New AIDS Risks?

Perhaps 10 to 20 million persons worldwide now carry the AIDS virus. In the Canadian province of British Columbia, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 are infected, and health authorities are worried about the infection’s spreading further. So the B.C. Ministry of Health recently prepared a brochure that offers, as it says, “the latest factual information about AIDS.”

The brochure repeats the oft-heard warnings against having sex with infected partners and sharing a needle or syringe that has been used by an infected person. However, it also explains that since the virus is in the blood, there is a special risk from other skin-puncturing devices. For example, the brochure mentions equipment used in piercing ears, in tattooing, and in acupuncture as possible means of infection. “It’s also dangerous to share a razor or toothbrush with an infected person,” the brochure adds.