Summary of track C: epidemiology and public health

AIDS. 1996 Dec:10 Suppl 3:S115-21.

Abstract

Aim: To review Track C on epidemiology and public health.

Descriptive epidemiology: Recent trends in the descriptive epidemiology are reported, for example, the rapid spread of HIV in certain Asian countries and the more precise insights in the spread thanks to subtyping of HIV-1 (and HIV-2).

Transmission: There is now ample evidence that sexually transmitted diseases enhance the rate of transmission. Viral load in the plasma of the mother is highly predictive for perinatal transmission.

Progression: Natural history studies have shown that true non-progressors are probably rare. Preliminary evidence indicates that the progression rate to AIDS and death does not differ by HIV-1 subtype. Some genetic factors are associated with the rate of disease progression and a few with susceptibility to HIV infection.

Interventions and prevention: Needle-exchange programmes as an intervention measure for injecting drug users were hotly debated and so were HIV (home) testing and counselling. Successes in prevention were reported from Thailand and Uganda, and also from small scale programmes.

PIP: More than 1500 abstracts were submitted in the Epidemiology and Public Health Track of the XI International Conference on Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Summarized, in this article, are papers on recent trends in the descriptive epidemiology of AIDS, the interaction between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), determinants of perinatal transmission, aspects of the natural history of HIV (including non-progression), and intervention issues related to intravenous drug users. The data confirm that persons with STDs transmit HIV more easily through heterosexual contact than those without STDs; however, STD treatment lowers the viral load and reduces the risk of HIV transmission. The recommendation that HIV-infected women in developing countries continue to breast feed may be retracted in light of evidence that significantly more breast-fed infants become infected than bottle-fed infants.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Public Health*