What is the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS?
In June 1999, there were 383,886 Americans reported living with HIV infection or AIDS, including 5,183 children younger than 13 years old. To determine where HIV is most common requires examining annual rates (the number of people infected per 100,000 population) and cumulative totals (the total number of people infected). States with large populations may have a high number of people living with HIV infection, but these states may have relatively low annual incidence rates. However, many experts would predict that the number of people diagnosed with AIDS is only one-tenth of the total number of people infected with HIV. How is HIV/AIDS transmitted? • HIV contaminated blood transfusions. • HIV contaminated clotting blood products. • Perinatal transmission. • Unclean injection drug use. • Unprotected sexual activity • Needle-stick or other sharps related injuries, • Other unprotected exposures to HIV-infected material during health care encounters How is HIV detected and diagnosed? In t
