Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune (CT) - FRIDAY, April 12, 1996 Edition: SOUTHWEST SPORTS FINAL Section: METRO SOUTHWEST Page: 6 Word Count: 351
Terry Wilson, Tribune Staff Writer.
Placards and posters featuring singer Patti LaBelle and a person who has HIV were posted in Chicago Transit Authority buses, trains and train platforms to inform minorities that a form of pneumonia that once was the most common cause of death among people with AIDS is easily preventable.
The billboards have LaBelle's words "Live long, Sugar" and tell how pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, commonly called PCP, can be prevented by taking inexpensive prescription drugs. The campaign was designed by the National Minority AIDS Council, of which LaBelle is an honorary chairwoman.
"People of color have disproportionately been affected by HIV," said Timothy Gates, a program coordinator for Test Positive Aware, explaining why the campaign targets minorities. "People of color tend not to go to the doctor for preventive health care overall."
PCP, an uncommon life-threatening lung infection that affects people with weakened immune systems, still remains among the leading causes of death for people with AIDS. It is characterized by a dry cough, fever and shortness of breath and generally afflicts people who have low levels of T-cells, the cells that fight off infection.
Recent studies indicate that minorities do not get treatment for PCP as readily as whites do.
Health care officials said people diagnosed with AIDS can get prescribed drugs, like Bactrim, for about $20 per month and eliminate their risk of infection from PCP.
For those who cannot take sulfa-based drugs, there are alternate medications available, according to Robert Rybicki, assistant commissioner of HIV/AIDS programs for the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The $80,000 informational campaign, funded by the Chicago Department of Public Health, will keep information about HIV/AIDS visible and hopefully will encourage people who have HIV/AIDS or think they have it to seek help, Luule Vess, executive director of Project Vida, an outreach and educational organization and resource center on the Southwest Side that is helping to distribute information about the program.
An estimated 25,000 African-Americans, Hispanics and women in Chicago are HIV-positive. Those groups are among the fastest-growing in the epidemic, Rybicki said.
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