Throughout the world, the above routes of transmission have accounted for the overwhelming majority of HIV infections, but there has been considerable concern about other theoretical modes of transmission, especially through “casual” contact…

Within 3 years after the syndrome was recognized in the United States, cases of AIDS were reported from every continent. By November of 1997, more than 1.7 million cases…

HIV is transmitted from an infected woman to her fetus or newborn during pregnancy or delivery or through breast-feeding. HIV detected in fetal tissues and HIV isolated in cord blood provide suggestive evidence that transmission…

HIV is transmitted to IDUs by parenteral exposure to contaminated injection equipment, including needles. Risk factors for infection include frequency of needle sharing, duration of injecting drug use,…

Exposure to HIV-infected blood poses a definite risk for HIV infection for health care, laboratory, and home health care workers. Large prospective collaborative studies have found the risk of seroconversion following…

The first cases of what has become known as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reported in mid-1981 from Los Angeles, California. One month following these five reports of Pneumocystis carinii…

Trends in reported AIDS cases do not provide a complete picture of the prevalence of the public health problem that HIV infection poses for a population group,…

By December 1997, 641,086 cases of AIDS in adults and children had been reported to the CDC; and >390,000 were reported to have died, including >80% of those…

Through December of 1997, the United Nations AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that over 30 million people are living with HIV infection worldwide, with…

HIV is transmitted primarily through sexual contact, parenteral exposure to blood or blood products, and perinatally from infected mothers to their infants.

Sexual Transmission

The predominant mode of HIV transmission throughout the world…