RESUMO
The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to be a serious public health problem in the United States of América, especially for intravenous drug abuser (IVDA). Within this group the largest concentration of cases of the disease and of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is in New York, California, and New Jersey, but cases have been diagnosed and reported in all 50 of the states. HIV is readily spread from these users to their sexual companions and children in utero. It can be expected, at least over the next few years, that HIV seroprevalence rates and AIDS cases will continue to increase among IDVA. There is an increasingly urgent need to formulate, implement, and evaluate prevention strategies aimed at this group in particular. Extensive research is being devoted to the development of a safe and effective vaccine against HIV, as well as to the testing of possible antiviral agents. Unfortunately, those goals will no be attained in the immediate future; for the time being, the only means of controlling AIDS is to adopt the most effective possible measures in the áreas of education and prevention