Agenda - Council - 05/28/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

A I D may be the symptoms of Pneumoc3s~ c~ ,'~' pneumoni~ MuMple purplish blotches and bumps on the skin may be a sign of Kaposi's sarcoma. TheAIDS virus in all infected people is essentially the same;, the rea~ions of individuals Long Term The AIDS virus may also attack the nervous system and cause delayed damage to the brain. This damage may take years to de~telop and the symptoms may show up as memory loss, indifference, 1o~ of coordination, p~tial paralysis, or mental disorder. These symptoms may occur alone, or with other symptoms mentioned earlier. AIDS: the present sit, ration The number of people estimated to be infected with the AIDS virus in the United States is about 1.5 million~ All of these individuals are assumed to be capable of spread- hag the virus sexually (heterosex'ually or homosexually) or by sharing needles and syringes or other implements for intravenous drug use. Of these, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 will come down with AIDS Related Complex (ARC). It is difficult to predict the number v/no will develop ARC or AIDS because symptoms sometimes take as long as nine years to show up. With our present knowledge, scientists predict that 20 to 30 percent of those infected with the AIDS virus will develop an illness that fits an accepted definition of AIDS within five years. The number of persons known to have AIDS in the United States to date is over 25,000; of these, about half have died of the disease. Since there is no cure, the others are expected to also eventually die from their disease. The majority of infected antibody positive individuals who carry the AIDS virus show no disease symptoms and may not come down with the disease for many years, ff ever. A I D S No Risle from Cama~ Contact There is no known risk of non-sexual infection in most of the situations we encounter in our daily lives. We lmow that family membem living with individuals who have the AIDS virus do not become infected except through sexual contact. There is no evidence of transmission (spread) of AIDS virus by everyday contact even though these family members shared food, towels, cups, razors, even tooth- brushes, and kissed each other. Health Workers We know even more about health care workers exposed to AIDS patients. About 2,500 health workers who were caring for AIDS patients when they were sickest have been carefully studied and tested for infection with the AIDS virus. These doctors, nurses and other health care givers have been exposed to the AIDS patients' blood, stool and other body fluids. Approximately 750 of these health workers reported possible additional exposure by direct