ATLANTA (UPI) -- The number of AIDS cases has topped the 200,000 mark
in the United States, with a 44 percent increase in the number of
infections among heterosexuals, the federal Centers for Disease Control
reported.
	The first 100,000 cases of AIDS were recorded over an eight-year
period beginning in 1981 but the second 100,000 occurred in just two
years, with 206,392 cases on record by Dec. 31, 1991, and 133,232
deaths, the CDC said Thursday.
	``The cumulative total of more than 200,000 reported AIDS cases
emphasizes the rapidly increasing magnitude of the HIV epidemic in the
United States,'' said Dr. Larry Slutsker, a CDC epidemiologist.
	In comparing the characteristics of the first 100,000 cases to the
second 100,000, the CDC said the percentage attributed to heterosexual
transmission increased from 5 percent to 7 percent -- a 44 percent
increase and most of it among women.
	``Of all AIDS cases among women, 34 percent were attributed to
heterosexual transmission, and women accounted for 61 percent of all
cases attributed to heterosexual transmission,'' Slutsker said.
	Of the first 100,000 people with AIDS, 9 percent were women. That
percentage increased to 12 percent in the second 100,000 victims.
	``More and more cases are being attributed to heterosexual exposure,''
said Slutsker.
	Heterosexual people increase their risk for acquiring the AIDS virus
when they have multiple sex partners or have unprotected sex, he said.
	Slutsker said a recent analysis of expected trends in AIDS cases in
the United States suggests that by 1995 the infection rate among
nondrug-using heterosexual men and women will double.
	Although the proportion of heterosexual AIDS cases continues to be 
``minimal'' compared to those among high-risk groups -- homosexual and
bisexual men and intravenous drug users -- the increase is of concern to
public health officials, Slutsker said, and ``points out the need for
increasing education and prevention efforts.''
	The number of children with AIDS continued to increase. The first
100,000 people with AIDS included 1,683 children, of whom 81 percent
were born to mothers with or at risk of HIV infection. The second 100,
000 people with AIDS included 1,702 children, 87 percent born to mothers
with or at risk of the disease.
	Blacks and Hispanics accounted for a disproportionate number of the
AIDS cases, both in the early years of the epidemic and in the last two
years. Of the first 100,000 cases, 27 percent occurred among blacks and
15 percent among Hispanics. Of the second 100,000 cases, the percentages
increased to 31 percent and 17 percent respectively, the CDC said.
	``Of the estimated 1 million HIV-infected people in the U.S.,
approximately 20 percent have developed AIDS,'' the agency said.
	The only decline in AIDS transmission occurred in people receiving
blood transfusions. The percentage of those cases dropped from 2.5
percent to 1.9 percent in adults and from 11 percent to 5.6 percent in
children.