Report Of The Surgeon Generals Workshop On Children With Hiv Infection And Their Families PDF Download

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is one of our country's greatest health challenges. Today 1 million Americans-1 in every 250-are infected with HIV. About 1 in 100 men and 1 in 800 women are now infected with HIV. Most of them look and feel healthy, since it takes an average of 10 years before a person with HIV develops AIDS. For infants and some adults, this time may be much shorter. AIDS is becoming more prominent in the young and in heterosexual men and women. AIDS is now one of the three main causes of death for women and men 25 to 44 years old in this country. It is among the top 10 causes of death for children 1 to 4 years old. AIDS is now becoming a disease of families. Today, most of the people with AIDS are young adults. Although survival times have improved greatly for people who are diagnosed early and receive medical treatment, the disease is usually fatal. Survival times today are about the same for men and women when they find out about their infection early and receive comparable medical treatment.