j----_. - New York Civil Liberties Union

Mahopac 520
page 2 AIDS Education December 1987
AIDS
INFORHATIONUPDATE
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control:
* An estimated 1.5 million Americans are infected with the
AIDS virus.
*
42,354 cases of AIDS have been reported to date.
24,412 deaths from AIDS have been reported.
While 90 percent of reported cases are homosexuals and intravenous drug
abusers, heterosexual transmission of AIDS is increasing very rapidly - from
one percent of reported cases in 1983 to 4 percent at the present time.
There is at least preliminary evidence that male homosexuals are heeding
advice about "safer sex" and consequently reducing the incidence of AIDS,
but reported cases of syphilis were up 29 percent in the nation, suggesting
that heterosexuals are not taking the elementary precautions that can
prevent both syphilis and AIDS.
There is new research evidence that virtually all persons infected with the
AIDS virus will develop the disease, rather than only five to ten percent as
was once hopefully projected.
It now appears that the incubation period of AIDS, once thought to average
4-1/2 years, is at least 8 years. One implication of this finding is that
if AIDS is today invading new groups of people, heterosexuals for example,
the impact of this spread of the disease may not bé felt until the mid-
1990's. .
CC)
A medical solution to the problem of AIDS appears to be years away. The
AIDS virus mutates so rapidly that there may be so many strains that
vaccination is not an effective preventative measure.
In the absence of medical prevention, AIDS education represents the only
available means of controlling the AIDS epidemic.
Source: Money, November, 1987.
AIDS ON THE COLLEGE CAMPUS
The American College Health Association has published a useful book, AIDS on
the College Campus. The contents include .policy statements and recommended
actions in the areas of housing, antibody testing, confidentiality, policy
development, and AIDS education. The Association's general policy statement
on AIDS, which appears as the first chapter, has been adopted by 400
colleges. Especially useful to many institutions will be the compilation of
recommended educational activities, classified according to the financial
and personnel resources available to the school.
AIDS On the College Campus may be obtained for $7.50 ($5.00 for ACHA member
institutions) from:
American College Health Association
15879 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville, MD 20855,(301) 963-1100
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