75% With AIDS Virus Are Reported Infected Through Heterosexual Sex
Heterosexual sex has caused the infection of 75% of people with the AIDS virus worldwide, and such transmission of the virus is rising in Western countries, the World Health Organization said Monday.
The majority of the heterosexually infected people are in the developing world, particularly in Africa, and it still remains only a small percentage of cases in North America and Europe, the Geneva-based U.N. agency said.
In the United States, 3% of men and 34% of women contracted the virus from a person of the opposite sex, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
According to Dr. Michael Merson, head of the U.N. health agency’s AIDS program, tests of possible AIDS vaccines are planned for Thailand, Uganda, Rwanda and Brazil--nations with some of the highest AIDS rates. The tests--which will involve several thousand volunteers--mark a departure from previous approaches favoring early testing on animals.
Merson said an estimated 8 million to 10 million adults carry the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to AIDS. The agency has predicted 40 million adults and children will have HIV by 2000.
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