AIDS in Canada: the 20th anniversary approaches

As the 20th anniversary of the reporting of Canada's first AIDS case approaches, Health Canada data indicate that 48 014 positive HIV tests have been reported to Canada's Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control. The number of positive tests reported peaked at 2983 in 1995 and declined to 2104 in 2000. Adult women account for 13.8% of all positive tests and for 24% of positive HIV tests reported among the adult population. As was the case in all previous years, the 30–39 age group accounted for the largest proportion of positive HIV tests in 2000 (41.1%).

Since the early 1980s, 17 594 cases of AIDS have been reported to the centre; when adjusted for reporting delay, this figure rises to 19 153. The adjusted number of new AIDS cases peaked at 1859 in 1993 and then declined steadily to 584 in 1999; it is estimated to have rebounded slightly to 644 cases in 2000. Last year, 10.1% of those diagnosed with AIDS were adult women, and 1.2% were children. Slightly more than half (50.8%) of cases diagnosed among adults in 2000 were attributable to men having sex with men, 21.7% were related to injection drug use and 1.2% were attributed to tainted blood and blood products.

Figure.