AIDS CASES IN THE RURAL-AREAS OF 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 1 990 XI National Census was used. Rural AIDS cases and urban cases were compared regarding notification time, sex, risk categories and migrat ion information. Of the 19,090 AIDS cases reported to the first of Jul y 1994, 699 (3.7%) were rural cases. The first five of these cases wer e reported in 1986, three years after the first cases had been reporte d in Mexico. The number of AIDS cases has been growing each year but i n 1991. Cases have been reported by all Mexican stares. The state with the highest prevalence was Nayarit with 102 cases per million inhabit ants, followed by Morelos with 99, Jalisco with 90, and Colima and Tla xcala 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 distribut ion by sex shows 21.3% of women affected against 14.4% of urban cases (p<0.05). The rural female to male ratio is 1:4, while the urban ratio is 1:6 The prevalence rates are almost three times greater in men tha n 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. We do not think that migration to the US is going to cha nge. The rural AIDS epidemic is more recent and growing faster than th at occurring in the urban setting.