STATE : State AIDS Statistics Climbing

SACRAMENTO — A total of 23,896 Californians have been determined as having full-blown cases of AIDS since 1981, and 15,120 have died, the state Department of Health Services announced today.

Releasing its year-end report for 1989, the department’s Office of AIDS said the number of reported AIDS cases rose in California by 12.5% last year, while the number of reported AIDS deaths increased by 26.9%.

“The numbers are still climbing,” said Rene Durazzo, director of public policy for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which provides food and counseling to patients with the disease.

“We do not see the statistics at this point that show us any relief is in sight,” Durazzo said in a telephone interview. “It will only get much, much worse before it gets better.”