AIDS Has Human Face at University High Talk : Epidemic: Mother, 33, tells students that she has fatal disease. She, others make point that it reaches teen-agers in suburbia.

IRVINE —  Had she not been on stage facing about 100 University High School students Wednesday, Tamara Lindley Brown--lean and youthful with her funky jewelry and bright tank top--might have blended with her audience.

And that was precisely why she was there. Brown has AIDS. She and three other speakers came to the high school hoping to give the disease a human face and persuade students that anyone, even teen-agers in suburbia, can contract the virus if they don’t take precautions.

“Take a good look,” Brown, 33, told the students. “How many people think I have AIDS?”

The answer was not many.

While this was not the first time students have been taught about AIDS, it was the most personal and emotional lesson, several said.

“I think the panelists opened up. . . . It really hit home,” said junior Kristyn Bolln, 16. “It felt comfortable, not preachy.”

As students listened anxiously, Brown described how starkly AIDS has changed her life.

“We had the Cinderella story. We had a house in Costa Mesa, 9-to-5 jobs, two cars in the garage,” she said. “My whole life was planned. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Brown said she contracted AIDS before her marriage. When she tested positive for it, her first thought was: “I’ve just killed my baby, my husband and myself.” Only later did she learn that neither her husband nor her son were HIV-positive.

Like Brown, the other speakers urged students to learn about AIDS prevention and to use protection if they decide to have sex.

“One of my goals today is to save you,” said Fran Carman, whose son graduated from University High in 1978 and now has AIDS. Carman heads Orange County Mothers of AIDS Patients. “We came from a typical middle-class background. What I’m trying to get across is that it can happen to anyone.”

Student organizers of the event said their goal was not simply to lecture to the audience.

“We are trying to tug the (students) by the heartstrings instead of with a purely factual” presentation, said senior Linh Tran, 18.

The panel discussion was one of a several AIDS-awareness events taking place at University High School this week. Later this week, some will participate in a candlelight march in honor those fighting AIDS.

The events are leading up to AIDSWalk Orange County, which will take place Sunday at UC Irvine.

AIDS and Teen-Agers Locally as well as across the state and nation, AIDS is more a problem among adults than among teen-agers. Reported AIDS cases by age: Orange County 12 and younger: (15) 1% 13-19: (6) less than 1% 20-29: (427) 18% 30-49: (1,567) 68% 50 and older: (295) 13% California 12 and younger: (318) 1% 13-19: (98) less than 1% 20-29: (7,732) 16% 30-49: (33,667) 71% 50 and older: (5,821) 12% United States 12 and younger: (4,249) 2% 13-19: (946) less than 1% 20-29: (48,295) 19% 30-49: (173,905) 69% 50 and older: (26,043) 10% Mortality Rate The percentage of teen-age patients who have died is also lower than among most other age groups. Age: 12 and younger: 60% 13-19: 50% 20-29: 60% 30-49: 67% 50 and older: 15% Source: Orange County Department of Health; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times