AIDS cases in rural Mexico

The objective of this paper is to describe the AIDS epidemic in rural areas of Mexico. Information from the National AIDS Registry and the 1990 XI National Census was used. Rural AIDS cases and urban cases were compared regarding notification time sex risk categories and migration information. Of the 19090 AIDS cases reported up to July 1 1994 699 (3.7%) were rural cases. The first five of these cases were reported in 1986 three years after the first cases had been reported in Mexico. The number of AIDS cases has been growing each year except in 1991. Cases have been reported by all Mexican states. The state with the highest prevalence was Nayarit with 102 cases per million inhabitants followed by Morelos with 99 Jalisco with 90 and Colima and Tlaxcala with 84. A total of 25% of the rural cases are migrants who have been to the US against 6.1% of cases from urban areas. The distribution by sex shows 21.3% of women affected against 14.4% of urban cases (p < 0.05). The rural female/male ratio is 1:4 while the urban ratio is 1:6. The prevalence rates are almost three times greater in men than in women. The rural AIDS pattern represents a problem not because of the number of people affected but because of the heterosexual way of transmission. The authors do not think that migration to the US is going to change. The rural AIDS epidemic is more recent and growing faster than that occurring in the urban setting. (authors) (summaries in ENG SPA)