[Science Report]:AIDS in the United States


This is the VOA SpecialEnglish SCIENCE REPORT.

The disease AIDS was first reported in the United States twentyyears ago. By the end of last year, more thanseven-hundred-seventy-four-thousand Americans had AIDS. More thanfour-hundred-forty-eight-thousand Americans had died from thedisease.

Recently, American health officials released new information onthe problem of AIDS in the United States. Their reports suggest thatthe number of Americans infected with H-I-V, the virus that causesAIDS, has remained the same in the past few years. The healthofficials warned of a possible increase in the number of infectionsunless more is done to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Officials with the United States Centers for Disease Control andPrevention announced the findings. The C-D-C officials said thenumber of AIDS cases and deaths dropped sharply during theNineteen-Nineties. But they said both numbers have changed littlesince Nineteen-Ninety-Eight. The C-D-C said about forty-thousandpeople became newly infected with H-I-V in each of the past twoyears. In each of those years, about sixteen-thousand Americans diedfrom AIDS infections.

Helene Gayle is the director for AIDS prevention with the C-D-C.Doctor Gayle proposed steps to reduced the number of AIDS infectionsand deaths. They include expanding testing for the AIDS virus.Improving medical care for patients. And finding new treatments forpatients in whom the virus becomes resistant to medicines.

Evidence from several American cities suggests that AIDS remainsa serious problem among some groups. One study was done in Seattle,Washington. It studied men who had sexual relations with men. Itfound that the rate of unprotected sex among the homosexual menincreased between Nineteen-Ninety-Four and Two-Thousand. Americanexperts strongly suggest the use of condoms to protect against thespread of AIDS. The same study found that the number of homosexualmen who had six or more sex partners in the past year has increased.

Another study examined mostly poor black women in Atlanta,Georgia. That study found that sixty percent of the women did notknow if their sex partner was infected with the AIDS virus. It alsofound that almost half the women questioned said their partner hadnot worn a condom.

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by GeorgeGrow.

品牌培训机构展示

该专题下最近更新的节目

专题广播资料索引