More Cases in County AIDS Tally

Orange County recorded a 5.5% increase in AIDS cases in 2000, according to statistics released this week by the county Health Care Agency.

But officials say that could be attributed to more aggressive counting measures rather than a rise in risky sexual behavior.

There were 325 cases reported in 2000, compared with 308 in 1999.

Penny Weismuller, the county’s division manager for disease control, said that for the first time the county conducted “active reporting,” such as approaching hospitals, to find 47 cases that might otherwise not have been counted.

She said the total for 2000 would have been lower than 1999’s “if we hadn’t done considerable surveillance.”

At one hospital, which Weismuller would not name, 17 cases were discovered that had not been reported “because everybody thinks everybody else is reporting it. That is not the case at every hospital, but it was the case there.”

And, after a flaw in reporting was discovered, an additional 27 cases were found in a county program that administers AIDS drugs to county patients.

A recent study in San Francisco showed that the rate of HIV infection among gay men in that city has more than doubled since 1997, suggesting a breakdown in safe-sex practices that for years had helped stabilize the city’s infection rate.

But Weismuller said the rise in Orange County’s AIDS numbers would only reflect behavior from several years ago or longer. Because it takes that long for HIV infection to become AIDS, she said, the new Orange County figures do not indicate anything about current sexual practices.

“I do not have HIV surveillance in Orange County. I can theoretically say maybe more people are getting HIV-infected, but that is not reflected in these AIDS statistics,” she said.

Officials counted 429 AIDS cases in 1996, 283 in 1997 and 305 in 1998.

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AIDS Reporting

The number of AIDS cases reported in Orange County has increased every year for the past three years, according to figures released this week by the county.

Number of cases

1996: 429

1997: 283

1998: 305

1999: 308

2000: 325

Source: Orange County Health Care Agency