Where Is The HIV Epidemic Headed?

Abstract:
This fact sheet describes trends in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, based on cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It notes that as of 1995, more than half a million people in the U.S. had been diagnosed with AIDS, of whom more than 300,000 had died. An estimated 650,000 to 900,000 Americans were living with HIV. It notes that looking at only the 'big picture' may mask the impact of the epidemic on certain groups of individuals. Geographically, the epidemic is shifting from urban areas in the Northeast and West to more rural areas in the South and Midwest. The prevalence of AIDS is six times higher among blacks and three times higher among Hispanics than among whites, and the proportion of new cases continues to rise among women. In every group, by race and gender, there is a substantial increase in the rate of infection as young people enter their late teens and early twenties. The fact sheet concludes by describing briefly two prevention initiatives by the CDC: community planning and behavioral epidemiology. Overall, the information is useful, although it should be noted that breast-feeding has been confirmed as a route of HIV transmission.

Publication: Facts on HIV/AIDS: AIDS Public Information Project


Date Published: 3/1/1996

Comments:
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Location Code: 14147