Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; Tuesday, December 20, 1988
If present trends continue, said Dr. Antonia Novello, the disease soon will be the No. 5 killer of Americans from birth to their 24th birthday.
In a report to Health and Human Services Secretary Otis R. Bowen, Novello said present statistics, "however tragic, sorely underestimate the true scope of pediatric AIDS."
As of Dec. 12, 1,291 cases of AIDS had been reported among infants and children under age 13 and an additional 325 cases in the 13-to-19-year-old group. Of those, 717 who were younger than 13 at the time of their diagnosis have already died, along with 174 who were adolescents when diagnosed.
"The official figures include only those children whose condition was reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)," she said. "Probably for every child who meets the CDC definition of AIDS, another 2 to 10 are infected with HIV.
"It is estimated that by 1991, there will be at least 10,000 to 20,000 HIV-infected children in the United States."
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, and health officials are growing increasingly concerned that a large majority of those infected eventually will develop AIDS and die.
Novello, deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, headed an HHS working group on AIDS among children.
Her report to Bowen said the "problem of HIV infection among adolescents is enormously greater than the official count suggests."
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