- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Teenage girls' rate of HIV infection from heterosexual sex rose
by nearly 117% between 1994 and 1998, US researchers report.
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- According to their study, based on data from 25 US states,
females aged 15 to 19 years also experienced a 90% increase in the rate
of HIV infection due to injection drug use during the same period.
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- ``As young women reach the age where HIV risk behaviors
like drug use and sexual activity are initiated, the number and rate of
HIV diagnoses increase,'' study co-author Dr. Lisa M. Lee, told Reuters
Health. ``This signals the need for intensive, focused, culturally appropriate
HIV prevention efforts among adolescent women before they initiate risk
behavior.''
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- HIV infection rates due to both heterosexual contact
and injection drug use among older women remained stable or declined, Lee
and colleague Dr. Patricia L. Fleming report in the summer issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Women's Association. Both researchers are
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
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- Overall, the annual rate of HIV infection among women
of reproductive age declined 12% from 1995 to 1998. HIV-infected women
were more likely to be black, under 35 years of age and to have been exposed
through heterosexual contact.
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- Between 1994 and 1998, HIV infection rates declined in
the Northeast and West but rose in the southern and central states that
reported data.
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- While it is not clear from the study why HIV infection
rates rose within some groups and declined in others, the researchers suggest
that prevention coupled with consistent condom use can help control the
spread of HIV among all groups.
-
- ``It is clear that culturally and educationally sensitive
HIV prevention messages must reach young women before risk behaviors are
initiated. Additionally, early identification of HIV infection and access
to care and prevention for HIV-infected women are critical,'' Lee said.
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- SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Women's Association
2001;56:94-
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