Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune (CT) - TUESDAY November 8, 1988 Edition: DU PAGE SPORTS FINAL Section: DU PAGE Page: 7 Word Count: 327
James Strong
This story is a composite of versions published in the various editions.
TEXT:
A study of intravenous drug users shows that 35 percent of them have been exposed to the AIDS virus, according to results released Monday by the Chicago Department of Health as it launched a public awareness program.
Dr. Renslow Sherer, director of the AIDS prevention service at Cook County Hospital, said the latest figures suggest a relatively high degree of exposure to AIDS virus among drug users, chiefly because of the sharing of needles or other drug paraphernalia.
"Sharing needles is an almost certain death sentence," said Dr. Lonnie Edwards, city health commissioner, in a joint news conference with the Illinois AIDS Media Task Force launching a campaign to publicly discourage drug use or the sharing of needles by drug abusers.
Among 536 people seen by Sherer between November, 1986, and last July, 353 agreed to take the HIV antibody test to determine the presence of the AIDS virus. Of those, 125 tested positive.
Sherer conceded that the results could be skewed because those tested came into the project as a result of being hospitalized.
Nevertheless, he said, the findings are a cause for concern that should "spur greater effort in convincing drug users to change their behavior."
In an earlier study by Wayne Weibel, principal investigator of the AIDS Outreach Intervention Project at the University of Illinois-Chicago, preliminary results showed that nearly 21 percent of Chicago intravenous drug users and their sex partners have been infected with the AIDS virus.
Weibel and Sherer spoke at a news conference in the Daley Center promoting the display of materials to be used in the media campaign developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mayor Eugene Sawyer will launch a similar media campaign next month that will include radio and television public-service announcements promoting the use of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS.
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