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Faya v. Almaraz3/9/1993
onsider are allegations of fact and inferences deducible therefrom, not merely conclusory charges.")
Moreover, in order to place a complaint in context, we may take judicial notice of additional facts that are either matters of common knowledge or capable of certain verification. McCormick, Evidence, §§ 329-330 (4th ed. 1992); Murphy, Maryland Evidence Handbook, § 1000(A)(1-2) (1989). Included in the latter category are facts "capable of immediate and certain verification by resort to sources whose accuracy is beyond dispute." Murphy, supra, § 1000(A)(2); see also McLain, Maryland Evidence, § 201.4 (1987); Fed.R.Evid. 201(b)(2). In the medical context we have relied, for example, on basic information about sexually transmitted diseases as found in medical journals and reports of the Centers for Disease Control. See B.N. v. K.K., 312 Md. 135, 139-40, 538 A.2d 1175 (1988) (genital herpes is a contagious, painful, and incurable disease, spread by sexual contact, that endangers public health). The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has relied on similar sources to assess the need for precautions against AIDS transmission. See Wiggins v. State, 76 Md. App. 188, 198, 544 A.2d 8 (1988) (wearing of gloves by courtroom security personnel during trial of defendant possibly suffering from AIDS is wholly inconsistent with current theories concerning AIDS transmission), rev'd on other grounds, 315 Md. 232, 554 A.2d 356 (1989).
Before examining the legal sufficiency of the appellants' complaints, therefore, we focus on several well-established and scientifically understood facts about AIDS and its transmission. As we have already noted, AIDS is the disease that results when opportunistic infection preys on a bodily immune system that has been weakened by HIV. HIV is a necessary prerequisite to developing AIDS. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 10 (1987); Hermann & Schurgin, supra, §§ 1:05 - 1:06. HIV is a fragile virus that can survive only in the habitat of bodily fluids. While others can carry HIV, the only fluids that can transmit the virus are blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk. For the virus to pass from one person to another, at least one such fluid of the carrier must enter the body of the other. Surgeon General's Report, at 16. Hermann & Schurgin, supra, § 1:07. HIV is primarily transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, the sharing of contaminated syringes among intravenous drug users, and blood transfusions, although transmission by the latter route has greatly decreased since the Red Cross began testing the blood supply in 1985. Surgeon General's Report, at 17-20; Hermann & Schurgin, supra, §§ 1:24 - 1:27.
The virus is only transmitted if it reaches the bloodstream of the transmittee. That is, the fluid of the carrier must pass through some channel to the transferee's blood system. Hence unprotected sex, needle-sharing, pregnancy and nursing are relatively efficient modes of transfer, while others are not; for HIV to pass in non-sexual, non-needle-sharing contexts, blood must pass both through a wound in the carrier and into a wound in the transferee. In short, the two parties' blood must commingle. Thus there have been no reports of HIV transmission through casual contact. {PA}
Page 446} Surgeon General's Report, at 21; Hermann & Schurgin, supra, § 1:24.
We take notice of one other fact regarding HIV. While there is often a long latency period between infection with HIV and the onset of AIDS, at least 95% of HIV carriers will t
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