Atlanta, Georgia, September 17, 1997
Drs. Pascale M. Wortley and Patricia L. Fleming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, summarized national surveillance data on the major epidemiological AIDS trends in US women over the age of 13 years.

They report that between 1991 and 1995 the incidence of AIDS increased faster among women infected through heterosexual sex than through injection drug use, and by 1995, heterosexual contact was the predominant mode of exposure for women with AIDS in all regions except the Northeast. In 1995, women accounted for 19% of all adult cases of AIDS. That percentage is likely to increase, according to the researchers.

Women born between 1970 and 1974 had the greatest increases in heterosexually transmitted AIDS during this period. However, injection drug use played an indirect role. The majority of heterosexually transmitted HIV infections in women were attributed to sex with an injection drug users (38%) or sex with an HIV-infected partner of unreported risk (53%).

The researchers estimate that the AIDS incidence rates per 100,000 women were highest in black women (50.1), women in the Northeast (22.3), heterosexual contacts (5.5), and women living in metropolitan statistical areas with more than 1 million residents (15.9).

Based on these findings, they predict continued growth of the number of AIDS cases in women, especially those in the South and those infected heterosexually. The researchers point out the need to ensure resources to care for a minimum of 60,000 to 115,000 HIV-infected women who will require care in years to come.

They also stress the critical importance of directing prevention programs to young women before they become sexually active or begin to use drugs.