Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 24 Nov 1995
Mike Cooper, Reuter
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that as of the end of October, a total of 501,310 people had been diagnosed as having AIDS. Of those, 62 percent have died.
"Over half a million people with AIDS really should signify to the American public the ongoing seriousness and magnitude of this epidemic," said Dr. Patricia Fleming of the CDC's AIDS surveillance branch.
The CDC said 59,806 AIDS cases have been reported in the United States so far this year.
The World Health Organization estimates that there have been 4.5 million AIDS cases worldwide and that 18 million adults and 1.5 million children are infected with HIV.
The cumulative total of U.S. AIDS cases has doubled in the past three years, partly because health officials expanded the definition of AIDS in 1993 to include people with supressed immune systems, pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia and invasive cervical cancer.
The first 50,000 AIDS cases were reported between 1981 and 1987. By the end of 1992, the total had risen to 250,000.
The CDC said AIDS "continues to affect blacks and Hispanics disproportionately."
The rate of AIDS among blacks is 101 per 100,000 and is 51 per 100,000 among Hispanics. The rate is 17 per 100,000 among whites, 12 per 100,000 among American Indians and Alaskan natives, and 6 per 100,000 among Asians and Pacific Islanders.
The Northeastern United States has the highest AIDS rate in the country, with 48 cases per 100,000 population. In 1994, the rate was 31 per 100,000 in the South, 29 in the West and 13 in the Midwest.
Much of the increase in AIDS cases has been in the South and Midwest, where AIDS is increasingly affecting small towns and rural areas, the CDC said.
The rate of AIDS has risen 31 percent in the South and 22 percent in the Midwest during the past seven years. It rose 20 percent in the Northeast and 15 percent in the West.
"This is an epidemic that is affecting all regions and all communities in the country," Fleming said. "The message has to be delivered to the regions of the country that have previously not recognized that they have been at risk."
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