Subject: WHO Reports 4,700 Global New AIDS Cases for March
Date: Published: 4/10/89 (41 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    WHO Reports 4,700 Global
    New AIDS Cases for March

    GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- Reports from two African
 countries accounted for one-third of the nearly 4,700 new
 AIDS cases compiled from around the globe last month, the
 World Health Organization said.
    A total of 146,569 cases of acquired immune deficiency
 syndrome were reported from 148 countries and territories by
 the end of March, an increase of 4,675, the United Nations
 agency's latest monthly report shows.  Twenty-nine countries
 said they had no cases of the fatal disease.
    Uganda overtook France as the country with the
 second-highest total behind the U. S., which has about 60% of
 all reported AIDS cases.
    The African nation reported 490 new cases for August
 through October, raising its total to 5,998.  France, which
 did not update its figures, listed 5,655 cases, still by far
 the highest in Europe.
    Tanzania reported the biggest increase -- 1,100 -- for a
 total of 4,158 cases as of Dec. 31.
    Uganda and Tanzania accounted for one-third of new cases
 in the WHO report.  Two other African countries, Burkina Faso
 and Ghana, also reported significant increases.
    The U. S. total rose to 86,656, an increase of 499 cases.
 The Soviet Union, reporting for November-December, listed two
 new cases for a total of seven.
    AIDS is caused by a virus that damages the body's immune
 system, leaving victims susceptible to infections and cancer.
 It is spread most often through sexual contact, needles or
 syringes shared by drug abusers, infected blood or blood
 products, and from pregnant women to their offspring.

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