8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Chicago, IL - February 4 - 8, 2001

Conf Retroviruses Opportunistic Infect 2001 Feb 4-8; 8:279 (abstract no. L2)

DeCock K
CDC, Nairobi, Kenya

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that by end 2000, 36.1 million people were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. 5.3 million new infections occurred in 2000; and 3 million people died, more than from any other infectious disease. Sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionately affected, accounting for approximately 70% of prevalent and incident cases of HIV/AIDS. In recent time explosive spread of HIV has occurred in some newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. HIV reports increased by 410% in 1998-1999 in the Russian Federation, mostly related to injecting drug use. The future epidemiology in South and South-East Asia may be dominated by events in India and China, whose collective populations exceed two billion. Major risk factors in the region are injecting drug use and commercial sex. Latin America has a diverse epidemic reflecting HIV transmission from sex between men, between men and women, and by injecting drug use. In the Caribbean heterosexual transmission is the dominant mode of transmission. In the industrialized world, AIDS incidence and mortality have declined substantially under the influence of antiretroviral therapy although these declines are now stabilizing. Underlying HIV incidence has not been reduced, a resurgence of unsafe sexual behavior among men who have sex with men has been widely reported, and disproportionate impact is being seen among populations of color. Reasons for the great heterogeneity of HIV/AIDS epidemiology internationally can be examined on the basis of two models. First, the epidemiology of any infectious disease reflects the interaction of the agent, the host, and the environment. Second, the spread of an agent depends on its basic reproductive rate, the number of secondary cases generated by one primary case. The global response to HIV/AIDS has to accommodate recent biomedical developments such as interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission, HIV testing technologies, and antiretroviral therapy, as well as epidemiologic trends such as behavioral changes in men who have sex with men and the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. If we are to influence the course of the international epidemic and exploit recent technical advances, greater investment will be required in public health and public health infrastructure whose importance have been underemphasized in the necessary multisectoral approach.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Disease Outbreaks, HIV Infections, Receptors, HIV, Incidence, Communicable Diseases, USSR, Africa South of the Sahara, Latin America, Caribbean Region, China, India, Asia, Southeastern, Human, Male, Female, Child, nursing, transmission, epidemiology, AIDS

2001-02-04
L2

Copyright © 2001 - Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health. Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Foundation for Retrovirology and Human Health. Licensed (AIDSLINE) from National Library of Medicine.