U.S. to open borders to those with AIDS

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A federal law banning foreigners with HIV or AIDS from entering the United States is coming to an end.

President Bush recently signed a bill giving $48 billion to fighting the disease that also removes the visitor provision from U.S. immigration law, reported the San Antonio Express News Sunday.

"Today everyone knows that you can't get AIDS from sitting next to someone on an airplane or sharing a bathroom -- American policy should reflect this," said Victoria Neilson, legal director of Immigration Equality, a New York advocacy group that welcomed an end to the ban.

The legal change doesn't fully remove restrictions on visitors with HIV or AIDS, the report said. They are still included on the Department of Health and Human Services' list of "communicable diseases of public health significance," along with tuberculosis, gonorrhea and leprosy. An HHS spokesman reportedly declined comment saying administrators are still reviewing the new federal law.