AIDS cases, by selected exposure categories* for females aged 13 years and older at diagnosis, 1985-2003 (line graph): 2003: heterosexual contact, 5,234; undetermined, 3,946; injection drug use, 2,262; coagulation disorder and receipt of blood/blood components, 119. Trend: cases due to injection drug use and heterosexual contact increased dramatically through the late 1980s and early 1990s, peaking around 1995. They then fell until 2000, when cases due to heterosexual contact began to increase and injection drug use cases leveled off. Undetermined cases have climbed steadily since the beginning of the epidemic. Cases due to coagulation disorder and receipt of blood/blood components have always been low, but peaked in 1990 at several hundred.

*Changes in reporting procedures in 1993 led to an increase in the number of cases reported without information about the exposure category.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2003, Vol. 15. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasrlink.htm