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Experiment
James Howard (phis@sprynet.com)
Tue, 16 Jul 1996 09:05:20 GMT
This group has been discussing the impact of new infectious organisms
on a "virgin population," i.e., from Europe to the Americas.
Relatively recently, the "experiment" was performed; it consisted of
the injection of the HIV into the Americas from Africa. We know the
infection rates, you can look them up in Science 1995; 270: 1372. The
results indicate two basic populations: one is leveling off and may be
declining, the other is steadily increasing.
The first group consists of people "born in 1959 or earlier;" the
group with increasing HIV infection rates was "born in 1960 or later"
and "was highest among young adults in their late twenties and
thirties and among minorities." The science article was reported by
the AP January 17, 1996. It reported that women "are four times less
likely to be infected," and the infection rates are 1 in 139 in white
males vs. 1 in 1,667 in white females; 1 in 33 black men are infected,
while 1 in 98 black women are infected. The latest AIDS conference,
which just occurred last week, reported about the same statistics, but
put the infection rates in white women at 1 in 3,000.
How do you anthropologists explain the infection rates?
James Howard
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