CONCURRENT PARTNERSHIPS COULD CAUSE AIDS EPIDEMICS

There is a need for new hypotheses to supplement existing explanations for the observed differences in HIV prevalence between countries and within countries. Due to high levels of viraemia during the initial ph ase of HIV infection, networks of concurrent regular partnerships in a community could be the determining factor in the development of an AI DS epidemic. If this hypothesis is true, projections of the future dev elopment of the epidemic could be altered. Simple health education mes sages based on the hypothesis might make a major contribution to the p revention and control of AIDS epidemics.