Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1983. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - August 5, 1983
The national Centers for Disease Control said the number of cases of the disease, known as AIDS, increased to a weekly average of 53 in July, as against 24 a week in January and 11 a week in July 1982. The daily average of cases reported to the centers increased to nearly eight a day from three or four a year ago.
As of Aug. 1, the Federal agency said, 1,972 cases had been reported and 331, or 17 percent of the total, occurred over the last six weeks. Of all patients, 759, or 38 percent, have died.
New York City reported most of the cases, with 44 percent; San Francisco had 10 percent and Los Angeles 6 percent, the agency said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Better Cooperation Cited
Dr. James Allen of the centers' special task force for AIDS traced the increasing number of reported AIDS cases in part to better cooperation by state health departments in reporting the disease. But he added that there was also no doubt about the rising incidence.
Seventy-one percent of the victims have been homosexuals. Other groups considered high risks for the disease are people who take narcotics intravenously, recent Haitian immigrants and hemophiliacs. There have been 117 cases that either did not fit into any of these groups, or the risk factors were not known.
The cause of the disease, a disorder of the body's disease-fighting mechanisms, is unknown, but researchers suspect it is spread through close personal contact and by blood products. There is no known cure. With destruction of the immune system, victims succumb to Kaposi's sarcoma, a soft- tissue cancer, or to infections.
The centers also announced an expanded study to evaluate the possible risk of transmission of AIDS by patients to health-care personnel. This investigation follows recent reports of that four hospital workers who were not in any of the high risk groups came down with the disease.
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