ELLSWORTH – The candles helped people remember.

About three dozen area residents marked World AIDS Day on Saturday during a service at the Unitarian Universalist Church here.

They lit candles throughout the service to remember friends or family members who had died from AIDS as well as to honor those who are working with people living with HIV or AIDS, and those who are working to find a cure and prevent the spread of AIDS.

The small group in Ellsworth was a microcosm of those affected directly or indirectly by AIDS – young and old, men and women, gay and straight, partners, relatives and friends.

All brought their own remembrances to the service.

“One of the hardest things to do is to say goodbye,” said one teen-age girl as she lit a candle. “This is for everyone who has had to say goodbye to someone with AIDS.”

Six large candles on the altar represented the six continents inhabited by people living with HIV or AIDS.

The service was one of many events held around the state as people worldwide participated in the 13th annual World AIDS Day, which, according to AIDS activists, has become the only international day of coordinated action against the deadly disease.

World AIDS Day was developed after a January 1988 summit of health ministers from around the world. That group issued a call for open channels of communication, to strengthen the exchange of information and experience, and to forge a spirit of social tolerance. Since then, World AIDS Day has received support from the United Nations, governments, communities and individuals around the world.

Despite the efforts, the AIDS epidemic continues to spread. About 36.1 million adults and 1.4 million children were living with the AIDS virus, HIV, at the end of 2000, according to estimates from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization. That figure includes the estimated 5.3 million people who became infected with the human immunodeficiency virus during 2000. People infected with HIV do not have AIDS until they develop serious symptoms, and they sometimes remain healthy for years.

Since the first clinical evidence of AIDS appeared 20 years ago, more than 22 million people have died.

Last year in the United States 21,704 new cases of HIV were reported and between 800,000 and 900,000 people in this country are now living with HIV. In Maine so far this year, there have been 33 new cases of HIV, and 35 new cases of AIDS documented.

Despite AIDS education efforts, a recent report from the United Nations indicates that unsafe sex is on the rise in high-income countries such as the United States and some European nations, leading to a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

The Down East AIDS Network in Ellsworth has felt the impact of those statistics locally. At the start of the year, the agency worked with 22 local people who are living with AIDS, according to Mary Harney. That number has since increased to 33, she said.

“That’s a huge increase for a small agency like ours,” Harney said.

She noted that those numbers don’t reflect people who don’t yet know they are living with AIDS and those who are too frightened to seek help.