WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 1998--The Western Hemisphere contains roughly half the number of people in the world known to have AIDS, but epidemiologists are concerned that the true number of people infected with the virus that causes the disease may be twice as high as current estimates, the Pan American Health Organization reports.
PAHO experts say the excellent surveillance system in the Americas accounts for the Region's high proportion of AIDS cases, but note that of the estimated 33 million people worldwide infected with HIV, only 2.5 million are in the Americas.
In its new report "Health in the Americas," released today, PAHO also details successes in the fight against other communicable diseases in the region. Poliomyelitis has been eradicated from the hemisphere, and PAHO also reports progress in controlling measles outbreaks and interrupting the progress of Chagas' disease. And though cholera re-emerged in the Americas in 1991, after nearly a century, the 18,000 cases reported in 1997 represents just 5 percent of the number reported six years earlier.
The new report is being released September 21.
PAHO's figures on the AIDS epidemic were less encouraging. According to the latest figures, 511,722 people in the Americas have died from complications of AIDS since 1986, and 898,055 people are reported HIV-positive.
"PAHO officials believe that the actual figure may be twice the reported number," the report says.
The virus is more frequently transmitted in unprotected male-to-male sex, and men aged 30-34 represent the highest number of AIDS cases, according to reports from PAHO countries. But there is an increasing trend of heterosexual transmission, and an increases in the number f babies born HIV-positive. The latest figures show the reported number of HIV-positive children under 14 years old stood at 15,962, and 13,192 of them were infants.
Since the start of the epidemic, some 1.7 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, PAHO says.,p> PAHO warns of the need for continued vigilance as vector-borne illnesses such as dengue fever still plague many regions, and tuberculosis has re-emerged. The organization received reports of 253,867 cases of TB in 1996, bringing the rate of infection to 32 per 100,000 people.
"The emergence of new pathogens and diseases, the re-emergence of problems such as tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance are evidence of the need to maintain and improve the surveillance systems for acute diseases and other health problems in the Region," the report says.
In another step in fighting disease, PAHO reports great progress in access to clean drinking water in the region. Some 78 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean now receives drinking water through household connections or easily accessible means, and about 70 percent of population of the Americas is receiving treated water, up from only 20 percent 10 years ago. However, sanitary disposal of wastewater remains a problem, PAHO says; only 69 percent of the region's population even has coverage, and only 10 percent of wastewater collected is treated before final disposal.
Many countries in the Americas have also made progress in lowering deaths from violence or accidents between 1984 and 1994, PAHO reports. And while the rate of nutritional deficiencies remains high -- almost 50 percent among young children in some countries -- the report says that some deficiencies, such as iodine and vitamin A, are being reduced. The most widespread nutritional problem is iron deficiency among women of childbearing age and children.
The Pan American Health Organization is an international public health agency with more than 95 years of experience in working to improve health and living standards of the countries of the Americas, targeting the most vulnerable groups including mothers and children, workers, the poor, the elderly, and refugees and displaced persons. PAHO also serves as the regional office of the World Health Organization.
For Further Information Contact:
Daniel Epstein, tel (202) 974-3459, fax (202)
974-3143,
Office of Public Information, PAHO.