Young Adults Are Not Immune
He lays in his bed, his skin
stretched taut over his bones.
His sleep is momentarily disrupted
by a violent cough, his body slowly
yielding to the fluid invading his
At one end of the bed, deflated balloons saying, "You're somebody special' ' have fallen to the floor.
On the nightstand, a red velvet
box of candy remains unopened. He
is unaware Valentine's Day has
come and gone.
His name was Earl. He was homosexual, and he had AIDS. He died
Feb. 23, 1988.
Some students don't think they
could die from the so-called "fag disease." Doctors say they're wrong.
"Young adults especially those
aged 19 to 25, seem to think they are
immortal," said Robert Awe, chief of
pulmonary medicine at Jeff Davis
Hospital. "We (at the AIDS unit) see
more and more heterosexuals in
their mid-to-late 20s. I have a female
patient at present who has had four
sex partners. To her knowledge all
were heterosexual and had no contact with intravenous drugs, and she
So far, the infection rate of AIDS in
heterosexuals has been relatively
low in the United States. According
to some medical professionals and
the results of a campus survey, however, the number may increase.
The majority of 500 students at
UH indicated in a recent survey concerning their sexual behavior that
they do not believe they are at risk
for contracting AIDS. (Participants
in the survey were not randomly selected and therefore the results are
not necessarily representative of the
student body as a whole.)
Doctors, however, said that if students don't take precautions, the infectious rate among their age group
could increase dramatically.
Joshua M. Gold, a Houston internal medicine and immunology specialist, said that AIDS in the heterosexual community is a pressing
matter. "If they (young adults) don't
alter their lifestyles, there will be irreversible damage done," he said.
By the age 21, the average number
of sexual partners of those polled
was seven. William Masters and Virginia Johnson, noted researchers in
the area of sexual behavior consider
six partners "numerous."
Yet only 14 percent of those surveyed here felt they might be at risk
for contracting AIDS.
Gold is one of the many who advocate safe sex as a means of avoiding infection of the virus, which
means preventing the exchange of
body fluids such as blood, semen,
urine, and stool. Using a condom
during high-risk sexual activities, or
abstention, Gold said, are the only
known precautions against coming
in contact with the body fluids that
cany the AIDS virus.
UH students, however, have not
been heeding this advice. Of those
polled, 52 percent indicated that
they never use condoms during intercourse, 33 percent use them only
sometimes and 15 percent declined
to answer the question.
According to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta (CDC), there
have been 56,115 reported cases of
AIDS in the United States as of
March 21, 1988.
Awe spoke about three waves of
victims of the AIDS epidemic: gay
and bisexual men, intravenous drug
users and their partners, and 19-25
year old heterosexual adults.
"We won't see the true impact for
another seven to 10 years," Awe
said, referring to the latency period
of the disease. "The people that are
dying now contracted the virus
when they were aged 19-35."
Recent figures from the CDF show
that 2,254 of the cases reported are
diagnosed in heterosexuals — 1,228
females and 1,026 males. The CDC
also attributes 1,759 of its reported
cases to unknown origin, those who
were diagnosed with AIDS but were
at no apparent risk.
Still, it seems college-age heterosexuals do not believe these sta
tistics affect them. During the campus-sponsored AIDS Awareness
Week in February, the turnout for
most of the activities was sparse.
"There has been enough information out there now that people know
that if they are having sex, they are
at risk," said Karen Gregroy, a panelist at the AIDS awareness Week
"People are going to die from this,
people like you, people like me."
Gold said, "Until we know more
about the disease, people should not
take a chance."
— Lori Clay
Results of Campus
Average age polled
Average number of partners
Thought they were at risk
Thought they were not at risk
Changed lifestyle due to AIDS
Haven't changed lifestyle
because of AIDS
Used condoms sometimes
Don't use condoms
Results do not necessarily represent student
community as a whole.
Bisexuals, intravenous drug users and prostitutes run the risk of contracting AIDS. Nancy Reagan's "Safe Sex" campaign continues.
Photo by Michael Williams.
62 University of Houston