Dr. Suraiya Rasheed knows that the number...

Dr. Suraiya Rasheed knows that the number of diagnosed cases of AIDS is increasing around the world, particularly in women and children.

A Ph.D. in virology, a professor of pathology at USC Medical School, and the director of the Laboratory of Viral Oncology and AIDS Research there, Rasheed will be speaking today on “Women and AIDS” at the International Women’s Day Third Annual Celebration put on by the United Nations Assn. in Pasadena.

“Heterosexually, (AIDS) is being transmitted and a lot of women do not go to the doctor when they are infected,” Rasheed said. And frequently in this country, they do not find out they are infected until they are pregnant and see a doctor for prenatal care, she added.

Research on AIDS in women is lacking, Rasheed said.

“We don’t have the natural history of the disease. The studies have not been done,” she said.

Ten years ago, when the first studies were done and the drug companies started trying out new drugs, such as AZT, “100% of the people recruited were men.

Women were never even considered,” Rasheed said. “Some of the criteria and definitions included symptoms that were only in men,” such as Kaposi’s sarcoma.

But in the last couple of years, women’s activist groups “have been shouting. So now there are some protocols and some consideration for women who are infected,” Rasheed said. But more needs to be done, she believes.

“We are different entities. We have different hormones,” Rasheed said. “How else are we going to know how to treat women? To understand any disease, we must know the natural history in a man, in a woman or a child because all three are going to act differently.”

Rasheed will be joined on a panel with Dr. Fe Garcia of World Vision and Mabel Preloran of UCLA Graduate School. They will discuss other women’s health issues in a free program from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Garland Auditorium at Polytechnic School, Wilson Avenue and Cornell Road. Call United Nations Assn. at (818) 449-1795 for more information.