ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to validate several hypotheses concerning possible risk factors for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) among Latino farmworkers employed in the mushroom industry in a southeastern Pennsylvania county. The precise number of seasonal and migratory farmworkers in the United States is difficult to ascertain. The General Accounting Office estimated that in 1990, there were between 1.5 and 2.5 million farmworkers in this country. Farmworkers have been found to live in employer-provided housing, in overcrowded conditions, under poor sanitary conditions, and are exposed to parasitic infections, including viral infections. Several studies have shown that farmworkers are at a high risk for HIV infection and the subsequent development of AIDS relative to other population groups. A national survey of farmworkers attending migrant health clinics reported the seroprevalence rate of 0.5 percent among farmworkers in the Eastern Coast migrant stream.
