Spouses Of Aids Patients To Be Notified

Public health officers must notify the wives and husbands of people who have AIDS or the virus that carries the fatal disease under regulations adopted Wednesday by the state Health Board.

The change, approved on a 9-0 vote in a board meeting in this Seattle suburb, brings Washington state into conformity with federal regulations that were adopted nearly a year ago, said David Albert, a senior state health planner.

Until now, Albert said, public health officers could advise AIDS patients and people carrying the human immunodeficiency virus to tell their spouses, but notification was essentially optional.

The regulations also add funeral directors and embalmers to the list of occupations that may ask a health officer to order HIV testing on a corpse if they are exposed to body fluids on the job.