12
University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Friday, Nov. 8, 1985
AIDS may hit top 10 of premature deaths
United Press International
ATLANTA — Acquired immune deficiency syndrome may soon become one of the 10 leading causes of premature death in the United States, a federal health official said yesterday.
Meanwhile, researchers said as much as 15 percent of the central African population may be infected with the AIDS virus and prostitutes appear to be a major source of transmission.
Although AIDS is confined largely to homosexuals and intravenous drug users in the United States, it has affected heterosexuals in Equatorial Africa.
The recent findings in central Africa were reported in the Nov. 8 Journal of the American Medical Association
AIDS already is the fourth leading cause of premature death for men in New York City and the sixth leading cause for women there, the national Centers for Disease Control reported.
The CDC, which refers to premature death as "years of potential life lost," said information from AIDS cases indicated there were about 11,000 years of potential life lost in the United States due to AIDS in 1982. That figure increased to 34,000 in 1983 and 74,000 last year.
Dr. John Livengood, of the CDC's division of surveillance and epidemiological studies, said that "although AIDS was not one of the top 15 causes of premature mortality
nationally in 1984, it may emerge as a leading cause in 1985" if present patterns continue.
"AIDS is becoming a significant cause of mortality," Livengood said. "If present trends continue it will be somewhere among the top 10 causes of premature death."
As of Nov. 4, the CDC had received reports of 14,519 cases of AIDS and 7,450 deaths since the first U.S. case of the disease was recorded in 1981. So far this year there have been 6,693 cases, with hundreds of new cases being reported each week.
The top 15 causes of premature death currently are: accidents and unintentional injuries, cancers, heart disease, suicides and homicides, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, strokes, pneumonia and influenza, pulmonary disease, diabetes, congenital anomalies, atherosclerosis, nephritis, septicemia, respiratory distress syndrome and sudden infant death syndrome.
AIDS is caused by a virus that destroys the body's immune system. Victims die of a variety of illnesses, including a parasitic type of pneumonia and a tissue cancer. It is spread through blood, blood products and sexual contact.
Between 1982 and 1984 in New York City, important changes occurred in mortality patterns of persons aged 15-64, the CDC said, and the death rate increased 4 per cent for 100,000 population for males with premature deaths jumping 7 percent.
MOSCOW — Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev struck a conciliatory tone yesterday on the 68th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, calling for a Geneva summit that will help remove "distrust, hatred and suspicion."
Soviet view split on summit
United Press International
Gorbachev told those attending a reception following the traditional military show of might in Red Square that he sought "a constructive dialogue and a search for mutually beneficial agreements" with the United States.
His speech inside the Kremlin came only 12 days before President Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Geneva for the first superpower summit in six years.
"If a businesslike, constructive approach for which we are ready prevails, then the forthcoming meeting in Geneva may prove to be fruitful and serve towards improving the international situation," Gorbachev said.
In the speech, reported by the official Tass news agency, Gorbachev said, "It is vital that distrust, hatred and suspicion be eliminated from international relations."
The tone contrasted with the warnings to Washington that Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov gave in advance of the military hardware that rumbled across Red Square on the anniversary of the revolution.
Sokolov, talking of an "explosively dangerous" international situation, said, "The Soviet government is sacrely fulfilling the behest of Lenin to defend our security . . . to equip our armed forces with everything necessary."
As he finished speaking, martial music struck up and masses of Soviet troops marched past, followed by heavy weapons that included T-72 tanks, armored carrier, self-propelled artillery and rockets.
In the speech, carried on international television, Sokolov vowed that, "We will not allow the military balance between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, to be upset."
Western diplomats noted there were no new weapons among the hardware that rolled by the thousands of spectators filling the square.
Reagan unfazed by Soviet objections
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan said yesterday that he was "not yet" bothered by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's objections this week to Star Wars and pressed ahead with plans to defend the anti-missile shield at the Geneva summit.
Reagan presented Medals of Freedom to three national security experts, met with a citizens group supporting plans for the Strategic Air Command and Wars — and was briefed by outside experts on the Soviet Union.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes's later announced that Reagan's weekly Saturday radio address would be beamed to the Soviet Union in Russian to discuss "his hopes for peace and his hopes for a
successful summit."
Speakes challenged the Soviets to drop their usual practice of electronically interfering with Voice of America broadcasts.
The VOA also said it would broadcast the Democratic response to Reagan's radio address by Rep. Sonny Montgomery, D-Miss., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. A House aide, however, said Montgomery would not respond to Reagan's remarks on the summit.
"We hope the Soviets will take this occasion to halt their jamming, and that this would lead to a permanent halt to jarming of U.S. broadcasts so that the Soviet people can get this message from the American president," Speakes said. "Willingness to do so on the part of the Soviets would be an important step in improving the free flow of information between our two countries."
As he left the East Room after presenting the nation's highest civilian award to veteran arms negotiator Paul Nitze and security strategists Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter, Reagan was asked if he
was "disturbed" by Gorbachev's behavior.
Pausing, and then grinning,
Reagan replied, "Not yet."
Secretary of State George Shultz returned from meetings with Gorbache and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze Wednesday. A U.S. official reported that the Soviets were argumentative and unwilling to understand or accept the U.S. rationale for Reagan's military buildup and no longer would accept even laboratory research on Star Wars.
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