\o7 I am saying it can happen to anyone, even me . . . \f7
--Earvin (Magic) Johnson AIDS educators in the Latino community are hoping that their message will have a greater impact now that basketball star Earvin (Magic) Johnson has disclosed that he is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
The stunning announcement by the Los Angeles Lakers star produced a surge of interest in AIDS among Latinos, as it did among other people around the nation. Latino telephone hot lines and centers that test for the AIDS virus were deluged.
Educators expect the surge to level off, but they hope that Johnson's announcement will have long-lasting effects by increasing awareness about AIDS and dispelling the myth that it is a disease affecting only gay men.
Graciela Morales, a Los Angeles counselor at the nonprofit T.H.E. women's health clinic, said: "Magic Johnson represents all ethnic groups, not just blacks. . . . When Rock Hudson died, most Latinos would say, 'Well, he's white and he's gay.' But with Magic the reaction is, 'He's one of us, and he's straight. If it can happen to him, it can happen to us.' "
Ana Rosa Rodriguez, of the American Red Cross in Los Angeles, cautioned that AIDS educators still face immense obstacles in combatting the increasing incidence of Latino AIDS cases, including a reluctance by many Latinos to talk openly about sex.
Newly reported cases of AIDS are increasing faster among Latinos in Los Angeles County than in any other ethnic group, from 318 cases in 1987 to 556 in 1990. Latinos represent 25% of the new AIDS cases reported in the county in 1991, compared with 16% of the 1987 cases.
In all, 13,640 cases of the disease have been reported in Los Angeles County since 1981 and it has accounted for more than 9,500 deaths. In Orange County, AIDS cases now exceed 2,000 and AIDS deaths total 1,300.
David Trujillo, AIDS program administrative coordinator for Avance Human Services in East Los Angeles, said calls to the agency's AIDS hot line increased dramatically--from 25 daily to as many as 100--in the days immediately after Johnson's Nov. 7 announcement.
Most of those who called the hot line before Magic's announcement were gay or bisexual, but "probably 80% to 90%" of the callers now are heterosexual, Trujillo said.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said calls to its Spanish-language AIDS hot line jumped from a usual 100 to more than 800 during the day after Johnson's televised news conference.
