| |
AIDS
Although Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was
primarily diagnosed in men in the early 1980s, by the 1990s
the disease
had become more prevalent among women. In 1993, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the criteria
for AIDS cases to include persons with severe immunosuppression,
pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia, or invasive
cervical cancer.1 This had the effect of greatly increasing
the number of reported AIDS cases.
In 2001, 25.8 percent
(11,082 cases) of all reported U.S. AIDS cases among
those aged 13 years and older occurred
in females. AIDS cases among these females were attributed
to
two major exposure categories: heterosexual contact and
injecting drug use. Undetermined modes of transmission
accounted for
another 4,606 cases.
AIDS cases due to heterosexual contact and injecting drug
use were highest among non-Hispanic Black women in 2001
(2,606 and 1,257 cases, respectively). Non-Hispanic Black
women represented 63 percent of all AIDS cases in women
attributable to heterosexual contact and 57 percent of
AIDS cases among women attributable to injecting drug use.
 [d]
 [d]
1Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 1993. Impact of the
Expanded AIDS Surveillance Case Definition on AIDS Case
Reporting-United States, First Quarter, 1993. MMWR, April
30, 1993. 42(16); 308-310. [Back
to Text]
|
