Faculty Bibliography

In addition to talks outlining the state of the art of AIDS virus blood testing, current knowledge of the extent of the AIDS epidemic and the effectiveness of existing preventive measures, Federal officials have posed eight questions for debate in workshops. The issues range from the need to broaden public education to whether AIDS blood testing should be mandatory in some situations and whether health officials should track down the sexual partners of those found to be infected. In interviews over the last week, officials from the states with the greatest numbers of AIDS victims all said that requiring the AIDS virus test of everyone who is hospitalized, or of every applicant for a marriage licence, would be a waste of resources. Increased efforts to promote voluntary testing and counseling of those at greatest risk of AIDS infection were supported by many officials, however. Following are the questions panelists have been asked to consider at the meeting beginning in Atlanta today on strategies to control AIDS. Several questions involve possible uses of the test for antibodies to the AIDS virus, ofter called HIV (for human immunodeficiency virus.) The test indirectly detects evidence of infection with the AIDS virus by identifying antibodies, substances that the body forms in response to viral invasion. The meeting was organized by the Centers for Disease Control.

In addition to talks outlining the state of the art of AIDS virus blood testing, knowledge of the extent of the AIDS epidemic and the effectiveness of preventive measures, federal officials have posed a list of eight thorny questions for debate in workshops. The issues range from the need to broaden public education to whether AIDS blood testing should be mandatory in some situations and whether health officials should track down the sexual partners of those found to be infected

Part of the mystery and fear about AIDS arises from the fact that many carriers of the virus are not aware of it. The virus can lurk in the body without causing disease and, among those who develop AIDS, the average time between infection and diagnosis of AIDS may be five years or more. While much remains to be learned about AIDS, scientists assert with confidence that studies of victims and disease patterns have provided a clear picture of how the virus has spread in this country, and how it has not. Q. How does AIDS spread? Many studies have documented the spread of the AIDS virus to an uninfected person through anal or vaginal intercourse with an infected person; through exchanges of blood, such as on contaminated hypodermic needles; from infected mothers to their infants before or during birth, and possibly through breast-feeding of infants. Experts estimate that up to 1.5 million Americans are infected with the AIDS virus. Most are homosexual men and intravenous drug users, but a small, perhaps growing portion are men or women who were infected through heterosexual intercourse with a drug user or a bisexual man. Each infected person is presumed to be capable of spreading the virus to others through sexual intercourse or through blood, as in sharing contaminated needles

LEAD: RESEARCH on an experimental operation that created an auxiliary heart from a dog's own back muscle has been temporarily halted at the University of Pennsylvania until scientists devise an approach to prevent the formation of blood clots that have complicated the procedure. The muscle chamber continued to work until the dog's death. An autopsy found blood clots and evidence of kidney failure that were probably caused by blood clots. Clots have been a major complication in the experiments to implant Jarvik-7 artificial hearts in humans. ''We need to rethink the technique,'' Dr. [Larry Stephenson] said

''Right now we are paralyzed,'' said Dr. James O. Mason, who as director of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta leads the Federal Government's epidemiologists tracking the disease. ''We don't have the data to fight this epidemic simply because we don't dare test large populations for fear of violating confidentiality and being charged with discrimination and invasion of privacy.'' ''How would a military man like to fight a war with all his spy satellites turned off and his radar not functioning?'' he asked. ''We need to know if, by collecting this kind of data, we can stop the epidemic.'' ''We don't have the slightest idea if the real number is two or three times higher,'' Dr. Mason said. ''Or it may be lower.''

''This is a consensus building and multistep process,'' Dr. [Walter Dowdle] said. ''It is not our intention to have a Federal statute.'' Jeffrey Levi, political director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, said the proposal to create debate on AIDS testing had ''laudable public health objectives.'' But he added that the proposal, ''in ignoring the social consequences, undermines its public health value.'' 'Only as Good as Counseling' Children would be the intended beneficiary of premarital and prenatal testing to detect the AIDS virus, Dr. Dowdle said. ''There is a 30 percent to 50 percent chance of a mother who tests positive for the AIDS virus passing the infection on to the child, and most children who test positive for AIDS at birth have some manifestation of the disease within a few years,'' Dr. Dowdle said

For the President, maintaining good health meant the removal of four small benign polyps from his colon, several diagnostic tests, and prostate surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Later this year, Mr. [Ronald Reagan] is bound to have further check-ups to determine, among other things, if any remnant of the colon cancer removed in 1985 has spread and if new basal-cell cancers have formed on his skin. Mr. Reagan represents many other Americans who will repeatedly have benign colon polyps cut out to prevent the development of cancer. The application of newer medical knowledge and technology is helping more people to live longer and to take on major new tasks, as Mr. Reagan, who turns 76 next month, did in becoming President. Many elderly people receive extensive medical care and then return to their daily routines. Improved anesthesia and monitoring techniques make operations far safer for many people in their 70's and 80's, even 90's, today than in decades past. An unresolved question is how best to care for the elderly. Although there are strong advocates for various strategies, Dr. [T. Franklin Williams] said, ''The data does not exist yet to document what is best.''

The instructions Mr. [Reagan] received from his doctors were to do ''no heavy lifting, no strenuous exercise, no riding or chopping wood, and to pursue a limited but progressive schedule,'' setting his own pace and increasing his routine as much as is comfortable, Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said Friday. Dr. John W. Coleman, a urologist who also practices in New York City, said he tells such patients not to exert themselves to ''where the face gets red -not to lift anything heavy, not to do situps, leg raises and things like that.'' The aim is to avoid the risk of having a scab or clot break off and to start bleeding from the healing area. Dangers of Loss of Scab Many urologists advise patients not to travel for three weeks after prostate surgery because, if a complication develops, it may be difficult to find a urologist quickly and a new doctor will not be so familiar with an individual's case as is the patient's own doctor. Col. John Hutton of the Army, the White House physician or a member of his staff is constantly near Mr. Reagan. Mayo Team Stood By

''It is an important step,'' Dr. Karl M. Johnson, the company's medical director, said in an interview. He added that much more research was needed before it could be determined whether this or any drug would conquer the disease. ''It won't surprise me if some people who took ribavirin in the study eventually will come down with AIDS,'' he said. Dr. Frank E. Young, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, said in an interview that his agency had started to review the summary data of the experiments it received on Monday, expected to receive more, and ''would leave no stone unturned'' to determine ''as expeditiously as possible'' the drug's safety and efficacy. But he said that because of the preliminary nature of the data, he did not want to ''raise false hopes.'' Mathilde Krim, who is co-chairman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research of New York, said the ''promising, but not conclusive'' report ''raises the question of why federally sponsored AIDS treatment evaluation units did not move much more swiftly to begin a larger, more exhaustive evaluation of ribavirin.''