Reports on HIV/AIDS: 1990

NOVEMBER 30, 1990, MMWR, Vol. 39, No. 47, pp. 850-853
Update: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - Europe
As of March 31, 1990, 35,376 cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS) had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating
Centre on AIDS in Paris by 32 countries in the European Region (EURO).* This
number represented an increase of 61.9% (13,519 new cases) in the total number of
cases reported since March 1989 (Figure 1, Table 1) (4).
Of the 35,376 cases, 16,170 (45.7%) occurred in homosexual/bisexual men; 10,660
(30.1%) in intravenous-drug users (IVDUs); 2822 (8.0%) in persons reporting heterosexual contact with a person either infected with human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) or at risk for HIV infection; 1390 (3.9%) in transfusion recipients; 1151 (3.3%) in
persons with coagulation disorders (e.g., hemophilia); 702 (2.0%) in male
homosexual/bisexual IVDUs; 596 (1.7%) in children born to HIV-infected women; and
1885 (5.3%) in persons whose exposure was classified as "other/unknown."
Of the 34,177 cases in adults (persons >13 years of age), 4335 (12.7%) occurred in
women. Of these, 2438 (56.2%) were in IVDUs; 1142 (26.3%), in women reporting
heterosexual contact with a man either infected with HIV or at risk for HIV infection;
507 (11.7%), in transfusion recipients; 18 (0.4%), in women with coagulation
disorders; and 230 (5.3%), in women whose exposure was classified as "other/
unknown."
Cumulative AIDS incidence rates per million population were highest in Switzerland (190.2), France (173.2), Spain (135.1), Denmark (112.4), and Italy (105.3). In
*As of June 30, 1990, 38,314 cases of AIDS had been reported to WHO (1 ); however, these data
do not include risk-factor information or the number of AIDS cases reported in France since
March 1990.
FIGURE 1. Reported AIDS cases, by half year of diagnosis - Europe, through
March 31, 1990*
6
c4
C 4
-0 3
2
<1981 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989* 1990*
Half Year of Diagnosis
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre on AIDS, Paris.
*Reporting incomplete for 1989 and 1990.

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