Among AIDS case reports from rural and small town areas of the United States, rates are higher in the South than in any other part of the country. For this study, we analyzed AIDS surveillance statistics from the state of Alabama for trends, distributions, and populations affected.
Black women are at disproportionately high risk, particularly in the southern counties of Alabama.
HIVis increasingly prevalent in rural and small town communities in Alabama and is more often transmitted heterosexually than it has been previously. We analyzed AIDS surveillance statistics from the state of Alabama to elucidate trends, distributions, and populations important to the emerging epidemic in the Southeast. For this study, we included patients reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health with AIDS as defined by the surveillance case definition used by the CDC in the year of the report. For example, all cases from 1993 to 1995 used the 1993 revised classification system for HIV infection and expanded surveillance case definition for AIDS among adolescents and adults, whereas previous case reports used the 1981 or 1987 case reports as available for the given year. Characteristics of persons more than 12 years old reported with AIDS through December 1995 were included in the analysis.