Illinois Officials Worried About AIDS Despite Drop in Cases

The number of reported AIDS cases in Illinois dropped last year for the first time in three years and is at the lowest level in more than a decade, according to the state's Health Department. In 2001, 1,212 AIDS cases were reported -- down 34 percent from the 1,824 cases reported in 2000. In Illinois, the vast majority of last year's reported AIDS cases -- 907 -- was in Cook County, with 763 of those in Chicago.

While encouraged, Health Department officials also worried that the numbers reflect a growing complacency about AIDS. The dramatic rise in reported cases in 1999 and 2000 came after officials stepped up efforts to persuade doctors to report AIDS cases, including those not previously reported. Now the backlog of unreported cases has been exhausted, leaving the number of reported cases in 2001 virtually the same as cases reported in 1998.

"People are starting to think that because of medications, AIDS is no longer a death sentence but a chronic disease," said state Health Department spokesperson Tom Schafer. "They think, 'It's treatable and if I get it I just have to take medication the rest of my life.'"

The introduction of effective drugs in the mid-1990s has significantly cut the number of deaths from AIDS. After 1,494 individuals died of AIDS in 1995, a high for the state, Illinois has seen the numbers drop to 1,186 in 1996 and 569 in 1997. However, in the next three years the number of AIDS deaths did not fall below 500, and even climbed in 1998 and 1999.

"While any reduction in AIDS cases is cause for optimism, we must not lose sight of the fact that there are too many people in our state stricken by this disease and hundreds of lives are lost to AIDS each year," said Dr. John Lumpkin, the state public health director. This, coupled with changes in the ability of AIDS medications to sustain their effectiveness against the disease, is cause for concern.

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