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MMWR
Synopsis for June 1, 2001

MMWR articles are embargoed until 10 a.m. E.S.T. Thursday.

  1. HIV/AIDS — United States, 1981–2000
  2. The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, 2001
  3. HIV Incidence Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men — Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle, 1994–2000

MMWR Reports & Recommendations
June 1, 2001/Vol. 50/No. RR-9

Contact: Umesh Parashar
CDC, National Center for Infectious Diseases
(404) 639–4829

Norwalk-Like Viruses: Public Health Consequences and Outbreak Management
Norwalk-like viruses (NLVs) cause outbreaks of gastroenteritis and are spread frequently through contaminated food or water. Molecular diagnostics now enables detecting viruses in clinical and environmental specimens, linking of NLV strains causing outbreaks in multiple geographic locations, and tracing them to their sources in contaminated food or water. This report reviews recent advances in NLV detection and provides guidelines and recommendations for investigating NLV-related outbreaks, including specimen collection and disease prevention and control. This report also updates information provided in CDC's previously published, Viral Agents of Gastroenteritis: Public Health Importance and Outbreak Management (MMWR 1990;39 [No. RR-5]:1-24). These CDC recommendations are intended for public health professionals who investigate outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis but could be useful in academic and research settings as well.


Synopsis for June 1, 2001

HIV/AIDS — United States, 1981–2000

June 2001 marks 20 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported to CDC.

 

PRESS CONTACT:
Office of Communications

CDC, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention
(404) 639–8895
 


Since 1981, 774,467 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States and 448,060 of these individuals have died. An estimated 800,000-900,000 Americans are now living with HIV infection. Of these, as many as 300,000 remain unaware of their infection. In addition to summarizing the overall magnitude of the U.S. epidemic to date, this article reviews the evolution of the HIV epidemic and the public health response to stem its toll. CDC has played a central role in the response to the HIV epidemic since investigating the first cases in 1981. In partnership with state and local organizations, CDC has tracked the course of the epidemic for two decades, conducted field and laboratory research to identify effective interventions, and implemented targeted prevention programs nationwide. Estimates of HIV incidence over time suggest that new infections peaked at over 150,000 in the mid-1980s, were reduced to an estimated 40,000 a year in the early 1990s, and have been held at roughly this level throughout the last decade.

 

The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, 2001

Since AIDS was first documented in the 1980s, 20 million people have died from the disease worldwide.

 

PRESS CONTACT:
Office of Communications

CDC, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention
(404) 639–8895
 


Today, AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth leading cause of death globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 25 million people are living with HIV. As young adults perish from the disease, children are orphaned, social support systems fail and countries’ gross domestic products decline. In Zambia for example, access to education has been affected as schools cannot train teachers fast enough to replace those who have died of AIDS. In Asia, the epidemic is beginning to spread with 3.5 million people infected as of 1998 in India alone. In Eastern Europe, Russia reported 10,000 cases of HIV in 1999, now there are 70,000. Despite these trends, prevention efforts – including access to counseling and testing, promoting the use condoms and clean syringes, availability of drugs to reduce opportunistic infections and mother-to-child transmission and testing of the blood supply – are slowing the epidemic in several countries. In Uganda, the HIV prevalence rate has fallen from 14% in the early 1990s to 8% in 2000 due to strong government-support of HIV prevention programs. In Thailand, HIV prevalence has decreased in military recruits and women attending antenatal clinics, after a 100% condom use campaign was introduced for commercial sex.

 

HIV Incidence Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men — Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle, 1994–2000

A survey of 2,942 men who have sex with men (MSM) in six cities indicates that 4.4% of young MSM, ages 23-29, are newly infected with HIV each year (HIV incidence).

 

PRESS CONTACT:
Office of Communications

CDC, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention
(404) 639–8895
 


HIV incidence was highest among African-American MSM, with 14.7% becoming infected annually, compared to 3.5% of Hispanics and 2.5% of whites. CDC cautioned that the sample size was small and the findings may not be representative of all gay men. However, with the extremely high incidence, CDC believed the release of these data were of critical public health importance. Even the lower bound of the 95% confidence interval, 7.9%, indicates an extraordinarily high level of infection among African-American MSM in this study. The survey, Phase II of CDC’s Young Men’s Survey, was conducted in Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and Seattle from 1998 through 2000. HIV incidence was determined through the application of CDC-developed testing technology to 290 of 373 HIV-positive samples.

 


 

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