
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991                   TAG: 9103070311
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

OFFICERS TO BE TESTED FOR AIDS FOLLOWING FIGHT

Three Fredericksburg police officers who engaged in a bloody fight with a man infected with the AIDS virus will be tested periodically for the virus, a police spokesman said.

But health officials say chances are slim that the officers will be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which can develop into the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

During the Feb. 26 fight, a police dog bit the infected man several times, causing him to bleed profusely. The officers received scrapes and scratches, police said.

Police would not identify the officers or the man who was arrested.

Police spokesman James Shelhorse said the man, who was being arrested for being drunk in public, attacked the officers when they tried to handcuff him. The man finally was subdued and taken to Mary Washington Hospital, where he told a nurse he had tested positive for HIV. Health records confirmed the man's story.

Shelhorse said health authorities told the officers that the chance of becoming infected with HIV from spattered blood is about one in 2,500.

William Harrison, spokesman for the AIDS Education Program at the Virginia Department of Health, said Tuesday that in six years with the program he has not learned of anyone contracting HIV from someone who is bleeding.

"One of the most frequent `what if' questions asked at seminars is whether it is possible to become infected with the HIV virus from a carrier who is bleeding, and we cannot give a definitive answer," Harrison said.

by CNB