SPRINGFIELD TALLY HITS 1,000 AIDS CASES

The City Hit A Dubious Milestone June 1 When Its 1,000th Case Of AIDS Was
Recorded.

According to the state Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Surveillance
program, 552 Springfield people have died of AIDS since the epidemic began
more than 20 years ago, and 448 still live with the condition.

Since the state began keeping records in 1999, 332 Springfield residents
have been diagnosed with HIV without yet progressing to AIDS.

More than two-thirds of all AIDS cases were related to drug use.
Intravenous drug users represented 54 percent of the cases, while 14
percent were homosexual men and drug users, and 7.3 percent may have
contracted the disease through drug use or heterosexual sex.

Comprehensive programs are needed to stop the spread of HIV among drug
users, said Brightwood Health Center medical director Dr. Jeff Scavron, who
advocates clean-needle programs.

"This epidemic can't be stopped with needle exchange alone," he said. "We
need a big response from the community."

Homosexual men who were not intravenous drug users constituted 18.1 percent
of the AIDS cases.

Indicating their increasing vulnerability to the epidemic, women
represented 45 percent of the city's HIV diagnoses. Health care providers
need to recognize that this "next wave" of infections is occurring among
women, according to Springfield health commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris,
who called on the Department of Public Health to assess Springfield's AIDS
services.

"HIV/AIDS is a community concern and each member must take some
responsibility," she said.

Brightwood Health Center nurse practitioner Ellen Miller-Mack said that the
numbers of infected women did not come as a surprise, but reflect
increasing vulnerability to infection among poor minority women who may
depend on men engaging in risky behaviors. More than 52 percent of HIV
infected Springfield residents are Hispanic, while 28 percent are black and
18 percent are white.

"We have to focus on reducing transmission," she said, "but the way to do
it is going to be by changing the condition of poor women's lives."