Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 16:32:12 -0500 From: Chris Hagin To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS COMPILED FROM WIRE SERVICE DISPATCHES Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 Hot spots for AIDS: cities, South WASHINGTON -- The AIDS epidemic is sweeping out of control among crack cocaine smokers in the country's poorest neighborhoods but is still barely perceptible across much of the nation, new data show. Several reports presented this week at an AIDS meeting sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology demonstrate the vast differences in how the epidemic touches Americans' lives. One study found that in New York City and Miami, 4 percent of crack cocaine users are becoming infected annually with HIV, the AIDS virus. This infection rate is ``among the highest ever reported in the United States,'' said Dr. Brian R. Edlin of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. But outside hot spots of AIDS infection, mostly in big cities and the rural South, the situation could hardly be more different. A new analysis, released Tuesday, showed that just six-hundredths of 1 percent of people applying for insurance are infected. The study, conducted by the CDC's Dr. J. Todd Weber, was based on a review of blood samples sent to one lab that does AIDS testing for hundreds of insurance companies nationwide. The samples are provided by people applying for health, life and disability insurance. Of nearly 1.5 million samples tested in 1991 and 1992, just 886 turned out to be infected with HIV. This low infection rates is similar to those seen among first-time blood donors and military recruits. Among the tiny minority who were infected, HIV was most common in Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico, Florida and New York state. This study suggests AIDS has not made deep inroads into mainstream American life. However, it does not provide a true cross-section of AIDS infection since some people who suspect they are infected may refuse to give blood for testing. Another CDC study involved women giving birth. It found that 1.6 of every 1,000 were infected. Over time, the infection rate in these young women has gradually gone down in the Northeast, slowly increased in the South and stayed low and stable in the rest of the country. HIV infections also appear to be steady or decreasing in two of the main groups at risk, gay men and needle drug users. For instance, data from venereal disease clinics in New York City showed a sharp drop in the infection rate among gay men. Half of these men seeking treatment in 1988 were infected, while one-third in 1993 were. Infection rates seem to have leveled off as well among drug users. Another study found little change over the same period among people tested at 60 drug treatment centers across the country. Infection rates were 29 percent in the Northeast, 12 percent in the South, 7 percent in the Midwest and 3 percent in the West. However, the infection still seems to be spreading quickly among crack cocaine users, most of them black and Hispanic. This is largely a problem of cities, but not exclusively so. For instance, a survey of pregnant women in Belle Glade, Fla., where crack is common, found that 5 percent were infected. Many crack smokers trade sex for drugs or have sex with those who do. They catch the infection from frequent heterosexual intercourse with a variety of partners. Often they have other sexually transmitted diseases, which make HIV much easier to catch. Dr. Anthony Fauci, an AIDS researcher with the National Institutes of Health, said today on ABC's ``Good Morning America'' that new cases have been increasing among heterosexuals and women. ``We're starting to see a shift of the epidemic ... away from the classical gay man, IV drug users, to more heterosexual women and children,'' Fauci said. He said researchers have made ``incremental advances'' in understanding the virus and treating it with drugs. ``They're certainly not the answer yet. We're not there, but the direction is going where we want it to go,'' Fauci said. Dr. Harold Jaffe of the CDC said those at greatest risk now are young, poor black and Hispanic women living in big cities as well as some small towns, especially in the South. ``The majority of these women were infected heterosexually, with transmission occurring especially among women with multiple sex partners, including women who exchange sex for drugs or money,'' Jaffe said. S. CHRISTOPHER HAGIN | The Pledge of Allegance says: Atlanta 1996 | "With liberty and justice for ALL" chagin@mindspring.com | What part of ALL do you not understand? HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE