Chicago Tribune (CT) - WEDNESDAY December 1, 1993 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 21 Word Count: 511
Ronald Kotulak, Tribune Staff Writer

"If STDs are out there in big numbers, and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) is another STD, then we can expect HIV infections to increase in this group," said epidemiologist Sandra Melnick, project officer of the Women's Interagency HIV Study for the National Institutes of Health.

"And, in fact, we already think that's happening because HIV rates in adolescents are skyrocketing."

A number of other studies have demonstrated that people with STD infections have a much higher risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV, she said.

Although women and adolescents still make up a small percentage of the AIDS cases, they are currently showing some of the highest rates of increase, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between 1991 and 1992, for instance, AIDS cases increased by 10 percent among women but only by 3 percent among men.

The STD study, in which Melnick participated while at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, involved 1,640 heterosexual men and women aged 21 to 40 in four cities: Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland and Birmingham, Ala. All were participating in a large heart disease research study.

Sexually transmitted diseases were reported by 43 percent of black women, 37 percent of black men, 33 percent of white women and 21 percent of white men, Melnick reported in the current issue of Public Health Reports.

Although the STD numbers are higher than those from other studies, they still underestimate the true prevalence of STDs, Melnick said. The study participants reported such diseases as syphilis, gonorrhea, genital herpes, chlamydia and genital warts that had been diagnosed by a physician, she said. But many people have STDs that they are not aware of because the infections produce few symptoms.

"The high STD rates are alarming, and they are a call for action that demands better prevention education," said Dr. John Ward, chief of the CDC's AIDS surveillance branch.

While public health officials do not believe AIDS could spread as rapidly among heterosexuals as it did among homosexuals and intravenous drug users, they still feel it is a threat to heterosexuals.

"STDs are a marker for unsafe sexual practices," Ward said. "STD rates can be used to herald a population that may not yet have high rates of HIV but have risky behaviors that create the environment for HIV to be introduced and spread."

Adolescents are of particular concern because they are experimenting with sex for the first time and often do not practice measures to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, he said. CAPTION: Graphic: Every 15 minutes an American dies of AIDS complications. U.S. AIDS cases and deaths since 1981. Taxpayer-funded AIDS research. Leading cities in reporting AIDS cases. Sources: Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Health, Statistical Abstract of the United States, Congressional budget Office. Chicago Tribune/Ken Marshall and Stephen Ravenscraft. See microfilm for complete graphic.

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