Demographic Characteristics of HIV: III. Why Does HIV Discriminate by Race?

摘要

Racial ancestry influences the frequency of positive HIV-tests, F(H1V), as an independent variable. In every occupational, social, or other group tested in the United States, at all ages and for both sexes, F(HIV) increases in the order Asian -> white -> Native American -> Hispanic -> black. Data from South Africa display a similar sequence, white/Asian-Indian -> Colored -> black. This constant relation among the racial categories calls for an explanation in terms of genetic polymorphisms of the kind used in tracing human migration patterns. That Native Americans are closer to whites than to blacks also points to a physical cause and not a socioeconomic or behavioral one.