No Plateau for HIV/AIDS Epidemic in US Women

Abstract

TWO MAJOR messages emerged from the third National Conference on Women and HIV, held last month in Pasadena, Calif: Women have become the fastest-increasing new group of AIDS patients in the United States, and they as a group are being overlooked. The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome has become the third leading cause of death among women in the 25- to 44-year-old age group, and the disease ranks first as cause of death among African-American women in that group. See also p 1752. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga, in the first 2 quarters of 1996, the estimated number of AIDS deaths was 13% lower than the estimated number of AIDS deaths in 1995. Deaths declined in men by 15% but increased among women by 3%. Earlier in the US epidemic, in 1985, women accounted for only 7% of cases; while in 1996, the percentage of