Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bbncca.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!bbncca!sdyer From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: re: A Lay question about AIDS? Message-ID: <1278@bbncca.ARPA> Date: Sun, 20-Jan-85 15:17:20 EST Article-I.D.: bbncca.1278 Posted: Sun Jan 20 15:17:20 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 21-Jan-85 04:13:46 EST References: <182@ttidcc.UUCP> Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma. Lines: 16 >Reasonable: > >One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal intercourse. This is because >the lining of the rectum isn't built for such treatment and can develop >tears which provide a direct path to the bloodstream. The virus (or >whatever) is carried and passed on in semen. It's important not to turn a single, controversial article in the JAMA into popular folklore--the facts simply aren't there. About all one can say now about the transmission of AIDS is that it requires the exchange of bodily fluids. The present epidemiology of the syndrome is adequately explained by the characteristics of the populations in which it occurs. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA