Chicago Tribune (CT) - THURSDAY October 6, 1988 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: CHICAGOLAND Page: 15 Word Count: 619
Jean Latz Griffin, Public health writer

Curt D'Achille, the head of testing at Howard Brown, said he believes concern about a new AIDS secret testing bill is the reason for the decline. He said the drop began after Gov. James Thompson signed a bill that would allow physicians to test people for AIDS without their knowledge and consent.

"This bill does not affect our anonymous testing program at all, but people do not understand that," D'Achille said. "They hear that something has happened to the confidentiality act, and they are staying away in droves."

Public health officials as well as gay and AIDS activists have opposed the new law, supported by the Illinois State Medical Society, that would allow physicians to secretly test people for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, thought to cause AIDS.

That law also allows health-care workers and emergency workers who have been exposed to the blood of a person thought to have AIDS to require that person to be tested for infection.

Neither hampers the ability of Howard Brown and the city's anonymous testing sites to protect the anonymity of people who volunteer to be tested. Both use codes rather than names.

"People are frightened that the fact that they had the test is going to show up on a record somewhere," said Dan Dever, communications director for Howard Brown. "But our records are completely anonymous. We can't give that information to anyone because we literally don't have it."

Shortly after Thompson signed the bill on Sept. 2, gay activists talked about calling for a boycott of all testing to protest the bill. The idea was quickly quashed as counterproductive, but D'Achille fears it may have caught on.

"I think some people are staying away out of anger, but it's not helping the city or themselves," said D'Achille.

He said people at risk for infection should consider being tested anonymously so they would know if they were positive or negative.

"The last thing you want is to be in a car accident, start a new job or come up for an annual employee physical and have the test sprung upon you," he said.

The Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force is developing a contract that patients can take to their physicians in which the doctor promises not to do any secret testing.

Howard Brown has averaged 170 tests a month in 1988, including about 20 marriage license tests. In September, the tests of engaged couples held steady at 19, but the total number of tests fell 40 percent to 101. For the first four days of October, only one or two people a day were tested, down from a usual 8 to 10 a day.

Howard Brown Clinic, 945 W. George St., provides anonymous AIDS testing and counseling, support for people with AIDS and the state-required premarriage AIDS tests.

At the city clinics, the number of appointments made for September was 472, down 20 percent from the average of 572 for May, June and July. The number of appointments kept was 317, down 16 percent from the average of 377 in the previous three months.

"Not only are we not seeing people, we are not getting any calls to set up tests," said D'Achille. "Our appointments have fallen way off."

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is an illness that destroys the body's immune system, leaving it prey to various infections and cancers. It is spread through sex, contaminated needles in injecting drugs and from mothers to babies before or during birth.

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