The State : AIDS Soaring in San Diego

The AIDS caseload is growing at a faster rate in San Diego County than in any other of the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas, health department officials said. The San Diego region’s 1988 caseload is equal to 39.9% of all the acquired immune deficiency syndrome cases diagnosed in that area from 1981 to 1987. Elsewhere in the nation, the degree of increase has ranged from 16.9% to 37%. According to county health department figures, 1,097 cases of AIDS were reported countywide as of Oct. 31. That figure does not include hundreds of AIDS patients who were diagnosed elsewhere and then moved to San Diego County to be with friends or family. “We’re seeing it build and build and build, with no relief in sight in terms of the numbers decreasing,” said Richard Hallebrin of the San Diego AIDS Project.