Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!rna!rocky2!cucard!aecom!werner
From: werner@aecom.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: re: A Lay question about AIDS?
Message-ID: <1110@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 25-Jan-85 15:53:56 EST
Article-I.D.: aecom.1110
Posted: Fri Jan 25 15:53:56 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 28-Jan-85 07:33:39 EST
References: <182@ttidcc.UUCP> <1278@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 26

> >One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal  intercourse.                     
> >                                                            The  virus  (or
> >whatever) is carried and passed on in semen.
> 
Steve Dyer responds:
> It's important not to turn a single, controversial article in the JAMA into
> popular folklore--the facts simply aren't there.  

	Well, it was actually more than a single article, and there were 
similar articles in Science and Nature.  
The facts are:
	1. HTLV-3 (the Aids-Related Virus) is found primarily in blood, but
also in saliva and semen, and maybe other places that haven't been explored
yet.
	2. The rectum is a) bacteriologically speaking, an exceptionally dirty
place, and b) not designed for intercourse (wrong epithelium).
	
	However, Steve does have his point. Just because something makes sense
logically, doesn't mean it is correct. Also, just as a grammatical point, the
use of the word "vector" was wrong. The correct phrase should have been
"means of transmission." 

-- 
				Craig Werner
				!philabs!aecom!werner
		What do you expect?  Watermelons are out of season!