First 100,000 cases of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - United States

Article Abstract:

The first cases of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) were reported in Jun 1981. Five young homosexual men were diagnosed at that time with opportunistic infections including Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Since that time national totals of over 100,000 cases of AIDS and 59,000 AIDS-related deaths have been tallied at the Centers for Disease Control. AIDS now ranks fifteenth among leading causes of death and seventh in potential years of life lost before age 65. Between 1981 and 1989, statistics for high-risk groups have shifted, with a decrease in homosexual/bisexual men and increases in intravenous drug users and children or sex partners of intravenous drug users. A disproportionately large number of blacks and Hispanics have developed AIDS, particularly through intravenous drug use. The actual number of people with severe HIV-related disease clearly exceeds 100,000 because of both underdiagnosis and underreporting. Regional variation in completeness of detection and reporting has been noted. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) has infected an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million people in the US, most of whom have not yet developed AIDS. As many as 99 percent of HIV-infected individuals will ultimately develop AIDS. The actual number of people with severe HIV-related disease clearly exceeds 100,000 because of both underdiagnosis and underreporting. Accurate reporting of cases is crucial to efforts to control HIV disease. Statistics allow public health officials to track modes of transmission, predict future cases and allocate funds for medical services.

Research, AIDS patients

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Underreporting of AIDS cases in South Carolina, 1986 and 1987

Article Abstract:

The reporting of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is required. Required reporting is the procedure used for determining the overall rate of infection of this and other infectious disease. The degree to which AIDS is under-reported is assessed by reviewing the hospital billing records of 595,585 patients in South Carolina during an 18-month period. These records were searched by computer for laboratory findings and conditions associated with AIDS. This computer search developed 1,513 records which were reviewed individually to determine the number of AIDS cases. This resulted in 153 cases of AIDS which were required to be reported to the state of South Carolina. Review of state registry data showed that only 91 cases of AIDS were reported; this is 59.9 percent of the number of cases determined by the medical record review. When the medical records were examined by race, it was found that 71.6 percent of white patients and only 53.1 percent of black patients had been reported to the state registry. Similarly, male patients were more likely to be reported than female AIDS patients, but this finding was not statistically significant. If such under-reporting of individual cases is widespread in the United States, particularly in groups which have a higher statistical incidence of AIDS, then current estimates as to the extent of the AIDS epidemic are also grossly underestimated.

Evaluation, Reports, Communicable diseases, Medical statistics

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Risks of developing AIDS in HIV-infected cohorts of hemophilic and homosexual men

Article Abstract:

Seventy-nine hemophiliac men in Pennsylvania and 117 infected homosexual or bisexual men in California, all exposed to the AIDS virus before 1981, were compared to examine the differences between the cumulative incidence of AIDS within the two groups and to determine the quantitative magnitude of the relative incidence of AIDS between the groups. By 1987, 21 percent of the hemophiliacs and 27 percent of the homosexuals had developed AIDS. A person can have the virus for a long time before actually becoming infected. However, when other factors were taken into account, survival rates over time did not differ between the two groups. These results suggest that the comparative length of AIDS virus infection is of great importance in comparing AIDS outcomes in different populations. However, these results should be interpreted in light of the small size and geographically localized nature of the sample populations.

Diseases, Surveys, Disease transmission, Gay men, Cohort analysis, Hemophiliacs

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