Critical AIDS Epidemic Hits Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is experiencing one of the most serious AIDS epidemics in the Western world.

Since 1982, there have been 2,940 reported cases of AIDS among the Caribbean island’s 3.3 million residents and authorities estimate 10 times that number may be infected with the virus.

Among U.S. cities, only San Francisco and New York reported higher per capita AIDS cases last year than the capital of San Juan.

Dr. John Rullan, chief epidemiologist for the Puerto Rico Health Department, estimates that at least 16,000 people, and possibly as many as 30,000, are infected with the AIDS virus across the island.

An islandwide survey of households to determine the spread of AIDS among low-risk groups found HIV infection among one in every 125 people. In San Juan, a city of 1.1 million people, the infection rate was 1 in 65.

The danger for children is that needle-sharing drug abusers account for 58% of the AIDS cases reported, increasing the risk of a rapid spread into the general population, Rullan said.

Pregnant women who contract AIDS from blood-contaminated needles or sexual contact with intravenous drug abusers can pass the virus to their unborn children.

A study in 1987 at San Juan’s University Hospital found 1 in 60 pregnant mothers infected with the AIDS virus. Now, all babies born in the capital are screened for the infection.

Jose Toro, executive director of Fundacion SIDA, or the AIDS Foundation, said there were 64 cases of pediatric AIDS in Puerto Rico by the end of May. Most of the infected children are being cared for by parents and relatives, Toro said, but homes can’t be found for 20 to 30 of them.