Chicago Tribune (CT) - THURSDAY, January 15, 1998 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: METRO CHICAGO Page: 1 Word Count: 818
Sue Ellen Christian, Tribune Staff Writer.

"It's spectacular, we're ecstatic," said Dr. Steven Whitman, director of epidemiology at the Chicago Department of Public Health about the statistics that were part of record declines in AIDS-related mortality rates.

Because of the new combinations of potent drugs on the market, the number of deaths due to AIDS dropped significantly for the first time in 1996, but those decreases were primarily among white males.

The latest figures--among the first out in the U.S. for the first six months of 1997--show that women and blacks are finally benefiting from the new drug therapies because of better access to medical care, more awareness of the medications and continued outreach to poor and disenfranchised areas of the city, say health providers.

"There is improved awareness; for example, testing for pregnant women for HIV is becoming more standard," said Dr. Cathy Creticos, interim medical director at the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago, which operates clinics for HIV/AIDS patients. "The last three women referred to me were referred after being tested for HIV when pregnant; for the past 3 or 4 years, the National Institutes of Health has been recommending every pregnant woman be tested for HIV, and now the message is finally filtering down into communities."

"For people of color, it's more of an outreach issue. Hopefully we're becoming more successful in our ability to reach out to these communities and improve the awareness of HIV--that it's not just a gay, white disease," said Creticos, who added that Howard Brown is expanding its South Side office to improve outreach efforts.

Some 210 Chicagoans died of causes related to HIV/AIDS in the first half of 1997, less than half of the 453 deaths recorded in the first six months of 1996, according to the city.

While the number of all women who died actually increased from 1995 to 1996, that figure declined for the first half of 1997, to 47 deaths from 56 in the second half of 1996. For all men, the numbers declined faster, from 274 deaths in the second half of 1996 to 163 deaths in the first half of 1997.

The total number of African-Americans, both men and women, who died of AIDS in the second half of 1996 was 207, compared with 134 in the first half of 1997, city figures show.

But for all the optimism and joy over the prolonged lifespans, there is also great caution. The "Lazarus syndrome," as some call the new life the drugs offer to those infected with the virus that can cause AIDS, will likely not last with prolonged use of the medications, say public health experts. And, they add, there is no substitute for prevention measures such as condom use and avoiding needle sharing among drug users.

"We're very frightened that it might not last that long," said Whitman, who added that some medical reports indicate that over time new strains of HIV will emerge that are resistant to the new medications.

Also, although the number of women dying of AIDS-related illness dropped in the first half of 1997 for the first time since the epidemic emerged in 1980, the death rate is hardly declining at the same rate as the death rate for men.

"The women are still lagging behind," said Dr. Mardge Cohen, director of the HIV program for women and children at Cook County Hospital. "You have to see there is a problem here; it's a failure of our system to provide appropriate living conditions and holistic medical care for women that their death rate has not gone down like men."

Women often have too many other stresses in their lives--such as raising a family, taking care of aging parents, homelessness or mental illness--to follow the extremely strict dosage regimen required of the new medications, said Cohen, whose clinic treated 800 women and children with AIDS and HIV last year.

"Women are still not acknowledging their illnesses are from this and providers might be diagnosing the disease late," said Cohen.

Federal, state and local government funding to fight HIV and AIDS in Chicago has risen from $4 million in 1989 to nearly $29 million in 1997, according to city figures.

Public Aid pays for the medications of people with HIV or AIDS, said Creticos. For those not on public assistance, the state of Illinois will pay for medications of those infected if they make less than $15,000 annually, said Creticos.

Also, many city clinics use federal Ryan White grant funds to pay for the medications, which cost about $1,000 a month and require taking 12 to 20 pills a day at carefully scheduled times, Creticos said.

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