Epidemiology of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in Intravenous Drug Abusers

As of March 12, 1984, 3,694 cases of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control with 1,601 deaths. Among the groups at increased risk for acquiring AIDS are intravenous drug users. Six hundred forty heterosexual I.V. drug users with AIDS were reported (17.3 percent of total cases), and 326 homosexual I.V. drug users with AIDS were reported (8.8 percent of total cases). This paper describes the epidemiology of AIDS in I.V. drug users and discusses unanswered questions arising from the limited data that are available.