Vol 22, 2013 Annals of Health Law 401
DUTY TO WARN OF THE RISK OF HIV/AIDS
disclose the names of her contacts? How do you guard against disclosure of
false names and other identifying information about sexual or drug-sharing
partners of the individual? These are practical questions that admit of no
simple solution, and works against the imposition of a duty to warn.
Moreover, a significant number of those infected with HIV contracted the
disease by engaging in illicit activities such as intravenous drug use or
prostitution. Giving information about one’s associates might lead to
criminal prosecution, a situation these individuals desperately want to
avoid. Even where there has been no breach of criminal law, some
individuals might still be reluctant to be forthcoming with the names of
their contacts. Avoidance of moral blame, shame, embarrassment and fear
of abandonment are strong reasons for recalcitrance on the part of those in
marital or otherwise committed relationships.
C. Success of Notification Laws in Reducing the
Spread of other Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The push for a legal duty to warn of the risk of HIV infection is
grounded on the assumption that existing voluntary notification laws with
respect to sexually transmitted diseases were successful in reducing
infection. As intuitively persuasive as this assumption seems, it lacks
evidentiary support. Gonorrhea and syphilis, often cited as evidence of
efficacy of voluntary notification programs have recently shown remarkable
resurgence in different parts of the U.S.100 For instance, the incidence of
gonorrhea in the country that between 1975 and 1997 declined seventy-four
percent has reversed course since 2005, increasing by 5.5 percent in
2006.101 In New York City alone, more than twice as many cases of
syphilis were diagnosed in the first three months of 2007 than during the
same period the previous year.102 This is not an isolated incident but
reflects a much wider trend. Nationally, the number of newly diagnosed
cases of syphilis steadily increased since an all time low in 2000, according
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).103
100. U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, 2006 SEXUALLY
TRANSMITTED DISEASE SURVEILLANCE: GONORRHEA, available at http://www.cdc.gov/STD/
stats06/ gonorrhea.htm; See generally Sarah Kershaw, Syphilis Cases on the Increase in the
City, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 12, 2007), available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/
nyregion/ 12syphilis.html?_r=0.
101. U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, 2006 SEXUALLY
TRANSMITTED DISEASE SURVEILLANCE: GONORRHEA, available at http://www.cdc.gov/STD/
stats06/ gonorrhea.htm.
102. Kershaw, supra note 100.
103. U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, New Data Reveal Seventh
Consecutive Syphilis Increase in the U.S. and Opportunities to Improve STD Screening and
Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men, March 12, 2008, available at http://www.the
