Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - February 19, 2001
Joe Biesk, Tribune Staff Writer
The state recorded 1,781 cases of AIDS last year, up from 1,557 the year before, said Dr. John Lumpkin, director of the Public Health Department.
"The inescapable fact, no matter whether the statistics are up or down, is we still have much work to do before AIDS is brought under control," Lumpkin said.
AIDS numbers for the last two years have grown as doctors dig through old files to add previously unreported cases. For example, the state recorded 634 newly diagnosed AIDS patients last year. But the overall number of reported cases is much higher because older cases, even one dating to 1988, were just discovered and reported last year.
African-Americans, about 13 percent of the state's population, showed 1,053, or 59 percent, of the new cases. Women, with 427 cases, or 24 percent, represented a growing proportion of the total number.
The highest at-risk category remained gay and bisexual men, who accounted for 43 percent of all males who were reported to have contracted AIDS last year.
Tom Schafer, public health spokesman, said some who are at risk have grown complacent by thinking that so-called drug cocktails will keep HIV in check.
"Whether our numbers are up or down, people need to understand that this is a disease that there's still no cure for," Schafer said.
Overall, 24,934 AIDS cases have been reported in Illinois since 1981.
David Munar, a spokesman for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said many people live with AIDS and don't know it. "The statistics that the state maintains are only the tip of the iceberg," Munar said.
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