Calls Flood AIDS Hot Lines, Clinics After Announcement

An American public suddenly alarmed by the epidemic spread of the virus that causes AIDS flooded health clinics nationwide Friday with requests to be tested for HIV and for information about the disease.

The startling news that basketball superstar Earvin (Magic) Johnson has contracted the human immunodeficiency virus prompted a rush of inquiries that health officials said reflects greatly increased fear over the escalating rate of heterosexual transmission of the virus.

Clinics and hot lines have been swamped from the moment Johnson delivered his announcement Thursday, officials reported.

“I can’t tell how many calls we’ve received, but it has been numerous,” said Dr. Penny Weismueller, manager of disease control at the Orange County Health Care Agency in Santa Ana. “We usually do about 30 (walk-in tests) per day, but we had 146 individuals today.”

Weismueller said the agency ordered some of its field counselors into the clinic to help, but the wait for tests Friday was still significantly longer than the normal one hour.

At the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, officials said calls to their AIDS hot line have skyrocketed.

“The hot line normally gets about 3,000 calls a day,” said Ann Sims, a CDC spokeswoman. “Yesterday from 5 to midnight, they had over 40,000 calls that attempted to come in. Of course, they couldn’t handle all of that but the equipment registered that many attempts to call in.” The response, officials said, reflected a mixture of legitimate concerns and unwarranted fears about an incurable virus that the CDC estimates is carried by 1 million to 1.5 million Americans.

The announcement by Johnson, who is widely perceived as having contracted HIV through heterosexual contact, underscores the rapidly rising rate of male-female transmission. According to a recent CDC report, more than 11,200 of the more than 100,000 AIDS deaths nationwide could be linked to heterosexual transmission of HIV. The rate of transmission has increased most rapidly among heterosexual women.

At Planned Parenthood in Santa Ana, officials said they have seen a significant increase in the number of heterosexual men calling or walking in for test appointments.

“It is an unfortunate thing that it came out this way--that heterosexuals get AIDS,” said Estela Martinez, clinic education director. “It never really got through to people.”

Most of the inquiries and requests for HIV test appointments have come from people who say they have never participated in so-called “high risk” behavior such as homosexual anal intercourse and the sharing of needles in intravenous drug use, authorities around the nation said.

The AIDS virus is so prevalent that many health officials warn that unprotected sex between a man and woman who have not been in a monogamous relationship and do not know each other’s sexual history should be considered risky. Condom sales had reportedly increased Friday--a sign the “safe sex” warnings were being taken more seriously.

“There’s an awakening going on,” said Anthony Sprauve at AIDS Project Los Angeles, where a bank of eight phones were busy continuously Friday. “People are finally looking for the information they should have been getting for years. People are realizing this can affect them and their families.”

Even before Johnson’s announcement, Sprauve said, APLA had observed a rising trend in calls from heterosexuals in recent months. In the last two months, he said, 66% of the calls were from people identifying themselves as heterosexual. But since Johnson’s news conference, 95% have been from heterosexuals.

Strong reactions were also found in an informal survey of clinics and AIDS hot lines in New York, Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Hartford, Conn., and Lansing, Mich.

Margaret Karanjai, spokeswoman for the New York City health department, said nine extra workers had to be added to staff its AIDS hot line. People also flocked to HIV testing sites to make appointments in person.

At Houston’s Audette Clinic, the calls have tripled to about 300 a day. “The response has been huge,” counselor Cindy Lavine said. “There’s an upsurge of heterosexuals calling, people who are suddenly concerned--they never considered they were truly at risk and are now full of questions.”

“It’s been terrible,” said Mildred Manley, a receptionist at a Hartford HIV testing center. “It’s triple the usual number, both males and females. . . . We had to set up special classes for people in low-risk groups that are calling today.”

The Oregon AIDS Hotline in Portland was “amazingly busy,” Charla Scharffenberg said. “We’re answering five to six times as many calls as we ever have, we have three people on the phones where we normally have one.”

In Johnson’s hometown of Lansing, Michael D. Bishop, a 22-year-old senior at Michigan State University, Johnson’s alma mater, summed up the feelings of many.

“I’m going to get tested myself,” Bishop said. “If it could be him, it could be anybody.

At clinics large and small throughout Southern California, the response reflected a widespread fear of the unknown.

Despite years of public education, many people still don’t understand that the AIDS virus is transmitted chiefly through unprotected anal and vaginal sex, and through the sharing of contaminated needles by IV drug users, health workers said.

“Some people are crying,” said Debra Pinto, receptionist at the busy East Valley Community Health Center in West Covina. “They’re just scared.”

Lupe Gomez, a counselor at the Roybal Comprehensive Health Center in East Los Angeles, said she has tried to calm the fears of a woman who wondered about the casual contact between herself and her children with her HIV-positive father-in-law.

“She’s concerned her two little girls might have it because of hugging and kissing,” Gomez said. Gomez said she assured the woman she had little reason to worry--to no avail.

“She was real scared. She got the test just to be sure. . . . I referred her to a place where they’ll test the children--just to keep her peace of mind.”

Gomez also talked to two girls who were afraid they may have contracted HIV when they got tattoos.

“I told them your main concern should be your sex partner and what he’s done and what you’ve done,” she said. “Not your tattoo.”

Still another woman, Gomez said, didn’t realize the AIDS virus could be transmitted sexually. “She said, ‘Oh, I thought it was just drugs.’ . . . Hey, there’s still a lot of people who are still not aware what’s going on as far as HIV is concerned.”

Olivia Rodriguez, executive director of Avance Human Service Center in East Los Angeles, said her four Spanish-speaking hot line operators had taken 85 calls by Friday afternoon, far above the typical 20. The majority of the callers, she said, were heterosexual Latino males between the ages of 20 and 29 who were seeking information about AIDS testing sites and symptoms of the disease.

“Males have called and said, ‘I have a wife and a girlfriend and now they are very worried,’ ” said George Porter, Roybal Center clinic manager. He said there was an upsurge in calls from young Latino males Friday. “Guys are very macho and they say they are seeing four people and want to be tested. “

Many people also don’t understand that a negative HIV test result is not necessarily a clean bill of health because of the incubation period between infection and the appearance of HIV in a blood test, authorities said. Repeated tests are recommended.

“It’s very important people not take the test blindly. The ramification of a result of this test can be life-shaking, and people need to understand this,” said Pope, director of the Edelman Clinic.

Many health authorities emphasized that they are encouraged by the public’s reaction, saying that it shows a long overdue concern.

“I think all of a sudden it’s an enlightenment,” said Joane Levis, director of nursing administration at the Student Health Center at Cal State Long Beach. “Here is a virile, healthy male, such an idol, and, my God, he got it too.”

The response has been heartening, said APLA’s Sprauve.

“A lot of people are calling in offering donations and offering to volunteer,” Sprauve said. “His announcement has raised everybody to a new awareness in the heterosexual community. A lot of people are realizing this is not someone else’s problem. This is everyone’s problem.”

Also contributing to this story were Times staff writer Bob Elston in Orange County and researchers Edith Stanley in Atlanta, Doug Connor in Seattle, Lianne Hart in Houston, Anna M. Virtue in Miami, Audrey Britton in New York and Amy Harmon in Lansing, Mich.

AIDS Across the U.S.

Here are the the numbers of AIDS cases nationwide, by exposure category, among adults and adolescents through September of 1991: The Numbers Pediatric cases: 3,312 Adult and adolescent cases: 192,406

Types of Transmission Heterosexual contact: 10,989 (6%) Men who have sex with men: 112,812 (59%) Intravenous drug users: 43,028 (22%) Men who have sex with men and use IV drugs: 12,580 (6%) Other/undetermined: 7,710 (4%) Receipt of blood transfusion, blood components or tissue: 4,205 (2%) Hemophilia or coagulation disorders: 1,622 (1%)

Breakdown: Sex with IV drug user: 5,818 Sex with bisexual male: 625 Sex with person with hemophilia: 100 Born in certain countries with high AIDS rates: 2,401 Sex with person from such a country: 173 Sex with infected transfusion recipient: 223 Sex with infected person, risk not specified: 1,649 SOURCE: U.S. Centers for Disease Control