IN JUNE 1981, the first cases of the illness now known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reported from Los Angeles in five young homosexual men diagnosed with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and other opportunistic infections.1 Since then, state and territorial health departments have reported greater than 100,000 cases of AIDS and greater than 59,000 AIDS-related deaths to CDC. AIDS is now a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children and young adults in the United States, ranking 15th among leading causes of death in 19882 and seventh among estimated years of potential life lost before age 65 in 1987.3 The first 50,000 cases of AIDS were reported to CDC from 1981 to 1987; the second 50,000 were reported between December 1987 and July 1989.
Although homosexual/bisexual men still account for most reported AIDS cases, intravenous-drug users (IV-DUs), their sex partners, and their children represent an increasing