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1992.02.05 :  National AIDS Hotline

Contact:  CDC Press Office (404) 639-3286
February 5, 1992

        A federal contract has been awarded extending the
National AIDS Hotline, the nation's largest health hotline
service.  The contract is funded for a basic year at $4.9 million
and four optional years which may be extended later by the
government.
        The award was made by the federal Centers for Disease
Control to the American Social Health Association of Research
Triangle Park, N.C., which has administered the hotline for the
past five years.
        The hotline handled a total 1,205,572 calls in 1991, and
more than a million calls were attempted just in the weeks after
Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV.
        Robert Waller, D.D.S., M.P.H., project officer for the
hotline, said, "In the first 40 days following Magic's Nov. 7
press conference, more than 1.3 million call attempts were made
to the hotline.  This was an average of 31,701 calls daily." 
That was more than four times the daily average of 7,372 calls
attempted during the 90 days preceding and nine times earlier
averages of 3,400.
        On Nov. 8, some 119,154 call attempts were made -- a
number far exceeding any previous one day.
        "Not all calls at this peak could be handled," reported
James Mason, M.D., HHS assistant secretary for health and head of
the Public Health Service.  "If people haven't already called
back and gotten through, we urge them to do so now at 1-800-342-
AIDS.  This is a situation in which ignorance is deadly."
        Spanish language information is available on 1-800-344-
7432.  Information for the deaf is available on 1-800-243-7889,
which requires use of a TTY/TDD machine.
        "Overall, the CDC National AIDS Hotline has responded to
over five million calls since 1986," CDC Director William Roper,
M.D., said.  With the recent increases in calls CDC will explore
ways to augment the system's capacity, Dr. Roper said.            
     
        Hotline records show that after the announcement by Magic
Johnson, star Los Angeles Lakers guard before he retired, female
callers to the hotline outnumbered males for several days, often
comprising 55 percent of the total callers.  Previously, the
distribution of callers had been 55 percent male and 45 percent
female.
        The American Social Health Association also is
responsible for the CDC's National Sexually Transmitted Disease
Hotline, which is reached at 1-800-227-8922 and provides
information on such diseases as syphilis, hepatitis, gonorrhea
and clamydia which are increasing and can cause serious, even
fatal, infection and, sometimes, infertility.  Sexually
transmitted diseases also can make the body more susceptible to
the AIDS virus.

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