The state AIDS Administration now estimates that between 16,000 to 30,000 Marylanders were infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus at the end of 1990.
The new estimate is far lower than the previous one of 70,000.
AIDS Administration officials agreed yesterday that the revised estimate represents a "significant decrease" in numbers, but urged the public not to be lulled into thinking the magnitude of the state's AIDS problem has diminished.
"No, we don't need to do less, we need to do more," said Dr. Kathleen F. Edwards, the AIDS Administration director. "AIDS is still a major health problem. We still have no vaccine, we still have no cure.
"And, this will in no way lessen my funding requests from the federal government and state legislature to deal with AIDS in Maryland."
Edwards, however, refused to say how much money she is seeking. Last year, the state pumped $4.5 million into the battle against acquired immune deficiency syndrome while the federal government provided $7.8 million.
Dr. Joseph Horman, the AIDS Administration assistant director for prevention and epidemiology, said, "There's no way anybody can be complacent. We still have a very significant problem in Maryland.
"At least half of those estimated to be infected don't know they are infected and could be spreading the disease. And, we have a job to do with those who are infected. They're not always practicing safe sex."
The new estimates are being made public to give people a "more realistic picture" of the epidemic, said Dr. Audrey Rogers, the AIDS Administration's chief of epidemiology.
The officials also noted that estimating the epidemic is an inexact science and that the figures could rise again.
The national estimate on HIV infection, coming from the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, also has been revised downward to show that an estimated 500,000 to 1 million instead of 1 1/2 million Americans could have been infected in 1990.
Since the epidemic started in 1981, Maryland's total number of AIDS cases has reached about 3,200, and, of those, more than 2,000 people have died. Nationally, about 160,000 Americans have been afflicted with the disease that cripples the immune system and, of those, more than 100,000 are dead.
The most conservative revised HIV infection estimates have been produced through a computer model by Dr. Ivan Kramer, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
