ABSTRACT
The number of cases, particularly heterosexual and pediatric AIDS cases, is staggering. The infected IVDU transmits the virus to a sex partner, who then passes it on to the unborn child, changing the epidemic into a family disease in the Puerto Rican community. In the United States, the New York City area has the highest seroprevalence rate. The area also has the greatest number of AIDS cases among IVDUs. Over 75 percent of IV drug use AIDS cases in the United States have been from the States of New York and New Jersey. Blacks and Hispanics constitute 39 percent of U.S. AIDS cases, but 52 percent of New York City's AIDS cases (Des Jarlais 1987). In addition, New York has reported half of all the female AIDS cases in the United States. In New York City, which has reported over half of all the pediatric AIDS cases, approximately 80 percent of AIDS cases have been found in children of IVDUs. There are approximately 100,000 to 120,000 women in New York City of childbearing age, and therefore contribute to more than 5,000 births per
year. The majority of these women are Hispanic and black, who do not realize they are at risk or that their sexual partners currently use or have ever used IV drugs.
