New AIDS Cases Decline by One-Third in 1992 : Disease: Public health officials cite people taking care of themselves as a possible reason for the decrease.

New cases of AIDS reported in Ventura County have decreased by nearly one-third in the past year, according to statistics released Monday by the county Department of Public Health Services.

While 60 new cases of AIDS were reported among county residents in 1991, only 42 new cases were reported in 1992, said Dr. Larry Dodds, Ventura County medical director. Forty-six new cases were reported in 1990, 36 in 1989 and 37 in 1988, he said.

The number of new cases brought the total number of AIDS cases reported in Ventura County since 1982 to 273, Dodds said.

Of those diagnosed, 200 have died, said Diane Seyl, AIDS coordinator for the county health department.

Those diagnosed with AIDS this year probably were first infected with the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome between five and nine years ago, Dodds said.

“I’d like to believe it’s education, people taking care of themselves,” that caused the decrease, Dodds said.

The newest patients diagnosed as having AIDS “were doing whatever they were doing four or five years ago,” he said, referring to risky behavior such as intravenous drug use or having sex without using a condom.

“I’d like to believe that, due to education, people aren’t doing what they were doing four to five years ago,” he said.

Since 1982, when the disease was first diagnosed, about 65% of Ventura County’s AIDS cases have occurred among homosexual and bisexual men with no history of intravenous drug use, Dodds said. Another 6% were homosexual and bisexual men who used intravenous drugs.

Of the rest, 11% contracted the disease from infected needles they used to inject intravenous drugs, 7% caught it from having sex with members of the opposite sex, 3% were hemophiliacs who were infected during routine blood transfusions, and 8% caught it from other sources, according to county health department statistics.

More than half, about 55%, of those who caught the AIDS virus through heterosexual sex were women, county statistics show.

“Of all the women--20 women--with AIDS, four were IV drug users, 11 got it from heterosexual contact and five from blood transfusions,” Dodds said.

“That fits the national picture, where half the women are infected by a partner,” he said. “They’re not doing anything else to be at risk . . . their partner is the one who’s infecting them.”

In addition to the drop in new AIDS cases, Dodds also reported that there have been no cases of AIDS found in random testing of newborn infants in the county during the last three years.

Since 1990, the county’s hospitals have been randomly conducting AIDS tests on samples drawn from newborn babies in routine blood tests for other diseases-- about one-fourth of all babies born in Ventura County.

Not one has tested positive for the AIDS virus, Dodds said.

There is no telling how many Ventura County residents may be infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS but are not yet showing symptoms of the disease, Dodds said.

Estimates range from one in every 3,000 people to one in every 2,000, he said.

“People are realizing that many people are at risk” of infection, Seyl said. “If you engage in risky behavior that can cause the virus, people are going to become infected.”