Selected behaviors that increase risk for HIV infection among high school students--United States, 1990.

From January 1987 through December 1991, the cumulative number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases among adolescents aged 13-19 years in the United States increased from 127 to 789, and in 1989, AIDS became the sixth leading cause of death for persons aged 15-24 years. Because the median incubation period between infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and onset of AIDS is nearly 10 years, many 20-29-year-olds with AIDS may have been infected during adolescence. Surveillance of selected sexual and injecting-drug-use (IDU) behaviors among adolescents can provide critical information about the risk for HIV infection among this group. This article presents self-reported data from 1990 about HIV-risk behaviors among U.S. high school students and describes strategies to reduce HIV infection among adolescents.