Sexual Transmission Surpasses Drug Use as Cause of AIDS Among Women

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Sexual Transmission Surpasses Drug Use as Cause of AIDS Among Women

PR Newswire (10/13/93)

Tampa, Fla.--In Florida, and across the nation, the incidence of AIDS in women is increasing and, among women, HIV infection through heterosexual activity has bypassed injection-drug use as the most prevalent mode of contracting the virus. The Centers for Disease Control this year expanded its definition of AIDS to include women with invasive cervical cancer, an action that will probably result in an even greater increase in the number of cases reported among females. Women now account for 12 percent of reported American cases of AIDS, a climb from 7 percent in 1985, according to the CDC. In addition, the mortality rate for women with AIDS is growing quickly. About one-quarter of infected women in 1992 were diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 29. Because the average period of latency between HIV infection and development of AIDS is 10 years, this CDC statistic implies that many of the women were infected during their teenage years. Other data for 1992 indicate that 54 percent of American women with AIDS were black, 23 percent were white, and 21 percent were Hispanic.

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