IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR BLUNTS FIGHT TO STOP AIDS

As commitments of more money and new medicine offered hope Monday to
families and friends marking World AIDS Day, more than 8,000 people died of
the disease. Another 8,000 died Tuesday, 8,000 more on Wednesday, and 8,000
more will die today.

To understand how fast AIDS kills so many people, consider the entire city
of West Palm Beach empty by next weekend, wiped out in just 11 days.
Imagine Martin County being emptied by Christmas week, and St. Lucie County
by New Year's. By the time sea turtles start lumbering ashore next spring
to lay eggs, 1 million people -- nearly the population of Palm Beach County
- -- will be dead of the disease.

Despite the startling death rate, the number of new HIV infections
continues to climb, primarily because of people having sex without using
condoms and addicts sharing drug needles. As health agencies seek billions
of dollars for treatment, irresponsible behavior is making the AIDS
prevention battle harder to fight.

Ignorance is no excuse, but it remains a significant factor -- one the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes in its current
campaign to make HIV-checking a routine part of health care. Pat Weiner, a
health department intervention consultant for Martin, St. Lucie, Indian
River and Okeechobee counties, says, "You'd be surprised that, 22 years
into the epidemic, there are still people who don't know much about AIDS."
There also is little awareness of what treatment entails. It is costly not
just financially -- about $2,000 a month -- but physically -- untold side
effects.

Medical advances also may be giving people, especially teens and young
adults, the false impression that AIDS is no longer deadly. "Some of us
know a before and an after," Ms. Weiner says. "We remember things before
AZT. Now, you have an 'after' population. They've been born into this
epidemic. They know treatment."

With an increase in infections among heterosexuals, prevention requires
overcoming machismo -- men opposed to wearing condoms based on egotistical
traditions -- and dishonesty about extramarital sex. It also demands a
willingness to know. An estimated 42 million people are living with
HIV/AIDS worldwide, 5 million of them diagnosed last year. In public-health
clinics, one-third of those tested nationwide and one-half of those tested
in Florida do not return for their results. Fortunately, that problem will
be addressed by wider use of such tests as OraQuick, the
results-in-20-minutes finger stick being offered in Miami and other cities
as part of the CDC's initiative.

"In two short decades, HIV/AIDS has become the premier disease of mass
destruction," said Dr. Jack Chow, the assistant director-general of the
World Health Organization. "The death odometer is spinning at 8,000 lives a
day and accelerating." Money and treatment will help to slow it down, but
individuals ultimately hold the power to win the AIDS war.