
through sexual contact.

Official Addresses Amsterdam Conference on
AIDS

0W2807151092 Beijing XINHUA Domestic Service
in Chinese 0435 GMT 24 Jul 92

{Article by reporter Yang Yuanhua (2799 0337 5478)]

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

{Text] Amsterdam (the Netherlands), 23 Jul (XIN-
HUA)—Speaking here on 23 July, Dai Zhicheng, head of
the Chinese delegation to the Eighth International Con-
ference on AIDS, signaled China’s determination to
continue to work for the prevention and treatment of
AIDS.

Dai Zhicheng briefed the conference on China’s efforts
in formulating and implementing medium-range plans
on preventing and controlling AIDS. His briefing drew
warm acclaim from the conferees.

In his briefing, Dai Zhicheng said: In dealing with AIDS,
China has adopted the strategy of “giving priority to
prevention,” focusing on conducting health education
and monitoring epidemic diseases.

Statistics provided by the World Health Organization
show that there are now 2 million AIDS patients in the
world. China is a country with a low incidence of AIDS.
Dai Zhicheng said: The first AIDS case on the Chinese
mainland was reported in 1985. By the end of last
month, the total number of AIDS patients in China had
come to 11.

It was the first time that China’s Ministry of Public
Health sent a delegation to the International Conference
on AIDS. Fourteen Chinese specialists delivered mono-
graphic, academic reports on the use of traditional
Chinese medicine to treat people infected with the AIDS
virus. The reports attracted the attention of specialists
from other countries. Young scientist Zhou Lin show-
cased his invention—a biological frequency spectral
AIDS treatment device—at the conference’s exhibition
hall, This nonpharmaceutical therapeutic device aroused
the interest of the conferees.

The conference will close on the 24th. The conferees
decided to hold the Ninth International Conference on
AIDS in Berlin next year.



SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

The rate of infection among the heterosexual community
rose to 36 percent last year while the increase among gay
men was 21 percent.

Because of the concentration of initiatives on drug
abusers the rate of infection increase among this group
was eight percent, explained AlDSwise director Ger
Philpott.

“T recognise fully that drug abusers make up the highest
number of infected—641 in this sector have the virus
compared to 205 gay men and 143 heterosexuals,” he
said.

A programme of prevention aimed at these two groups
would save lives and money in the long term as it cost
between £17,000 and £25,000 to treat someone in the
advanced stages of the disease, he said.

AIDS Incidence Increases, Steps Taken

New Statistics
92WE0626A Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT
in English 15 Jul 92 p 5

[Article by Stephen McGrath: “AIDS Claims 10 Hetero-
sexuals”]

[Text] Ten Irish people have now died of full-blown
AIDS after having unprotected sex and their HIV part-
ners were not drug abusers or homosexuals.

Experts have been warning of the dangers of hetero-
sexual transmission of the HIV virus for years, but up to
now in this country there have been few deaths in this
category.

The latest figures from the Department of Health con-
firm that, in this category, 10 people have died of
AIDS—a 100 percent increase on last year—while a total
of 25 people have developed full-blown AIDS.

A total of 276 people have now developed full-blown
AIDS and 114 of them have died. Of those who have
developed full-blown AIDS, 111 are drug addicts and 39
of them have died.

Condom Bill Presented
92WE0626B Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT
in English 9 Jul 92 p 13

[Article by Mairtin Mac Cormaic and Lorna Reid:
“AIDS Fears Prompt Speedy Condoms Bill”]

[Text] The rampant spread of AIDS, with official figures
not telling the true level of the disease, has prompted the
Government to push through the Condoms Bill as
speedily as possible, Health Minister Dr. John O’Connell
said yesterday.

And the Minister, who has made major changes to the
previous Family Planning Bill, admitted that a greater
and freer availability of condoms was the most practical
and sensible contribution to preventing the spread of
AIDS, which already had claimed 114 lives here.

WEST EUROPE 27

Introducing the Health (Family Planning) (Amendment)
Bill 1992, Dr. O’Connell told the Dail the legislative
changes he was making included a lowering of the age
limit to 17 years.

The Second Stage of the Bill passed without division and
the Committee Stage will be taken today.

Several amendments opposed to the age limit of 17 will
be proposed during this stage, along with moves to have
condoms available from vending machines.

But at the end of yesterday’s debate, Dr. O’Connell
tejected Opposition calls to raise the age limit or to
provide for the sale of condoms from vending machines.

They must strike the correct balance between the con-
cerns of those parents and the need to take measures to
protect public health.

He had written into the Bill the places where the provi-
sions of condoms would be excluded, and these included
vending machines, mobile outlets, street vendors,
schools, youth clubs, or sports centres catering for people
under 17 years of age.

On the fight against AIDS, he said statistics had shown
that over the past number of years almost 1,250 had been
tested positive for the HIV virus, and 276 people had
developed full blown AIDS.

ITALY

Prisoners With AIDS To Be Kept in Hospitals

92WE0566A Rome LA REPUBBLICA in Italian
11 Jul 92 p 13

[Article by Daniele Mastrogiacomo: “Prisoners With
AIDS To Be Housed in Hospitals”}

[Text] An emergency measure was passed by the Cabinet.
The 5,000 inmates infected by the virus will leave their
cells and be transferred to public hospitals. A thousand
soldiers will patrol outside prison walls. Another 4,600
guards will be hired. A decree law revolutionizes prisons.
The addict will be able to choose the location.

There will be no more prisons for AIDS-infected
inmates. The 5,000 prisoners (10 percent of the peniten-
tiary population) infected with the deadly virus will be
transferred into specialized health facilities so they can
be looked after and cared for. The head of the Institutes
of Prevention and Punishment has finally won his battle.
For months, Nicolo Amato had been reporting the
overcrowding in prisons, the risk of uprisings and
escapes. He had described the terrible sanitary condi-
tions in our penitentiaries, the rising tensions, and the
difficulty in finding new places. He urged the hiring of
new personnel in the prison police force. He told about
the difficult life of the drug addicts, most of whom were
suffering from AIDS and were forced to shuttle back and
forth between their cells and the public hospitals which
routinely rejected them. He had asked the government to
take some action. Immediately! Yesterday, the Cabinet
responded to his appeal.



26 WEST EUROPE

GERMANY

New Bacterium Found To Infect AIDS Patients

92WE0560A Hamburg DER SPIEGEL in German
13 July 92 pp 208-209

[Unattributed article: “Poisonous Flood”}

[Text] Infections of the lungs and meninges, ulcers in the
small intestine, failure of kidneys, liver, and the heart—
those are the most frequent causes of death cited by
physicians on the death certificates of deceased AIDS
patients. The cause of the immune deficiency disease—
the AIDS virus “HIV” [Human Immunodeficiency
Virus}—does not lead to the death of an infected person,
rather it is disease germs that can only produce their
disasterous effects as the patient’s resistance declines.
The list of the pathogens responsible for these “oppor-
tunistic diseases” has become longer by one germ as of
late last week: Microbiologists at Hannover Medical
College have discovered a hitherto unknown bacterium
that causes serious, fatal blood poisoning in HIV
patients.

Hannover microbiologist Erik Boettger intends to make
public details of the discovery at the Eighth International
AIDS Congress which begins in Amerstedam on Monday
of next week. Almost simultaneously, the British profes-
sional journal LANCET will publish the results of a
study that the Boettger team, together with internists and
microbiologists at clinics in Geneva and Lausanne, had
undertaken.

Proximate cause of the discovery was the case of an
HIV-infected Swiss patient, who was admitted to the
Geneva Cantonal Hospital in October 1987. The patient
showed the symptoms of advanced-stage AIDS: diar-
rhea, weight loss, febrile attacks, and a low number of
so-called T helper cells in the blood. In their diagnostic
efforts, the Swiss hospital physicians could detect none
of the pathogens responsible for opportunistic infections
otherwise typical in AIDS cases. In tissue samples, in
bone marrow, and in the blood of the patient, however,
they discovered a number of rod-shaped bacteria previ-
ously unknown to them. In order to be able to combat—
in a directed manner—these infectious germs that
caused the death of the 30-year-old patient a year later,
the Swiss physicians attempted to more accurately deter-
mine the nature of the pathogen. All attempts to start a
culture and to grow the bacterium in a Petri dish failed,
however. The possibility of finding suitable medication
was thus eliminated.

The Hannover microbiologists, who had begun in 1989
to research the mysterious inundation of the organism by
the new mycobacterium (the medical generic term for
the nonmotile rod-shaped bacteria) in AIDS patients, at
first also failed at culturing in the laboratory. “We had
no idea of the nutrient this germ required for its growth,”
says Boettger.

The researchers finally succeeded in deciphering the
bacterium with the aid of modern genetic engineering.
From its genes, the scientists selected segments that “are

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

absolutely identical in all bacteria” (Boettger). These
identical features in turn flank segments that vary
according to individual bacteria types. Without great
difficulty the gene segments in question can be multi-
plied in a test tube and compared with already known
bacteria. In this way, the nature of a bacterium can be
deciphered.

With this procedure, developed by the Hannover bac-
teria detectives, the formerly unknown infectious agent
could be identified in the cell material of a total of 18
HIV patients. The researchers named it—after the place
of origin of the first patient—Mycobacterium genavense
(Genava: Latin for Geneva).

Boettger hopes to be able to proceed with further
research on the new bacterium to the point that by the
end of the year “we will be able to cultivate it and test
suitable antidotes against it.” He is convinced that a
future bacteria-killer “will probably increase the life
expectancy of HIV patients and will certainly improve
their quality of life.” This is because the damage caused
to individual organs of the resistance-weak patients by
the killer rods can, in Boettger’s words, reach “mad
Proportions.”

In one case, for example, the mycobacterium “totally
destroyed” the normal cell architecture of the lymph
nodes. In another patient, the mucosa of the small
intestine was “for all practical purposes non-existant” as
a result of the action of the bacterium. The flood of
bacteria had similar devastating effects on other places
in the organism as well: It inundated the blood, the bone
marrow, and the internal organs, such as the liver and
spleen. Controlling the deadly germ, which can only
bring its effect to bear when the number of T helper cells
is extremely low, is likely to become, in Boettger’s words,
“one of the most urgent tasks of HIV therapy.”

Unknown to date is where the germ comes from. It is
conceivable, Boettger opines, that it “is a normal inhab-
itant of our environment that an unweakened immune
system easily deals with.” Not the least of the factors
favoring this thesis, in Boettger’s view, is the fact that
“we have not discovered the rod-shaped bacterium
during any of our medical checkups or in the medical
attendants or physicians of HIV patients.”

IRELAND

Rise in AIDS Among Heterosexuals, Gay Men Noted
92WE0593A Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT
in English 22 Jun 92 p 5

[Article by Eilish O’Regan]

[Text] The alarming increase in AIDS infection among
the heterosexual and gay communities is being neglected
as priority is given to drug abusers, the AIDSwise organ-
isation warned yesterday.


JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

AIDS Prevention, Cure
HK0406104892 Beijing GUANGMING RIBAO
in Chinese 9 May 92

[Excerpt] [Passage omitted]

First Priority Is To Strengthen Surveillance

In order to prevent AIDS from spreading, the Chinese
Government has listed AIDS among other major infec-
tious diseases to be placed under the state’s intensive
surveillance, a national committee of experts on AIDS
prevention and control has been set up, and “Measures
for AIDS Surveillance and Control” have been promul-
gated. The Chinese Government, in cooperation with the
Global AIDS Prevention Planning Department of the
World Health Organization, drew up a 1990-1992 three-
year medium-term AIDS prevention and control plan for
China, and received various kinds of technical aid and
nearly $1 million in funds.

The first priority, as suggested by experts, is to
strengthen surveillance. The general strategy of surveil-
lance is as follows:

Twelve kinds of people are to be put on the surveillance
list as having a high risk of being AIDS carriers, namely,
venereal disease patients; prostitutes; drug addicts (par-
ticularly those who take drugs by intravenous injection);
homosexuals; consumers of imported blood products;
returned seamen, laborers and other personnel working
abroad; staff of hotels entertaining foreigners and tour
guides working with International Travel Service; resi-
dents of border areas and home towns of Overseas
Chinese; those maintaining close contact with AIDS
patients or people infected with the AIDS virus; medical
personnel rendering out-patient service specializing in
AIDS and staff of AIDS laboratories; and foreign stu-
dents in China and other foreigners who stay in China
for a long time; and blood, tissue, and organ donors. The
surveillance will be conducted in two forms, either based
on reports by those being monitored on their own
initiative or by spot checks on a voluntary and confiden-
tial basis. In accordance with the “PRC Law on Preven-
tion of Diseases” and the “Measures for AIDS Surveil-
lance and Control,” public health and epidemic
departments and medical and health care organizations
in different localities are responsible for promptly
reporting any discovered cases of AIDS patients or AIDS
infection to local public health authorities, so that the
latter can report in their turn to the AIDS Surveillance
Center of the China Academy of Preventive Medicine.

The criteria for AIDS case reporting set by China’s
Ministry of Public Health are as follows: 1) Those testing
positive for the AIDS antibody; 2) those testing positive
for the AIDS antibody who are suffering from high fever,
are losing weight, have diarrhea, have contracted pneu-
mocystis carinii pneumonia, or have any of the following
symptoms: Kaposi’s sarcoma, mycotic infection, T3/T8
lymphopenia, general lymphadenectasis, space-
occupying lesion of the central nervous system, loss of
discriminative ability, kinesioneurosis, and so on; and

CHINA 3

those whose cases meet the diagnostic criteria set by the
World Health Organization and the U.S. Disease Con-
trol Center.

Since 1985, AIDS surveillance networks across the
China mainland have conducted blood serum moni-
toring on 480,000 people in accordance with the above
principles. Only 705 people were finally confirmed as
being infected with the AIDS virus. But Director Dai of
the Epidemic Prevention Section is not satisfied with
this result. He said: Up to the present we are not quite
clear about the AIDS epidemic situation in this country.
In Yunnan, for instance, because of limited funds and
manpower, we cannot carry out a massive inspection, so
only several tens of thousands of people at high risk of
AIDS infection have undergone medical tests in the past
few years. This figure is far below the criterion, therefore
it is very likely that some virus carriers have not been
detected. From 1990 to the end of this year, Yunnan
Province plans to complete an inspection operation
covering 100,000 people, which means a workload sev-
eral dozen times that accomplished over the past few
years, and the expense will be as high as 27 million yuan.

Strengthening Control of the Spread of AIDS From
Abroad

While conducting surveillance, the China mainland has
strengthened control of the spread of AIDS from abroad.
Professor Chen Chunming, president of the China
Academy of Preventive Medicine, suggested that precau-
tionary measures be taken to prevent the spread of AIDS
from neighboring countries where AIDS is spreading,
and carrying out education in health care among those
who are sent to work in some foreign countries where
AIDS is running rampant. In order to prevent the
accelerated spread of AIDS by visitors crossing the
border, in December 1986 China promulgated the regu-
lations banning the entry of any foreigners who are
proved to have contracted AIDS and some other infec-
tious diseases as well as the import of human blood,
blood products, and bacteria and viruses that may
spread. In 1989, the Ministry of Public Health and the
Ministry of Public Security issued the “Circular on
Submission of Health Certificates by Chinese Citizens
Leaving or Entering the Country,” which provides that
Chinese citizens who return to China after staying
abroad for more than three months, Overseas Chinese,
and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan compatriots who
return to China to live or work with entry permits shall
produce upon entry health certificates regarding AIDS
and venereal and other diseases issued by quarantine
organizations or public hospitals in their places of origin.

Of the 15 cases of AIDS infection discovered in Beijing
in 1989, 12 were detected by the Beijing customs quar-
antine office in accordance with the above regulations.

The “Measures for AIDS Surveillance and Control”
enacted on 14 January 1988 also clearly provide that
AIDS (virus specimens) [du zhu 3021 2701] shall only be
kept and used by units designated by the Ministry of
Public Health, and that they shall not be exchanged
between, passed on to, or used by any other units or



SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

AIDS Panic in Kerala, Future Gloomy
92WE0600A Bombay THE TIMES OF INDIA
in English 10 Jul 92 p 4

[Article by V. R. Mani: ““Pseudo-AIDS’ in Kerala”]

{Excerpts} Thiruvananthapuram, July 9. Three weeks
ago, a girl who had just completed her graduation in
engineering in Bangalore told her mother here that she
was suffering from AIDS. A scared mother took her to a
psychiatrist.

She confessed to the doctor that her fiance in Bangalore
had kissed her once. Later on, she came to know that the
guy was a drug addict. And she had read somewhere that
drug addicts were prone to get AIDS. Therefore, she was
sure that her fiance had passed on the virus to her.

Consider this. An ENT specialist examined a foreign
couple at Kovalam. A few days later he got a feeling that
he was suffering from AIDS. He is now being treated by
a psychiatrist here.

Then there is the case of a boy who was constantly
weeping in his house and, on seeing his father, would say
“I will not do it again.” He was taken to a psychiatrist
and he told the doctor that he was suffering from AIDS
because he had had sexual contact with a girl. He felt that
it was sufficient for him to contact AIDS.

These are people who are suffering from what psychia-
trist Dr. V. S. Mani calls pseudo-AIDS. It is a psycho-
logical problem which is the outcome of improper infor-
mation, he says. They are victims of AIDS scare.

The AIDS scare is gradually turning into a psychological
problem. Dr. Mani himself has so far got some 20 cases
of pseudo-AIDS. There are other doctors also who have
been treating such patients. It is a symptom of their
underlying anxiety and depression. When such people
get improper illness information, it manifests itself in
pseudo-AIDS, says Dr. Mani.

[Passage omitted]

What the doctors are treating appears to be only the tip
of the iceberg. For, many may not be going to doctors for
fear of the stigma attached to AIDS. [Passage omitted]

The scarey part, there is no gain saying that AIDS
threatens, if not already, to become a major health
hazard in Kerala. Though so far officially only less than
a hundred cases of AIDS have been confirmed, the
charismatic Muslim Youth League president, Dr. M. K.
Muneer, a qualified doctor himself feels that the figure in
Trivandrum alone could be 5,000.

The professor of the infectious disease department in the
Medical College Hospital here, Dr. Roy Varghese, is
blunt. It (AIDS cases) is going up very fast and it will
reach epidemic proportions soon, he says. His argument
is that Kovalam is witnessing a boom in prostitution and
girls from different parts of the state are being brought
there to cater to the foreign tourists. This is a sure receipt
for the spread of AIDS.

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 17

Added to this, he says, those suffering from AIDS and
currently living in Bombay or the Gulf will quietly return
to Kerala and keep spreading the disease. So far, most of
the cases detected in the state either have a Bombay or
Gulf connection, he says. There is little knowledge about
the disease among the people ... Only about ten percent
may know about the disease, he bemoans.

Even elementary care is not taken in the Médical College
Hospital, Dr. Varghese says.

There is no “barrier nursing” between patients and
sterile techniques are inadequate, he admits, adding that
in the process, a lot of innocent people will get the
disease. [Sentence as received]

“We keep them (AIDS patients) in the general ward ... If
more and more people come, it will become a big
problem .. . It is time we alerted the People about the
disease,” he says.

A visit to the hospital by this correspondent betrayed
how shocking things were. The nurses confessed that
they were not being given adequate disposal syringes.
Therefore, they were reusing them after immersing in
hot water. But none of the patients is aware that a
disposal syringe should not be reused. They have not
even heard of the four-letter word, AIDS, which spells
death.

“There are any number of unauthorised blood banks
which collect blood without screening and as if these
were not enough to spread AIDS, we have the drug
addicts switching over to syringes,” says Dr. Mani.

Government’s Anti-AIDS Program Approved
BK3107102792 Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
25 Jul 92 p7

[Text] New DelhI—The Union Government is quickly
putting its AIDS control programme in gear. The
National AIDS Control Authority (NACA), approved by
the Cabinet on Wednesday, began its formal functioning
on Friday with P. R. Dasgupta taking over as the project
director.

A Maharashtra-cadre IAS [Indian Administrative Ser-
vice] officer who had served between 1987 and 1990 as
secretary to the State chief minister, Mr. Dasgupta has
relinquished his charge as the WHO-sponsored Health
Management Adviser to the Ugandan Government to
rejoin the Union Government as an additional secretary.

NACA, which is empowered to implement an $85 mil-
lion AIDS control project funded by the World Bank, has
been getting its action plan ready.

Mr. Dasgupta, who has the Ugandan experience (1
percent HIV sero- positivity) fresh in his mind, appre-
hends the Indian situation may be a lot more complex.“
The latest data (up to June 30) before his department
puts the seropositivity rate at 5.42 per thousand. out of
15,34,330 persons screened.

However, heterosexual promiscuity accounts for the
largest share of infections—46.20 percent. The use of



IPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

synthesis of proviral DNA and arrest of HIV reproduc-
tion. During this time, immunity gets a “breather,” and
undergoes partial regeneration. The therapeutic effect of
azidothymidine is supplemented by suppression of
opportunistic infections, in connection with which the
onset of remission is possible.

Unfortunately, the therapeutic effect is not manifested
in all cases. The drug is toxic, and it is produced abroad.
The course of treatment (200 mg every 4 hours for 6
months) costs $2,750. The drug does not affect the
provirus. HIV adapts quickly to it, and variants of HIV
stable to the drug already exist.

Because recurrence of illness is unavoidable, and
together with it, recurrence of opportunistic infections
and tumor growth, both specific therapy and treatment
of secondary ailments are carried out in the following
order: preventive therapy, treatment of the active pro-
cess, maintenance (antirecidivist) therapy. But even with
such treatment, recidivism and a fatal outcome are
unavoidable.

Prevention is an even weaker link when it comes to HIV
infection.

Specific prevention of HIV infection is the last and only
hope, inasmuch as radical (cleansing) therapy is gener-
ally impossible. However, a vaccine does not exist as yet,
but even after it is invented, only those who have not
been infected will be protected. All that remains for HIV
positive individuals—there are around 15 million of
them in the world—is to await their fate.

We can hope for a decrease in the number of infected
individuals only if sexual behavior is changed and if
harmful habits are rejected. This requires purposeful
large-scale propaganda.

As the flow of infected individuals increases, problems in
providing specific treatment to patients with multiple
pathology existing in unusual combinations will arise.
Organizing care for patients will possibly be an even
greater problem. Establishment of AIDS centers,
together with construction of specialized hospitals in the
future, will ease the situation. However, the flow of HIV
positive individuals and patients is gathering
momentum, and construction has not yet been started.
The stereotypic attitudes toward HIV positive individ-
uals and patients must be changed. The number of
persons who are not in risk groups and who are getting
infected—in medical institutions for example—is rising
continuously among them. Infected individuals remain
in a satisfactory condition for many years. All of their
living problems, including sexual, will have to be
resolved.

Adaptation to a situation of coexistence with HIV posi-
tive individuals and patients will become the norm in
our life.

©COPYRIGHT: “Zdravookhraneniye Belorussii’”,
1992

CENTRAL EURASIA 2B

Pokrovskiy on AIDS

92WE0605A Moscow TORGOVAYA GAZETA
in Russian 2 Jun 92 p 4

[Interview with Doctor of Medical Sciences Vadim Val-
entinovich Pokrovskiy by V. Krakhotina; date and place
not given: “V. Pokrovskiy: Our Objective—To Fall
Behind America”]

[Text] There is perhaps no one who would be amazed on
learning that Doctor of Medical Sciences Vadim Pok-
rovskiy was put in charge of the recently established
Russian Scientific-Methodological Center for AIDS
Control. He was our country’s pioneer in opposing the
plague of the 20th century.

Krakhotina: Vadim Valentinovich, is there more to this
than a simple change in name?

Pokrovskiy: Yes, the union AIDS control program was
under the leadership of a deputy prime minister. The
claim was that solid financing would be maintained in
this way. On the other hand we proposed a new AIDS
control program, a more flexible one, with clearer prior-
ities. But the government still hasn’t allocated any
money for its implementation.

Krakhotina: Who is going to implement it?

Pokrovskiy: As a minimum, three departments: the Min-
istry of Health, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the
State Committee for Epidemiological Inspection, plus
concerns and enterprises manufacturing medical and
health services equipment. Coordination of their activi-
ties is required at the government level, but a general
coordinator has not yet been established.

Krakhotina: As I understand, financing is a very acute
problem.

Pokrovskiy: Of course. The program requires 8 billion
rubles and a certain amount of foreign currency. If this
money is not allocated today, we will have to spend
immeasurably more for the same purposes 5 years hence.
Much like what happened in the USA, which underesti-
mated the danger of AIDS in the 1980s and which is now
paying for the mistake with hundreds of thousands of
infected individuals.

Krakhotina: How do you assess our present situation?

Pokrovskiy: In the last 7 years the country has conducted
an intensive effort to prevent and control AIDS. We
introduced an epidemic control system that includes
identifying all possible cases of HIV infection (infections
elicited by human immunodeficiency virus), and not just
of AIDS alone. This is important, because up to 15 years
pass between infection and disease. The system foresees
registration of all cases of infection, mass testing of the
population (pregnant women, donors, patients with
venereal diseases, foreigners and citizens returning from
abroad). Owing to it, 612 AIDS patients have been
detected among foreigners residing in our country, who
were sent home. All of this made it possible to signifi-
cantly weaken the first wave of the epidemic.



JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992 3 AIDS

EL SALVADOR
Over 100 AIDS Deaths [Mexico City NOTIMEX, 18 Aug 92]
GUATEMALA

AIDS Cases Total 541 Nationwide
[Guatemala City DIARIO DE CENTRO AMERICA, 8 Jun 92]

HONDURAS

14

AIDS Affects 4 Percent of Pregnant Women [Tegucigalpa LA TRIBUNA, 19 Jun 92] ....
JAMAICA
Development Aid Agreements Signed With Germany /Bridgetown CANA, 2 Aug 92]
MEXICO
Over 10,000 Reigistered AIDS Carriers {Madrid EFE, 17 Aug 92] .....
NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH

AIDS Panel Meets, Lowest Incidence Noted
[Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER, 3 May 91] .....
Minister Reports AIDS Total, Other Cases
[Dhaka THE BANGLADESH OBSERVER, 9 Jul 92]

INDIA

Health Ministry Establishes AIDS Panel /New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS, 23 Jun 92] ....
HIV Virus Found Among Calcutta Prostitutes

[Usha Rai; New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS, 23 Jun 92]
AIDS Panic in Kerala, Future Gloomy

[V. R. Mani; Bombay THE TIMES OF INDIA, 10 Jul 92] ......
Government’s Anti-AIDS Program Approved [Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS, 25 Jul 92] ..

IRAN

15

Mojahedin-e Khalq Member in AIDS-Infected Blood Scandal
[Tehran IRIB Television First Program Network, 19 Jun 92]

ISRAEL

Officials Report Data on Number of AIDS Cases [‘Edna Aridor; Tel Aviv HA’ARETZ, 7 Jul 92] .. 18
Health Minister Provides Data on AIDS Cases
[Aran Klein and Ya’agov Lazar; Tel Aviv ‘AL HAMISHMAR, 6 Aug 92] ......

CENTRAL EURASIA

Venereal Disease in Kazakhstan /[V. Avaliani; Alma-Ata KARAVAN, 27 Mar 92] ...
Epidemiologist on AIDS [Med Sci Vadim Pokrovskiy; Moscow RAZVITIYE, April 92]
Clinical Problems of HIV Infection and AIDS

[Zh. A. Rebenok; Minsk ZDRAVOOKHRANENIYE BELORUSSII, Apr 92] ..
Pokrovskiy on AIDS {Moscow TORGOVAYA GAZETA, 2 Jun 92] ..
Total of 770 AIDS Carriers in CIS Countries [Moscow Mayak Radio Network, 8 Aug 92]
No AIDS Cases Registered in Karelia to Date [Moscow Russian Television Network, 19 Aug 92]
Information Section Reports AIDS Statistics /Kiev MOLOD UKRAYINY, 21 Aug 92] .....



10 EAST ASIA

tribesmen more about AIDS, which should help to
prevent the spread of this disease in the future.

Articles Report AIDS Cases

Health official Informs AIDS Cases

92WE0607A Bangkok MATICHON in Thai 4 Jul 92
p24

{Excerpt] On 3 July, Dr. Uthai Sutsuk, the under secre-
tary of public health, issued a statement saying that a
survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Health on 15
June found that Thailand has a total of 300,000 carriers
of the AIDS virus. Since May, another 29 people have
come down with full-blown cases of AIDS. Most people
contract AIDS from sexual activities.

Dr. Uthai said that the people with AIDS-related symp-
toms are between the ages of 20 and 34. They are in all
professions, but the largest number are laborers. He said
that the number of people contracting AIDS is
increasing. In order to control the spread of AIDS more
efficiently, the Ministry of Education will hold a national
seminar on the AIDS problem. [passage omitted]

Increase in AIDS Cases in Lampang
92WE0607B Bangkok NAEO NA in Thai 5 Jul 92 p 3

[Excerpt] Dr. Nopphadon Sombun, the public health
officer in Lampang Province, said that an AIDS survey
conducted in Lampang Province at the end of June
showed that Lampang Province now has 34 people with
full-blown cases of AIDS. Of these, 27 are men and seven
are women. Most recently, six infants born to mothers
with AIDS were found to have the disease. Four of these
have died. Besides this, another 23 people have AIDS-
related symptoms. Of these, 21 are men and two are
women.

The public health officer in Lampang Province said that
most of these people contracted the AIDS virus through
sexual relations. They did not try to protect themselves
by using a condom.

Dr. Nopphadon added that the Ministry of Public
Health has discontinued its policy of giving blood tests to
people, because even if a person is found to have the
disease, there is no way to treat the disease. Instead,
people are being given blood tests on a random basis in
order to analyze the change in the number of people with
the AIDS virus. [passage omitted.

Doctors Comment on Blood Testing in Hospitals
92WE0607C Bangkok NAEO NA in Thai 7 Jul 92
pp I, 16
[Excerpts] [passage omitted] At a seminar, Dr. Siwilai
Tanprasoet, the deputy director of the National Blood

SIPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

Donation Center, said that the Thai Red Cross con-
ducted blood tests using the antigen method in order to
check for the presence of the AIDS virus. It was found
that some of the blood that had tested negative for the
AIDS virus using the antibody method did in fact
contain the AIDS virus. The antibody method used to be
a popular method of testing for the virus, but it was not
very exact. Studies have found that blood from 23 of the
206 donors now in the blood bank is infected with the
AIDS virus. This blood is used to treat emergency
patients and people who need blood during operations.

Dr. Siwilai said that almost all of these people are being
monitored. Those who were given this blood have con-
tracted the virus even though they have never engaged in
any activity that would put them at risk of contracting
AIDS. Thus, it is thought that these unfortunate people
contracted the disease from the blood given to them at
the hospitals where they were being treated. Blood tests
have shown that an alarming number of people are
infected with the AIDS virus. The number of people with
the virus is increasing, with those contracting the disease
being unaware of this. [passage omitted]

Dr. Siwilai said that she has seen two cases of Type A
hemophilia in children. The two children had to have
surgery, but after the surgery, they contracted the AIDS
virus, which is very sad. Besides this, blood tests given to
21,627 people originally found that they were free of the
AIDS virus. But when they were rechecked, it was found
that 23 were carriers of the AIDS virus. [passage
omitted]

Dr. Phimon Chieosin, the director of the Blood Section,
Department of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, said
that studies on AIDS have shown that those recruited to
donate blood tend to have a higher incidence of AIDS
than do people in other groups. The number of people
contracting AIDS from donated blood is becoming very
alarming. In particular, those who received blood in
1991 are at a higher risk of contracting this disease.
That’s because during that period, the old method used
to check blood for the AIDS virus was not completely
reliable. After rechecking this blood, it has been found
that some of that donated blood contains the AIDS
virus.

Mr. Yutthana Mandi, the director of the blood hospital,
Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, said that
some hospitals, such as the Sirirat Hospital, refuse to test
blood using the antigen method, which is the fastest
method. Thus, it’s possible that the Sirirat Hospital,
which receives donated blood and which has its own
blood bank, runs a high risk of infecting patients with the
AIDS virus.


12 LATIN AMERICA

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Doctor: AIDS Deaths Increasing at ‘Alarming
te”

FL2008161292 Bridgetown CANA in English
1602 GMT 20 Aug 92

[Text] St. John’s, Antigua, Aug 20, CANA—Antiguan
medical doctor Prince Ramsey says the country has the
highest per capita for AIDS-related deaths in the region
in a six-month period. Ramsey made the assessment at a
public lecture here this week and reported that six
persons died from the sexually transmitted disease
within a two- week period.

“Deaths related to the deadly AIDS disease are
increasing at an alarming rate in Antigua,” he said.
Ramsey identified prostitution and heterosexual inter-
course as the major causes for the spread of the disease.

“Antigua is the only place in the world where prostitu-
tion is a major cause of the disease,” Ramsey said. He
said research showed that women were more likely than
men to contract the HIV virus which can lead to full
blown AIDS.

He said unless promiscuous sexual activity was stopped
“AIDS will reach epidemic proportions” before a cure
might be found in the next five years.

ARGENTINA
Government Spent $10 Million on Anti-AIDS
Campaign

PY2807002092 Buenos Aires BUENOS AIRES
HERALD in English 27 Jul 92 p 7

[Excerpt] (DYN-NA)—Health Minister Julio Cesar
Araoz revealed yesterday that the government had spent
10 million dollars on its anti-AIDS campaign and that
the funds from the FONAVI [National Housing Fund]
housing fund and the National Lottery could be also
utilized in the effort to carry out preventive measures
nationwide.

Araoz stated yesterday that “we cannot say that in this
country there are no funds to fight AIDS.” The minister,
who said that no international financial aid had arrived
to beef up the official campaign, added that with part of
the money already invested the government would buy
and distribute doses of the drug AZT that retards the
effects of the lethal human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV).

In an interview with a local news agency the minister
said that controlling the spread of AIDS “‘must be based
on a change in the cultural norms regarding sex.” Araoz
added that “to think that carrying a condom in one’s
pocket saves us from the virus is to look for a talisman.
The best way to prevent (AIDS) is by educating and
informing.” [passage omitted]

JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

BRAZIL

Production, Distribution of AZT Announced

PY2507015692 Brasilia Voz do Brasil Network
in Portuguese 2200 GMT 23 Jul 92

{Summary] A Rio de Janeiro laboratory will begin pro-
ducing AZT, a drug that is used for controlling AIDS.
The product is scheduled to be on the market by the end
of July. The Health Ministry will buy the entire labora-
tory output for distribution to AIDS patients.

Farther on Locally Produced AZT
PY2507025492 Rio de Janeiro Rede Globo Television
in Portuguese 2300 GMT 24 Jul 92

[Text] Brazilian-made AZT will be distributed as of next
month among hospitals. The most important medicine
for the treatment of AIDS-infected patients already is
being produced in Rio de Janeiro.

The AZT will be sold under the name of zidogudine.
Health Minister Adib Jatene has symbolically received
the first box of this medicine. The laboratory production
will be enough to treat almost half of Brazil’s AIDS
patients.

The Brazilian AZT tablets will be sold next month, while
the special syrup form for children will not be sold until
September. This national medicine will be 40 percent
cheaper than the imported product. Each bottle will cost
approximately $90, equivalent today to some 400,000
cruzeiros. Each of these bottles contains 100 tablets,
which is sufficient for the 15-day treatment of one AIDS
patient.

The Health Ministry will purchase almost all current
production to distribute among hospitals free of charge.

Regulation To Prevent Discrimination Against
AIDS Carriers

PY3107020092 Brasilia Voz do Brasil Network

in Portuguese 2200 GMT 30 Jul 92

[Text] An interministerial regulation will forbid the
demand of AIDS tests in public bids sponsored by the
executive branch. The resolution will be signed by
Health Minister Adib Jatene and Labor Minister Joao
Mellao.

This decision was announced by Lair Guerra de Macedo,
the Health Ministry’s AIDS program coordinator, and
was based on the decision adopted by the Federal
Revenue Office demanding that those who approved
public bids submit to the AIDS test.

Guerra de Macedo has stated that the AIDS virus does
not make people unqualified for work. Besides, the
demand for an AIDS test is not instrumental in pre-
venting the disease. She said the resolution is intended to
end discrimination against HIV virus carriers: [Begin
recording] Among other things, one should disregard the
distorted rumor that one catches AIDS through social or
professional coexistence. This is absolutely false. [end
recording] She reported that the Health Ministry will



JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992 2 AIDS

Government To Spend $10 Million on AIDS Education

[Kuala Lumpur UTUSAN MALAYSIA, 24 Jun 92] .....
Minister—30 Percent of Migrants Infected With AIDS /Kuala Lumpur BERNAMA, 28 Jul 92] ... 9
Twelve Foreign Workers Confirmed HIV Carriers [Kuala Lumpur Voice of Malaysia, 6 Aug 92] . 9

SINGAPORE

Over 100 Infected With HIV Since 1985; 27 Dead
[Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES, 19 Jun 92] ....

THAILAND

AIDS Cases Increase in Chiang Mai /Bangkok NAEO NA, 11 Jun 92] 9
Articles Report AIDS Cases ..... 10
Health official Informs AIDS Cases /Bangkok MATICHON, 4 Jul 92] 10
Increase in AIDS Cases in Lampang /Bangkok NAEO NA, 5 Jul 92] 10
Doctors Comment on Blood Testing in Hospitals /Bangkok NAEO 10

EAST EUROPE
ALBANIA
AIDS Diagnostic Laboratory Starts Work [Tirana Radio Tirana Network, 11 Aug 92] ..
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Television Gives AIDS, HIV Data [Prague Federal 1 Television Network, 8 Aug 92] ...
YOGOSLAVIA
Over 200 Registered AIDS Cases by 17 Jun [Belgrade TANJUG Domestic Service, 17 Jun 92] ..... ul

at

LATIN AMERICA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Doctor: AIDS Deaths Increasing at ‘Alarming Rate’ [Bridgetown CANA, 20 Aug 92) .....
ARGENTINA

Government Spent $10 Million on Anti-AIDS Campaign
[Buenos Aires BUENOS AIRES HERALD, 27 Jul 92] ..

12

BRAZIL

Production, Distribution of AZT Announced [Brasilia Voz do Brasil Network, 23 Jul 92]
Further on Locally Produced AZT [Rio de Janeiro Rede Globo Television, 24 Jul 92] ..
Regulation To Prevent Discrimination Against AIDS Carriers

[Brasilia Voz do Brasil Network, 30 Jul 92]
Decree Bans Mandatory AIDS Testing For Pul

[Brasilia Radio Nacional da Amazonia Network, 11 Aug 92]
Heterosexual AIDS Numbers Viewed [Rio de Janeiro Rede Globo Television, 17 Aug 92]
New AIDS Cases [Sao Paulo O ESTADO DE SAO PAULO, 18 Aug 92 p 12] ......

CUBA
Havana Outlines AIDS Prevention, Control Program

[Havana Radio Havana Cuba, 11 Aug 92]...
All Blood Being Screened for HIV Viruses {Havana



SJPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

GUDOK), and that this is but a fabrication of medical
workers wishing to pump money out of the government,
and so on.

The sad thing is that no one here is writing or saying
practically anything about the fact that AIDS is certainly
a terrible thing. To be sure, children infected in Elista or
Rostov are shown on television, the press sheds a few
tears, and some fund gathers a few donations. A benev-
olent society organizes a European cruise for members of
its board, a Russian deputy, his family and reporters,
and on returning, it announces that the investigation by
journalists established that condoms rip less often in
civilized countries than in ours. And because civilization
is advancing upon us in 7-mile strides, we needn’t be
concerned. Homosexuals infected with AIDS will come
to us from the USA, and they will teach us how to make
everything right, and vanquish AIDS, without a single
worry. But when it comes to the essence of AIDS, and to
what our country is doing to fight it, the mass media
report nothing that makes sense.

The problem with AIDS is that the human immunode-
ficiency virus (HIV) that evokes it has acquired the
possibility for spreading quickly precisely owing to the
accomplishments of civilization. It is most probable that
it acquired its modern, dangerous form in connection
with the practical introduction of blood transfusions and
drug injections throughout the world in the middle of the
century. Even the great Pasteur was able to achieve rapid
change in the properties of viruses by transfusing the
blood of rabbits he infected from one specimen to
another. The same sort of process probably occurred
with HIV as well. Elements of civilization such as the
spread of intravenous injection of narcotics, the sexual
revolution and, in particular, sex tourism, as well as the
international system for trade in blood, led to wide
dissemination of HIV over the planet as early as in the
mid-1970s. The most insidious characteristic of HIV is
that the infected individual feels himself to be healthy,
and suspecting nothing, he participates in the spread of
the virus for several years. As a consequence the disease
was not detected until the early 1980s. Other of its
terrible characteristics were revealed very soon after:
The virus is transmitted sexually, and therefore it is the
young that are infected most often; all persons infected
with HIV die at the flower of their youth, because there
is as yet no cure.

Although the pathways of HIV transmission are lim-
ited—through blood, by sexual intercourse and from the
mother to its newborn infant, fighting the epidemic has
been found to be a difficult thing. In all of the 11 years
since the disease was discovered, the number of infected
individuals has continued to increase, and nowhere has a
tendency for this number to decrease been detected.
AIDS threatens Africa with a demographic catastro-
phe—in some cities, up to 50 percent of the population is
infected with HIV. As early as by the late 1980s the virus
penetrated into India and Thailand, where infected
individuals will begin to die in huge numbers by the end
of the century.

CENTRAL EURASIA a

Two hundred thousand Americans have already died of
AIDS, and as many will die in the next year. There are no
indications that the epidemic has been successfully
stopped in the USA. Because most homosexuals are
already infected, and fear is causing those who remain
uninfected to protect themselves, only in this group has
the number of new cases of infection declined. In all
other population groups in the USA, their number is
increasing. As for exactly how many people in the USA
are infected with AIDS—2 million or 10 million—no
one knows, since the USA lacks a system for recording
cases of infection. Although a number of drugs that
retard the course of the disease by several years have
been proposed, in the economic aspect AIDS is only
becoming more expensive as a result of this: Every year
of treatment of an AIDS patient, you see, costs $30,000-
40,000. The insured health care system has been shaken
up in the USA precisely due to AIDS: The business world
is unwilling to cover the risk. The total financial losses of
the USA due to AIDS are $10 billion per year. As far as
residents of developed countries are concerned, their
only course of action at the moment is to sit calmly and
await their death—no state budget will be able to cover
the expenses of treating AIDS. In order to keep infected
foreigners from coming to the USA for treatment, the
State Department has barred their entry into the
country.

On this backdrop, the AIDS situation in our country
appears rather favorable—in 7 years, only 680 infected
individuals and 60 AIDS patients were recorded, and
140 million tests were made! And this is in no way an
accident. In contrast to many countries, at the beginning
of the epidemic the USSR possessed rather strong bar-
riers by which to deflect an epidemic. For example,
sexual contacts between Soviet citizens and foreigners
were limited, and for strategic considerations the USSR
provided its own blood. We also had considerable expe-
rience in fighting epidemics. Whenever mass examina-
tions of the population were conducted, at which time all
cases of infection were recorded centrally, the causes of
infection were investigated. Testing of foreigners and of
Soviet citizens traveling outside the country was also
introduced. More than 600 infected foreigners had to
leave our country when the dangerous disease was
detected in them. Regular testing of donors was intro-
duced in 1987, and since that time, not a single case of
HIV infection has occurred as a result of blood transfu-
sion. In 1991, there were no infected individuals at all
among 10 million tested donors.

A centralized system in Moscow for collecting informa-
tion and analyzing incoming data made it possible to
reveal and investigate an outbreak inside a hospital in
distant Elista, and then to eliminate foci of HIV trans-
mission in hospitals in southern Russia. Despite the
continuing shortage of syringes, and of materials and
equipment for sterilization and disinfection, competent
organization of protective measures in hospitals has
resulted in a situation where new cases of infection in
hospitals have not been noted in Russia for 2 years. All
of this resulted in a decrease in the level of absolute and



Epidemiology
AIDS

JPRS-TEP-92-015 CONTENTS 27 August 1992

{This EPIDEMIOLOGY report contains only material on AIDS. Other epidemiology topics are covered in a later
issue.]

SUBSAHARAN AFRICA
BOTSWANA

Over 800 May Die From AIDS This Year
[Desmond Montshiwa; BOTSWANA DAILY NEWS, 4 Jun 92]

SOUTH AFRICA
AIDS Vaccine Trials May Be Set Up
[Cas St. Leger; Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES, 12 Jul 92] ....
Medical Research Council To Launch AIDS Newsletter (Johannesburg SAPA, 10 Aug 92]
TANZANIA

AIDS Scare Causes Hospital Blood Bank Shortage [Paris AFP, 27 Jul 92] ... 1
Anti-AIDS Plan Implemented Dar es Salaam Radio Tanzania External Service, 5 Aug 92]

ZIMBABWE

Bulawayo Hit By AIDS-Related TB Epidemic {Harare THE HERALD, 14 Apr 92] ...
Masvingo AIDS Figures Under-Report Incidence {Harare THE HERALD, 3 Jul 92]

RN

CHINA
AIDS Prevention, Cure [Beijing GUANGMING RIBAO, 9 May 92]
HIV Carriers Increasing [Beijing XINHUA, 7 Jul 92]
Official Addresses Amsterdam Conference on AIDS
[Yang Yuanhua; Beijing XINHUA Domestic Service, 24 Jul 92]
EAST ASIA
CAMBODIA
AFP Cites Public Health Ministry on AIDS Statistics [Hong Kong AFP, 11 Aug 92] .....
INDONESIA

Government Confirms Existence of 63 HIV, 24 AIDS Cases
[Jakarta SUARA PEMBARUAN, 5 Aug 92]

SOUTH KOREA

Health Ministry To Conduct AIDS Test on Illegal Aliens
[Seoul THE KOREA HERALD, 6 Aug 92) ....

MALAYSIA

Sarawak Called Vulnerable to AIDS
[Misiah Taib; Kuala Lumpur BERITA HARIAN, 11 Jun 92] ..

aw



JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

cases will continue up until the year 2000. “In other
words, we can no longer say that we see the light at the
end of the tunnel,” summed up the AIDS operations
center director, Donato Greco.

Given this situation, there has been a renewal of debate
that had seemed closed long ago: for example, on
whether it would be a good idea to impose stricter
preventive measures; that is, registering people who are
HIV-positive and conducting mandatory mass testing.
The proposal has been around for a while. Some people
would like to follow the example of two U.S. states,
Illinois and Louisiana, and introduce mandatory pre-
marital testing. Some, like the general manager of Insti-
tutes of Prevention and Punishment, Nicolo Amato,
want to test all inmates to determine whether they are
HIV-positive. Some are in favor of the so-called partner
notification; that is, to notify the partners of HIV-
positive individuals. And even the current prime min-
ister, Giuliano Amato, who spoke at a seminar at the
Institute of Legislative Studies in Rome five months ago,
did not seem to those attending to be against the idea of
mass screening.

The debate is very lively among those in the field.
Giuseppe Visco, director of Spallanzani Hospital in
Rome, said, “Some people ask themselves if it is right to
respect anonymity even at the risk of infecting the
population at large.” This consideration becomes even
more valid now, after having discovered that there is no
sign that the epidemic is abating.

Visco’s response, as well as that of the World Health
Organization and the National AIDS Commission, is
very clear: It is not open for discussion. The director of
the Epidemiology Observatory of Latium, Carlo Perucci,
states it even more drastically: “Ever since infectious
diseases were discovered, someone has tried to introduce
repressive laws by camouflaging them as preventive
measures.” According to Perucci, notification is not the
answer either, not even for the partner. It is not people
we should avoid, he explains, it is risky behavior.

In Italy, the problem concerns absolutely everyone. In
our country, the main source of infection is the drug
addicts, whereas in the United States, the illness has
spread above all among homosexuals. That difference
explains why the epidemic is continuing to grow in Italy,
whereas it is already tending to stabilize in other Western
countries. A Superior Institute of Health study, for
example, has shown that the disease’s incubation period,
that is, the interval between contact with the virus and
the appearance of the AIDS symptoms, is longer the
younger a person is when they become HIV-positive. It
goes from 15 years for someone who becomes infected
when they are under 25 years of age, to eight years for
someone who is over 35 years of age. In the United
States, however, the average incubation period is 10
years. Those who are in the habit of exchanging needles
come into contact with the HIV early, and therefore they

WEST EUROPE 29

benefit from a much longer incubation period. In addi-
tion, the younger population has more sexual relation-
ships and more partners. Therefore, the infection is more
easily spread even among heterosexuals.

As the data show, the risk is greatest for women for two
reasons. First, there are four times more male than
female drug addicts. Second, the sexual transmission of
AIDS from males to females is at least twice as likely as
from females to males (somé-U.S. researchers say up to
10 times greater). That is why the number of cases of
infection in the heterosexual population is growing more
among women than among men (but, in general, the
chance of contracting AIDS from a single sexual
gncounter with an HIV-positive person is about one in
)).

Another recent discovery concerns the percentage of
HIV-positive drug addicts. Based on tests of prison
inmates, researchers believed until recently that the
population of heroin addicts must by now be totally
infected. Instead, according to Gianni Rezza, an epide-
miologist from the Superior Institute of Health, that was
not the case at all. “In Milan 50 percent of drug addicts
may be HIV-positive,” he explains, “but in Rome that
percentage drops to 30 percent, and in Naples we have
discovered that it is not above 5 percent.”

Therefore, conclude the researchers, it is wrong to think
of drug addicts as a homogeneous population: Some
were infected right away and others have modified their
habits and no longer exchange needles except in
moments of dire need. That also contributes to making it
even more difficult to make estimates and forecasts
about the HIV-positive population.

Two different models used by the AIDS Operations
Center at the Ministry of Health suggest that there were
65-75,000 HIV-positive people at the end of 1988 and
that this will have risen to approximately 100,000 this
year (but it is difficult to estimate the present incidence).
Based on regional data (the only data available, although
anonymous), instead, the director of the Epidemiologic
Observatory of Latium estimates that there were 56,000
HIV-positive people in Italy in 1990 and that there will
be, at worst, 84,000 in 1994.

These figures differ widely. It is not easy to establish
which ones are correct, and there is the risk of making
glaring mistakes. Even the National AIDS Commission
has been involved. “We have tried to prepare a scientific
paper regarding the epidemiologic evaluations of AIDS,”
explained its vice president, Elio Guzzanti. The paper
updates the previous report published in 1989 which was
also used as the basis of the special plan for the fight
against AIDS. Based on an estimated 250,000 HIV-
positive people by this year (in actuality, all estimates
agree that we have not reached even half of that), the
Ministry of Health was provided with 2.1 trillion lire to
set up new facilities in the area of infectious diseases.

Between restructurings and new constructions, a plan for
7,000 new hospital beds was approved—not one of
which has been created. Despite making use of special



u CENTRAL EURASIA

Krakhotina: But there were leaks in the system as well,
weren’t there?

Pokrovskiy: Well, I wouldn’t call them leaks, but a large
group of foreign tourists, businessmen, clergymen and
preachers were missed by the testing program, as a result
of which the virus did penetrate into the milieu of our
country’s homosexuals. As a result the disease is
spreading most actively precisely among them. There are
of course symptoms that the next AIDS wave is begin-
ning: Infection of adolescent girls was reported from a
small Russian town. Consequently the: disease is also
spreading among the republic’s heterosexuals, and not at
all as a result of contact with foreign carriers of the virus.

Krakhotina: What is the relationship between the effec-
tiveness of the epidemic control system and cases of
AIDS infection of children in hospitals in Elista, Rostov,
Volgograd and Stavropol?

Pokrovskiy: It was precisely owing to this system that
hospital centers of infection were revealed. There was
nothing that we could appropriate from foreign experi-
ence in this regard. In France, for example, transfusion
of blood infected with AIDS virus caused infection of
6,000 patients in 1985. But it was only 7 years later that
specialists established that 300 of the deceased AIDS
victims had previously undergone a course of treatment
in the same hospital.

Krakhotina: Are you telling me that we enjoy certain
Priority in the fight against AIDS?

Pokrovskiy: And why not? We detected possible centers
of infection in hospitals early. The suggestion that chil-
dren in Elista were infected as a result of specialists using
unsterilized syringes was made back in January 1989.
But it was not believed, and they continued to infect
children until the end of the year. The explanation: This
is the way things were always done—that is, one syringe
was used twice, changing only the needle.

Krakhotina: Vadim Valentinovich, you omitted the drug
addict group, or is it statistically not influential?

Pokrovskiy: We are presently entering a very complex
phase of the fight against AIDS among drug addicts. This
is an asocial group, one that is extremely hard to influ-
ence. Members of this group do not listen to radio, they
do not watch TV, and they don’t read newspapers.

Krakhotina: How, in light of what was said, do you relate
to the existing forms of sex education for the young?

Pokrovskiy: The problems of sex education are acquiring
special importance today. It is important not only to
know the rules but also to observe them. Even use of
condoms made in this country, the reliability of which is
not trusted by many, reduces the risk of infection by a
hundred times. We need to train teachers in VUZes, and
provide sex education courses in schools. For the
moment, anti-AIDS publicity in the mass media is very
disorganized. Some drives started by TV (AIDS—

JPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

anti-AIDS) or the journal OGONEK are left uncom-
pleted. We have no idea where money collected by
benefit rock concerts goes.

Krakhotina: Does this mean that we are still not fully
cognizant of the risk?

Pokrovskiy: I would say that the society’s attitude toward
the problem is an imprudent one. Before, 40 million
persons were tested in mass testing programs in the
USSR each year. Now, citing human rights, we are being
encouraged to do away with the epidemic control
system, to test patients on a facultative basis and, more-
over, to make blood donation anonymous.

Krakhotina: How much does a single test cost?
Pokrovskiy: 50-60 rubles. Today.

Krakhotina: Many are troubled by this question: Can
AIDS be transmitted by pathways other than sexual and
by blood?

Pokrovskiy: We tested 340,000 casual contacts of
infected patients..We did not detect a single case of
infection among them. Not one, I emphasize!

Krakhotina: Are there many HIV positive individuals
today in our country?

Pokrovskiy: In the former USSR, 742 were registered. In
Russia, 558, of whom 378 are AIDS patients, and 61
persons have died of AIDS (in the USA—200,000). Our
objective is to fall as far behind America as possible in
the spread of AIDS.

Total of 770 AIDS Carriers in CIS Countries

LD0808194992 Moscow Mayak Radio Network in
Russian 1530 GMT 8 Aug 92

[Summary] A Russian delegation is attending an inter-
national AIDS conference in Edinburgh which began
today. According to the latest figures, 770 carriers of the
AIDS virus have been discovered in the CIS, 569 of
whom live in Russia.

No AIDS Cases Registered in Karelia to Date

PM2408120792 Moscow Russian Television Network in
Russian 1445 GMT 19 Aug 92

[From the “M-Trust” program: Video report by A.
Kolobov and V. Yarotskiy, identified by caption, from
Karelia; figures in brackets denote broadcast time in
GMT in hours, minutes, and seconds]

[Text] [145608] [Kolobov over video of a sign reading
“AIDS Diagnosis Laboratory”] To this day not a single
case of HIV-positive or full-blown AIDS has been regis-
tered in Karelia. This is all the more peculiar since such
cases are no longer isolated instances in Finland and
Russian oblasts neighboring on Karelia.

Let me add that this year 4.5 times more cases of
venereal disease than last year have been registered.
Even schoolchildren are suffering from syphilis.



8 EAST ASIA

Dr. Andrew Kiyu, an epidemic research specialist with
the Sarawak Medical and Health Service, says victims of
STDs have a seven times greater risk than normal of
contracting AIDS.

STD cases in the state during the first four months of the
year increased by almost 60 percent over the same period
last year.

In the context of fighting STDs, the principle of “think
before you are infected” may no longer work for Sarawak
residents. They can prevent further spread, however, by
the practice of “stop it before it becomes critical.”

Dr. P. Doraisingam, deputy director of the Sarawak
Medical and Health Service, says last year’s figures show
that the incidence of gonorrhea is seven times greater
than in the other states of Malaysia.

“The number of syphilis cases is also four times greater
than in the other states. These two STDs have a connec-
tion with HIV [human immunodeficiency virus] and
AIDS,” he said.

The number of STD cases in Sarawak rose to 869 during
the first four months of this year, which means 303 more
than the 566 cases recorded in the same period last year.

Of that total, 661 people had gonorrhea, while 181 had
syphilis.

Dr. Doraisingam says his office has taken a number of
necessary steps to block the spread of HIV and AIDS to
Sarawak.

He says that in the past the people of Sarawak felt AIDS
was a Westerners’ disease and occurred only among
high-risk people such as prostitutes.

“The error of that view became clear, however, when the
first HIV carrier was identified among Sarawak residents
in November 1991,” he said.

He says his office is conducting a campaign of exhibi-
tions and information operations in the community to
explain the way AIDS spreads, steps to prevent it, the
development of the disease, and how to care for and
understand AIDS patients.

He hopes the campaign will make the people of Sarawak
aware of all aspects of AIDS in order to reduce excessive
fear and correct perspectives on AIDS. The campaign
also gives guidance to high-risk groups.

Action to fight STDs must be the starting point of a

struggle by the people of Sarawak if they want to create
a healthy and prosperous society by the year 2020.

Furthermore, the people of Sarawak must not blame
foreign tourists or foreign women working in night clubs
every time an AIDS case is found in the state.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Wong Soon Kai said
on an earlier occasion that the state government must
not prevent the entrance of tourists merely to avoid
AIDS, for that would hurt development of Sarawak’s
tourism industry.

SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

He said the Sarawak people themselves must refrain
from high-risk conduct, including clandestine relation-
ships with foreigners suspected of carrying the AIDS
virus.

AIDS will not spread if the local people will view
foreigners who may be carrying AIDS simply as tourists.

The people of Sarawak must take this issue seriously,
because at the beginning of 1992 between 10 and 15
million people in the world reportedly had the AIDS
virus.

As of last February, Malaysia itself had 3,000 people
with HIV. Of those, 42 were confirmed to have AIDS,
and 33 have died.

AIDS is no longer a “mystery” disease. Besides the
campaign being conducted by the authorities about the
sources and serious consequences of the disease, pub-
licity about the disease is becoming extensive.

HIV, which leads to AIDS, spreads in three ways:
promiscuous sexual relations, reuse of hypodermic nee-
dies, and blood transfusions.

AIDS may be effectively blocked, but it requires coop-
eration and awareness by each individual in society.

Government To Spend $10 Million on AIDS
Education

92WE0563A Kuala Lumpur UTUSAN MALAYSIA
in Malay 24 Jun 92 p7

[Text] Kuala Lumpur, 23 Jun—The government plans to
spend more than 250 million ringgit on an AIDS educa-
tion program as part of its effort to make the public
aware of the danger of the disease, according to Minister
of Health Datuk Lee Kim Sai.

He says the comprehensive program will not only make
the people of this country aware of AIDS, but he hopes it
will also reduce the number of people becoming infected
with the dangerous disease.

“T will present a plan for this long-term program to the
cabinet next month,” he told reporters at the Malaysian
Red Crescent Association (PBSMM) after inaugurating
the Hepatitis B Awareness Campaign sponsored by the
PBSMM.

He said a program planning paper is now being studied
by several government agencies and departments,
including the Ministry of Finance, to provide feedback
on the program.

He stated that the large allocation will enable the Min-
istry of Health and other agencies under it to conduct an
education program and to buy medical facilities.

He said 100 million ringgit of the allocation will be used
for an education program, which will include advertise-
ments about AIDS, the distribution of pamphlets, and
public campaigns.

“The rest of the allocation will be used to buy equipment
and medical facilities,” he said.



SPRS-TEP-92-015
27 August 1992

ALBANIA

AIDS Diagnostic Laboratory Starts Work
AU1108170692 Tirana Radio Tirana Network
in Albanian 1330 GMT 11 Aug 92

[Text] Recently the laboratory for diagnosing the AIDS
virus started its work at the blood donors’ center in
Tirana. The World Health Organization [WHO] pro-
vided a grant for this laboratory, which is worth
$100,000. The personnel has been trained abroad using
‘WHO funds. Approximately 35,000 blood donors a year
from the capital and some neighboring districts will be
examined here. This is the second laboratory of this kind
in Albania, after the one that has been operating for four
years at the Hygienic Institution. The ATA correspon-
dent learned at the Ministry of Health and Environment
Protection that the WHO has assured financial support
to build a third laboratory in our country.

While there are more than 10,000,000 people infected by
AIDS and about 500,000 sick worldwide, in Albania no
AIDS cases have been diagnosed, and no person has been
found to be infected by this virus. This does not mean
that our country is immune to this plague of the 20th
century; therefore, building such laboratories will con-
tribute to prevent AIDS’ infection in Albania, since we
know that the virus is spread by blood.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Television Gives AIDS, HIV Data

LD0908141592 Prague Federal 1 Television Network
in Slovak 1730 GMT 8 Aug 92

[Excerpts] [passage omitted] By 30 June this year, 101
HIV positive and 24 AIDS cases had been registered In
the Czech Republic, and 21 people had died of AIDS.

EAST EUROPE 11

Helplines [preceding word in English], telephone consul-
tation lines, should help AIDS prevention. Besides the
helplines in Usti nad Labem, Pizen, and Brno, there is
also one in the central heath center in Prague for the
Central Bohemian Region.

The Prague helpline has been in existence for 15 months
and 1,670 people have used its services so far. Some 70
percent of them were 20-40 years old, but even consid-
erably younger people have been asking for advice.
[passage omitted]

The growing number of those interested in anonymous
HIV tests gives some indication of helplines’ success.
The cost of tests are not very high in our country.

(Begin unidentified speaker recording] An anonymous
test is given free of charge if someone asks for one.
However, if someone needs a document to satisfy those
countries which require such certificates from persons
who are given jobs or plan a longer stay there, a charge
will be made, depending on the urgency of the request; if
a certificate is needed within 24 hours the client will pay
500 koruna, but 350 koruna if a week’s notice is given
and 300 koruna if two weeks’ notice is given. [passage
omitted]

YOGOSLAVIA

Over 200 AIDS Cases by 17 Jun

LD1906224392 Belgrade TANJUG Domestic Service
in Serbo-Croatian 1510 GMT 17 Jun 92

{Summary] Belgrade, 17 Jun (TANJUG)—To date 213
AIDS cases have been registered in the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. Of that number, 57 percent have died.
Sixty percent of all AIDS cases have been among drug
users. Of the AIDS cases registered, 96 percent of 213
AIDS cases have been registered in Belgrade and its
suburbs of Zemun, Lazarevac and Obrenovac. Women
make up 20 percent of AIDS cases.