In the 21 years since health officials began tracking AIDS in Montana, 724 people have been infected with the HIV virus and 282 have died.

As the world pauses today to consider the disease, the Department of Public Health and Human Services, joined by Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger and members of Montana’s AIDS advisory council, will call attention to the epidemic that currently infects as many as 40 million people worldwide.

Gayle Shirley, public information officer for DPHHS, said 440 Montanans are currently living with HIV or AIDS. Statistics suggest an additional 100 to 150 people have contracted the virus and don’t yet know it.

“Because it’s such an infectious disease, we need to stay on top of it so it doesn’t spiral out of control,” Shirley said. “We started collecting data on AIDS in 1985. Since then, 724 people have been infected and 282 have died from complications.”

Laurie Cops, HIV section supervisor for DPHHS, said the drugs used to combat AIDS can cost each patient around $750 per month. The drugs keep the infection from advancing as quickly as it otherwise would, Cops said.

But combating the virus doesn’t come cheap. The federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program currently provides Montana with $478,817. The state allocates an additional $34,265 of its own, though health officials are looking for a funding increase from the next Legislature.

If approved, the increase would help the state buy medications under the AIDS Drug Assistance Program for those infected with the disease.

“The governor’s Aids Council has been working on policy recommendations,” said Judith Nielsen, HIV programs coordinator for the DPHHS. “In the meantime, our department has already stepped up and allowed me to request more state funds.”

Nielsen said the infection numbers in Montana have remained stable in recent years, with around 15 to 20 new cases reported annually.

Statistics show more than half (52 percent) of Montana’s AIDS cases involve homosexual men, while injection drug users follow a distant second at 13 percent.

Six children under the age of 13 have been infected with AIDS and four have died since tracking began in 1985.

Figures also show that Powell County currently has the highest infection rate in Montana at nearly 2.5 people per 1,000 residents, followed by Silver Bow, Missoula, Yellowstone and Cascade counties.

Lewis and Clark County has an infection rate of .91 people per 1,000 residents with 53 reported cases. Jefferson County has reported six cases.

World AIDS Day was first declared by the World Health Organization and the United Nations in 1988.

A large part of today’s local events, associated with international efforts, will include talks by the California-based Flowers Heritage Foundation, which provides temporary funding to several states, including Montana, so they can provide medications to those waiting to get on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

Cops said current federal and state funding helps the program provide medication, though it’s not enough money to go around. As many as 20 AIDS patients in Montana are on the waiting list, meaning they must cover the high cost of anti-viral medications on their own.

“We cover as many people as we possibly can,” said Cops. “We’re hoping to get $150,000 from the state each year over the next biennium.”

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or at mkidston@helenair.com