Over a three-year period, Maryland has registered HIV-infection levels for childbearing women that are among the highest in the United States, says the state health department's AIDS Administration.
Only three other states -- New York, New Jersey and Florida -- and the District of Columbia, have HIV-infection rates for childbearing women that exceed Maryland's.
While the dramatic rise in rates seen between 1988 and 1989 was not repeated in 1990, the number of childbearing women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes the fatal AIDS, remains high enough to be of grave concern, health department officials said yesterday.
The results from the 1990 survey indicate that about 36 out of every 10,000 mothers were infected with HIV. The rate for 1989 was 42 for each 10,000 and in 1988, 31 for each 10,000.
The results of the survey also "firmly establish" that non-white women bear a greater burden of HIV infection than white women -- except in the youngest age groups, according to a new AIDS Administration report.
Since HIV infection may be detected many years before the onset of AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, the HIV survey of mothers provides evidence that the high AIDS rate in black women will persist into the future, the research team concluded.
"The results of the latest study still show a serious problem, and point out the need for continued AIDS education and prevention efforts," said Nelson J. Sabatini, secretary of the health department.
Dr. Kathleen F. Edwards, director of the state's AIDS Administration, said, "The level of HIV infection in childbearing women in Maryland remains essentially the same. Although the 1990 rate shows a drop from 1989, the difference is not statistically significant."
Maryland is one of 44 states funded by the National Centers for Disease Control to conduct a survey of HIV infection among childbearing women. The survey was conducted during six-month periods in 1988, 1989 and 1990. In 1991, it is being conducted for a 12-month period.
Reporting in the November issue of the state health department's Communicable Diseases Bulletin, the AIDS Administration said the survey annually is detecting between 250 and 300 potentially new cases of HIV infection among mothers.
"If 20 to 35 percent of the infected women's newborns are also infected, every year approximately 60 to 100 newborns are added to the pool of infected babies who may eventually develop AIDS," the study said.
