Letter: Predicting an epidemic of heterosexual Aids

Sir: In an otherwise excellent leading article (21 May) in which you support the widely held view that, 'There are worrying questions to be asked about how British newspapers have reported the advance of medical knowledge about the virus,' you are guilty of perpetuating this worry when you say, 'Scientists can now be confident that men and women do infect each other with the Aids virus through straightforward vaginal intercourse.'

The vast majority of scientists, doctors, dentists and workers in this field have never been other than confident that this is the case, and have been pressing this point for years. Training manuals produced by organisations such as the Cambridge Health Education Unit used by many of us who have taught students, have all stressed this fact. I believe that you owe it to those who are rightly furious about the 'gay plague' type of press hysteria to make this clear. The 'No heterosexual Aids' lobby has been led by much of the media and the anti-gays, not by scientists and practitioners working in the field.

Yours sincerely,

R. J. CHERRY

Birmingham

21 May