The Soviet Union on Sunday reported its first AIDS death, that of a pregnant prostitute from Leningrad, and authorities may publish her photograph to alert her sexual partners. The 29-year-old woman died Sept. 5 of pneumonia following a 26-pound weight loss, chronic tonsillitis and bronchitis and a serious decline in the count of her immune system's T-cells, the labor newspaper Trud reported. All are common symptoms of aquired immune deficiency syndrome, and the newspaper noted that epidemiologists were incensed that the woman's doctors failed to diagnose AIDS before she died. They are now trying to locate the victim's sexual partners to determine who else might be infected with the disease, and authorities are considering publishing the woman's photograph to alert her partners, Trud said. She was registered as a night school student and as a worker at a factory, but police said she earned her living as a prostitute for foreigners. Soviet officials say they have identified 83 AIDS carriers but only one person who has developed the deadly disease. However, they say other cases may have been diagnosed incorrectly. AIDS is caused by a virus that damages the body's immune system, leaving victims susceptible to infections and cancer. It is spread most often through sexual contact, needles or syringes shared by drug abusers, infected blood or blood products, and from pregnant women to their offspring.
