ABSTRACT
From 1982 through 1992, the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Health Departments monitored the AIDS epidemic in 1080 cases. Vital records and surveillance data were used to describe the epidemiological characteristics of AIDS in Tarrant County by age, risk, racial/ethnic, sex, and geographic factors. The study found that the male-to-female ratio of cases was 12:1, that incidence among blacks was nearly twice that in whites and Hispanics, that the incidence rate was highest in the group aged 30 through 39 years, and that transmission patterns differed dramatically among zip codes, particularly affecting the poorest and the affluent in Fort Worth. Distribution of AIDS was influenced by demographic characteristics, risk-associated behaviors, and viral seroprevalence. The epidemiological information gleaned by active and passive surveillance enables the county health department to enhance its community-wide efforts to provide programs for prevention and education and to support AIDS-related services.