Four Hollywood unions spent $6.8 million on treatment for 138 AIDS patients by early this year, but a representative of producers and studios says the problem is no worse than in other industries. Nicholas Counter III, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said Wednesday he was sure that the figures from union health insurance funds were ``understated'' because some AIDS insurance claims may be reported as related diseases rather than AIDS. Counter's remarks represent the first time anyone has attempted to compile statistics on the number of AIDS patients whose care is being paid by health insurance funds serving the entertainment industry's five major unions. But he dismissed fears that AIDS can be spread by casual contact, including on movie and television filming sets, and said he was convinced the deadly disease, which cripples the body's immune system, cannot be spread by so-called ``deep kissing'' by actors and actresses. ``I don't see that this problem is any worse or any less in our industry than in all industries,'' Counter said at a conference titled ``Managing AIDS at Work.'' He urged entertainment unions and companies to ``wage war on this disease on four fronts'' _ education, prevention, research and care. The insurer providing coverage for one of the industry's five funds _ the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) Health and Retirement Funds _ refused to provide statistics on the number of its 22,000 members who have AIDS or the cost of their care, said alliance government affairs specialist Dan Goldberg, who compiled the statistics for Counter. The 138 patients reported by mid-February and the $6,821,000 cost of caring for them represent statistics reported by insurance funds for the other four major Hollywood union health funds, Counter said. Scientists say acquired immune deficiency syndrome is spread by intimate sexual contact, the sharing of needles by intravenous drug abusers and when passed from mothers to their unborn children.
