Preventing the Heterosexual Spread of AIDS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To the Editor.— Drs Hearst and Hulley1provide valuable guidance on reducing or preventing the further heterosexual spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HIV disease, including the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Their perspective advances the field by comparing the relative benefits of careful selection of sexual partners, use of condoms, and use of HIV serostatus. I would like to add two cautionary notes concerning the US population's risk for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that are not addressed by Drs Hearst and Hulley. First, the authors assume an HIV prevalence rate of 0.01% for the "not in any high-risk group" population. While this assumption is approximately correct for the whole population, it fails to note that some groups not often considered at high risk may have much higher HIV prevalence rates. Among heterosexual, non—drug-using blacks in at least three East Coast populations— pregnant women in Brooklyn, NY2; certain neighborhoods in

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: