Statement by Edward N. Brandt, Jr., M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health

Photocopied at the Rona R
I am pleased to report that the Conference of State and
Territorial Epidemiologists who met at CDC last week passed a
resolution that AIDS should become a notifiable disease in all
States and acted to improve reporting and surveillance
procedures for AIDS. I would urge all physicians and health
care institutions to report all cases of AIDS to their State
Health Departments.
As we continue our fight against AIDS, I feel strongly that
the American people must be given timely, accurate information
so they will be neither unduly frightened or overly complacent.
In recent days there has been increased concern expressed
because of reports of the spread of AIDS through routine family
contact and through heterosexual contact.
For infant cases, it is important to note that the majority
of such cases occurred to mothers who were at risk of AIDS, and
may well represent transmission of infection during pregnancy
rather than transmission through household contact.
There have been no cases of suspected transmission of AIDS
from a patient to a health care provider, nor have there been
any cases of suspected transmission of AIDS from laboratory
specimens to laboratory workers. There is no evidence to date
that indicates AIDS is spread by casual contact. On the
contrary, our findings indicate that AIDS is spread almost

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