Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1984. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - January 6, 1984
Lawrence K. Altman
As of Dec. 19, a total of 3,000 cases of AIDS were reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and 1,283, or 43 percent, were fatal. Most experts believe AIDS, an incurable condition, is usually fatal in time. The cases were reported since the disease was first recognized in 1981.
Half the total number of AIDS cases were reported since February 1983, the centers said in their weekly report. Whereas more than 525 cases were reported in both the second and third quarters of 1983, about 200 were reported in the last quarter to Dec. 19.
In urging caution in interpreting the significance of the trends, officials at the centers said the number of reported cases lagged behind the true incidence of the disease. The lag reflects a policy made last year of decentralizing case reports so that the reports, instead of being made directly to the Atlanta centers, are first sent to local and then to state health departments.
Delay in Receiving Reports
As a result, several months may elapse between a diagnosis of AIDS and receipt of the case by the Centers for Disease Control.
Because there is no laboratory test that is specific for AIDS to assist in the epidemiological investigation, the Centers for Disease Control have established a rather strict definition of a case. Therefore, the totals do not include hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of additional cases that appear to the patients' physicians to be AIDS but that do not meet the official definition. Such epidemiological definitions are standard practice in investigations of diseases of unknown cause.
AIDS cases have been reported from 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The eight states that have not reported cases are Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming.
42% of Cases in New York
Most of the 3,000 cases have been diagnosed in large cities. Forty-two percent of the cases have been reported in New York City; 12 percent in San Francisco; 8 percent in Los Angeles and 3 percent in Newark.
Groups at risk are homosexual and bisexual men, 71 percent; intravenous drug abusers, 17 percent; people born in Haiti and now living in the United States, 5 percent; hemophiliacs, 1 percent; recipients of blood transfusions, 1 percent; and people having heterosexual contacts with members of risk groups, 1 percent.
The 31 patients with transfusion-associated AIDS include 18 men and 13 women who had no other known risk factor for AIDS and received transfusions of blood or blood products within five years of the onset of their illness.
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