Wise Up, I

To the Editors of the Crimson:

I read Jeff Wise's editorial of December 17 with dismay. I have spent the past semester researching AIDS and what I have learned strongly contrasts with Wise's argument for the quarantine. It is unfortunate that there are others who are also seriously considering such extreme and inappropriate measures.

This week the Texas Board of Health tentatively approved a plan that would add AIDS to the list of illnesses for which a Texan can be quarantined. The state commissioner can give approval for the isolation of someone with AIDS who refused to stop sexual activity or drug use that could spread the virus.

Wise wrote that it is "absurd to assume that carriers of the AIDS virus--some of whom are prostitutes--will unanimously refrain from having sex. The only feasible option we have right now is to identify AIDS carriers and take steps to isolate them."

This is absurd.

Over a million people have come in contact with the virus. Wise does not seem to consider the ethics of essentially jailing a million people who have committed no crime, nor does he mention the Herculean task of testing the entire population for the antibody and forcefully containing those who test positively in certain areas. In addition, the only widespread test for the AIDS virus does not detect the virus itself, but antibodies to it. This test produces many false positives, which means that thousands of people who don't have the virus will test positively. Is Wise ready to take responsibility for uprooting these people from their homes and families and isolating them in "centers"? Does he expect the rest of the populace to carry around small blue cards that will show they have been tested negatively within the last six months, and subject them to spot checks by police?

Quarantine is not an option for stopping the spread of AIDS. This is far from saying the situation is hopeless, however, for if we are truly interested in stopping the spread of AIDS there are effective measures that can be taken. The first is education of people on the activities that transmit the virus--all of which involve the exchange of bodily fluids--and encouraging people to avoid them. This would include the use of condoms (which would also deal with the issue of prostitutes acquiring or transmitting the virus), widespread publicity about "safer sex" techniques, and over-the-counter sale of sterile needles so that IV drug users need not share needles. If all of us do what we can to reduce the risk of contracting the virus then there would be no need to worry about people who are not aware that they carry the virus and might therefore transmit it or people who, although aware, engage in "unsafe" sexual activities. This would seem the only effective way of stopping the spread of a virus whose carriers may be unaware that they are infected.

Second, we need readily available testing centers where people can anonymously have the antibody test done without fear that the test will be used to discriminate against them in housing, employment, or insurance. These centers should include counselors who are knowledgeable about AIDS and the antibody test and who are trained in helping people deal with the ramifications that a positive test can lead to.

Third, it is necessary to increase dramatically the funds for research on AIDS. This should include learning more about which cofactors might cause an asymptotic carrier suddenly to come down with AIDS, treatments for people who have the illness, and the possibilities of developing an effective and safe vaccine.

AIDS is not a tumor that can be cut out of society with a surgical knife. It is an illness that involves everyone. One when all of us act responsibly and help the people who are already affected can we protect those who don't have the virus from contracting it, and those who already have it from the hopelessness and discrimination that are currently associated with the illness. Jonathan Mermin '87