A.I.D.S. Carrier Sought (Press, 1 September 1984)

On 1 September 1984, health authorities in Sydney were actively trying to identify an unknown carrier of A.I.D.S. This concern arose after it was revealed that three individuals—two men and one woman—might have contracted the disease from contaminated blood. Two of these individuals received blood from a previously identified infected homosexual donor, while the third received blood from an unknown source. This situation developed following a recent announcement that 28 children in Queensland and one man in Sydney had received tainted blood from the same known donor. New South Wales Health Minister, Mr Ron Mulock, confirmed that tests conducted in the United States on the two patients linked to the known donor were "anti-body positive." However, he noted that these results did not definitively indicate that the patients had A.I.D.S.; further testing was required to confirm their status. The detection of A.I.D.S. antibodies suggested that the patients might either be carrying an A.I.D.S.-like virus or may have previously contracted the disease. All three patients involved had undergone treatment and had been discharged from the hospital. In a significant development, Mr Mulock announced that a test for A.I.D.S. would be made available in New South Wales within a month. While this test was not suitable for screening blood supplies, it would aid in tracing suspected carriers of A.I.D.S. and help determine whether patients were indeed suffering from the disease.

The text on this page is created, in the most part, using Generative AI and so may contain errors or omissions. It is supplied to you without guarantee or warranty of correctness. If you find an error or would like to make a content suggestion please get in contact

The text on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand