European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 05, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse G teens t s too late researchers also warn that aids. A a a statistics May mask the actual risks because symptoms of the disease which has a 10-year incubation period May not show up immediately. A y nearly 7,100 americans from Ages 20 to 24 have been diagnosed with aids while More than 27,000 cases have been found m men and women Ages 25.to 29, according to the cd. S. The kids May be fooling themselves that they re Safe because they Don t see their poors coming Down with the. H disease Quot said or. Martha Rogers who a Heads the cd s his epidemiology ranch. Quot but the vast majority of 20 to 24-� aids were infected As a. Dawn Marcal 25, discovered that fact under the most painful of circumstances. Years after reining in a reckless lifestyle. That included dabbling in intravenous drugs and multiple sex partners she unwittingly transmitted aids to a treasured daughter who died at 18 months. R Quot most of America especially Middle America still thinks aids is a Gay. Disease said Marcal a san Francisca who was diagnosed with the disease after her daughter s birth in 1987. Quot but i say to them a look at me. I am Quot. The Good news is that condom use which can prevent transmission of the a virus has More than doubled in recent years fifty seven percent of sexually Active .15 to 19-ye�?Tar-old males surveyed in 1988 used Protection the last time they had Intercourse according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute in new York. And 31 percent of unmarried 15 to 44-year-old women who have had sexual Intercourse at least once said they had modified their behaviour because of aids according to a recent Federal report. Or. Experts attribute this Progress to the f other is fought ool a seasely Many believe ids. It aids Ere in a sense a Erst he. Around a but Carrie o s a a. Safe that it. G a a a Ore in. Logged 60 in doctors d sexual luring Quot indicate Active e cd Alf of. 119 had. Of about Dawn Marcal who has aids tells about her past lifestyle and the loss of her child in a talk to High school students introduction of aids education programs which Are now required for Public school a students in 33 states and recommended in 16 states a Quot we be opened up dinner table dialogue around a lot of taboo subjects like sex and condoms Quot said or. Karen Hein head of. The adolescent aids program at a r Montefiore Hospital in new Yolk. A it s a kind of a Many adults however still find sex and aids difficult topics to discuss with their teen agers. It s a tacit admission that their children Are or May soon become sexually Active a decision some parents might not Sanction. A a but aids activists say morality must become secondary to safety with an estimated.1 million pregnancies and 2.5 million cases of sexually transmitted a diseases annually among teens. Quot we have a pending disaster and some people Are still debating whether we should discuss condom use openly Quot said a a or. Gary r. Strokas director of. Adolescent Medicine at Rush presbyterian St Luke Center in Chicago. Quot we re seeing More and More cases of adolescent aids and we re just not prepared Quot he said we be got to find a Quot Way to reach Young but teen agers who sometimes imagine themselves immortal Are known Lor ignoring adult admonitions. Quot they just keep getting the stuff repeated to us a the same old stuff Over arid Over Quot Plummer 18, who has Learned about aids prevention As part of Western High s comprehensive program Quot it just starts to get real tired or not Strokas believes teachers parents and health officials have to keep trying. ,.a the teen thinks i m Sale it won t happen to me Quot he said. Quot but aids is like russian Roulette if you get it that s it. A you re Gay Community rallies against deadly foe by Marlene cimons the los Angeles times i s join in a March for lesbian and Gay rights. N Many ways the aids epidemic has a served As a galvanising Force for. Homosexuals it has made the Gay rights movement More visible and powerful than it has Ever been before. Most of this came As a result of. Widespread anger toward policy makers. A particularly in the Reagan and Bush administrations a for what was seen As a -. Indifference to the spread of the disease it is an anger that still exists critics Point to ongoing Battles Over funding for care. Research and education and a failure to respond to the threat that looms Over the health care system in the next decade. Funding for aids research education and care has risen from $5 6 million appropriated by Congress in 1982 a after the White House failed to ask for any aids Money a to around st.7 billion in fiscal 1991. Congress consistently has appropriated More Money for aids than the amounts _. Requested by either the Bush or Reagan. A. White House. J r Quot aids sadly has revealed More than it has changed says Thomas b. Stoddard executive director of Lambda Legal defense and education fund the largest Gay Legal Quot organization i Artlie country Quot especially the slowness of the government to Cope with any Catas Tropf in that befalls people who. Are a outcasts Quot. Quot a. People who started out in the closet leading their professional lives Are coming out of the closet leaving their jobs and coming to work at something in the Gay world says new York writer Larry Kramer Quot people Are saying. If i be Only got so Long to going to do it with Pride a that s Why the Gay Community has become so much stronger because of aids Quot i Quot indeed it was Gays who taught to Weir own How to practice Quot Safe sex Quot Long before Federal health officials could agree on what kind of education Campaign to fund and it was Gays who look to the streets to demand that their government do More to Stop the. Quot they won a r in Ltd of. Important Battles As a result. Y the aids epidemic gave the greatest impetus to a growing movement that forced. Federal regulators to recognize that that they must find new ways Quot to Speed a per Oriental drugs to those suffering from life threatening conditions sweeping legislation prohibiting discrimination against those with disabilities. Including aids was enacted by Congress and signed by president Bush aids created a new element of patient advocacy begun to carryover to those with other diseases. Wednesday june 5, 1991the stars and stripes Page 3
