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Of 20 U.S. companies operating in Mexico, none said they would fire an employee who revealed they were HIV positive, according to the survey presented at a news conference in Mexico City.

But that attitude is rare in Mexico, where HIV discrimination is widespread. Blood screening, often secret, costs applicants jobs and the disclosure or discovery of HIV status commonly leads to dismissal, local AIDS activists say.

The survey, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was carried out in the hopes of spearheading a private-sector initiative to reduce HIV discrimination. The project directors hope their campaign will become a model for other Latin American nations, where prejudice against HIV victims is also common.

"The biggest hurdle is the stigma attached to the disease," said Abner Mason, AIDS Responsibility Project executive director and an advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush. "Even if companies have health programs that cover HIV/AIDS, people won't come forward."

That stigma leads many people to hide their HIV status.

Of the 20 surveyed companies, which represent a sample workforce of around 300,000 people, human resource personnel were hard pressed to name many cases of HIV positive employees, with some even claiming there had never been a single case in their company, said the report title HIV/AIDS in the Workplace: 2004 Corporate Survey Report for Mexico.

However, extrapolating from the estimated number of HIV infections in Mexico (3 in 1,000), the report says the actual number of current HIV positive employees in the polled companies could be as high as 900.

Fourteen of the companies said they had policies that addressed life-threatening illness or disabilities, but only seven had HIV/AIDS specific policies. Ninety percent of the companies said they would keep the HIV status of employees confidential.

The companies with the most comprehensive policies had implemented global directives designed at U.S. headquarters, the report said.

Federal Express, Banamex, 3M, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, PepsiCo and Eli Lilly have specific HIV non-discrimination policies and provide prevention and education programs for employees.

The AIDS Responsibility Project's next goal is to create a Mexican business council of companies committed to "eradicating HIV stigmas in their workplaces," said Kevin Ivers, the report's author.

He said the council, still in the planning stages, would push companies to achieve demonstrable results.

Adolfo Franco, USAID's assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in an interview that the leadership of major companies was needed to shift the predominant practices of HIV discrimination.

"If you have companies committed, leading at the forefront on discrimination, then the laws that are passed get the right regulatory climate and the enforcement will be there," said Franco.

CULTURE OF SILENCE

While the project leaders are hopeful they can make a difference, the predominant attitude in Mexico towards people infected with HIV/AIDS is hostile and clouded by a culture of silence.

"It's a lot worse than this survey makes it appear," said Carlos García de León, president of the HIV/AIDS education organization AVE.

Among Mexican companies blood tests at the time of hiring and annual check ups are common and legal.

While Mexican law prohibits firing someone based on their HIV status, García said the practice is still common.

"It is very difficult to prove a discrimination case," said García, who did not know of one successful lawsuit in Mexico. "Employers can use other reasons to justify their decision & and people are afraid of making a case out of it because of the social stigma."

Companies cite high medical insurance costs as grounds for declining to hire HIV positive applicants, the survey said.

Under this climate, many hide their status, even going so far as to falsify test results, activists said.

The report argues that "early, effective medical intervention can make HIV a manageable disease for most people and vastly reduces long-term medical costs for HIV positive people." Ivers and Mason said non-discrimination is not just an ethical position companies should take. Greater education can allow earlier diagnosis or prevention. An accepting company policy will encourage HIV positive employees to come forward earlier, before they become seriously ill and require major medical treatment, they said.

Mexico has the third highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the hemisphere, behind the United States and Brazil.

There are an estimated 160,000 people infected with the HIV virus in Mexico, according to the government's National Center for the Control and Prevention of HIV/AIDS (CENSIDA).

"Ten years ago, the disease was considered a death sentence," said Jorge Saavedra, the general director of CENSIDA. But due to advances in drug treatments, patients can live with HIV as a chronic illness rather than a terminal disease. "These people can be productive workers."

Over the last two decades, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has grown into a world-wide pandemic that has killed some 20 million people, mostly in Africa.

Latin America has seen much lower infection rates than other parts of the world, but the lack of education means countries "have their guard down," said USAID's Franco.

"The education now is focused on higher income, urban, the better educated," Franco said. "The time bomb & is in the rural sector, where there are less resources and migratory patterns that contribute to increased prevalence."