Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - Tuesday, June 6, 1989
Rosemary Goudreau, Herald Staff Writer
Between 1.2 million and 1.5 million Americans are infected, according to the studies released at the Fifth International Conference on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
The survey, which anonymously tested patients over the past 18 months in 27 hospitals, including Jackson Memorial in Miami, shows that 0.4 percent of patients admitted for non-AIDS-related conditions are infected with HIV, the virus that causes the fatal disease.
If only inner-city hospitals that treat a lot of AIDS patients are included, that number jumps to between 5 and 7 percent, reported Dr. Michael St. Louis of the Centers for Disease Control.
The highest rates were found in the New York borough of the Bronx, where 24 percent of men aged 25 to 44 admitted for conditions unrelated to AIDS proved to be infected with the virus.
"We found it surprising to some extent because the criteria exclude people with major risk factors for HIV infection," St. Louis said.
Figures for Jackson Memorial were not specified in the report.
For the first time, the hospital survey found the virus among some children aged 12 to 14. In areas with a high prevalence of AIDS, 1.4 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds were infected. None of the hospitals found infection in children aged 9 to 11.
Even in low-prevalence areas, hospitals are finding the AIDS virus among adolescents aged 15 and 16, he said.
The federal government conducts similar tests on people applying to the Job Corps or the military.
"Among minority soldiers, one in 1,725 women and one in 660 men will become infected over this coming year,' ' said Dr. John Neal of the CDC.
Though most infected recruits deny any risk factors for AIDS, follow-up study shows that most have had homosexual relationships, had sex with prostitutes or abused drugs, Neal reported.
The CDC surveillance report shows that AIDS is not running rampant among heterosexuals.
Those at greatest risk of HIV infection are those who use intravenous drugs -- and their sex partners.
"Heterosexuals whose sexual behavior places them at risk of contracting sexually transmitted disease have a low but not negligible risk of HIV infection," the report says. "Heterosexual persons without risk factors have a very low prevalence of infection."
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