For Now, Education Is the Key Weapon : New report on AIDS mortality points up need for teaching the young about this scourge

In the decade since acquired immune deficiency syndrome grew from an isolated and mysterious affliction into an international epidemic, deadly milestone after deadly milestone has come, passed and too often been forgotten. But with the disclosure that AIDS has become the leading killer of young men in five states, including California, the nation once again is reminded of the painful facts: that even if new AIDS infactions could be eradicated today, the human toll from the disease would continue to rise for years.

The new study, published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., reveals that in 1990 deaths from AIDS-related conditions outpaced those from cancer, heart disease and accidents in men between the ages of 25 and 44 in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. AIDS was also the primary cause of death for males in that age group in 64 cities with populations greater than 100,000, including six here in Southern California.

With the lag between exposure and infection, it’s only a matter of time before more states and cities join that horrible list, now almost three years old.

Thus far AIDS has killed more than 182,000 people in the United States. And worldwide, gloomy reports by the World Health Organization predict that the number of people infected with the AIDS virus will explode from 14 million today to more than 30 million by the end of the decade.

With little hope of any medical breakthrough presented at the ninth International AIDS Conference in Berlin two weeks ago, prospects for curing the disease seem remote in the near term.

All this suggests that now, as before, the best means of slowing the spread of this dreaded plague lie in aggressive and intensive prevention. That entails, at the very least, frank and open discussions about sex before youngsters become sexually active. The young and the nonchalant must be reached. Whether it’s done at home, at school, through informational videos or rap music isn’t important--as long as it is done.

AIDS Toll

Southern California cities of 100,000-plus populations, with percentages of AIDS-related deaths among all deaths of men 25 to 44 years old in each (figures for 1990):

Pasadena: 38%

San Diego: 37%

Long Beach: 36%

Los Angeles: 31%

Glendale: 30%

Fullerton: 26%

Source: Centers for Disease Control