This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Nancy S. Padian, PhD
University of California Berkeley

Donald P. Francis, MD, DSc
Centers for Disease Control Atlanta California Department of Health Services Berkeley

JAMA. 1988;260(13):1879.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

We commend Drs Hearst and Hulley¹ for their evaluation of how to prevent the heterosexual spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Their article is useful for academic purposes because it provides a statistical basis for risk assessment. However, from the practical "individual-in-the-street" vantage, two aspects of the article may cause confusion: (1) the use of a constant infectivity factor in calculations that may be appropriate for population-based studies, but that are less appropriate for assessing individual risk, and (2) stressing the importance of obtaining sexual histories of potential partners, also important in an epidemiologic, population sense but less useful for the individual.

The authors use a constant infectivity rate of 0.002 or less for male-to-female vaginal intercourse, derived in part from our continuing study being conducted throughout California of the female partners of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—infected men. Drs Hearst and Hulley acknowledge that if variable infectivity . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West); Sharon Iverson, Assistant Editor.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?