Report: Women Are New Face of AIDS

June 12, 2005 — -- The new face of the AIDS virus is the heterosexual female in a long-term relationship, according to a report from Science magazine.

The number of women infected with the AIDS virus in the United States has increased 15 percent between 1999 and 2003, compared with an increase of only 1 percent among men, lead researcher Thomas C. Quinn of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases wrote. This mirrors the trend globally, where women represent nearly half of the 40 million people living with HIV.

It's not because more women are engaging in unprotected casual sex, Lori Heise of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS told ABC News' "Good Morning America."

"That's the biggest myth out there right now," said Heise. "Most women are getting infected in long-term relationships."

One of the reasons women are fast becoming the largest segment of the AIDS population is because, although most women are willing to take precautions against sexually transmitted diseases in new relationships, they become less cautious as the relationship evolves, according to Heise.

"While people are willing to use condoms with new relationships, as soon as trust comes into the relationship, the condom comes off," said Heise.

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Women's physical and emotional vulnerabilities in sexual situations also are contributing to this growing trend.

"Women are more physically vulnerable to AIDS than men, especially young women," said Heise.

After a single sexual encounter, a young women is twice as likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease than a man, according to Heise.

Part of Heise's work focuses on helping women develop alternative tools to protect themselves against the AIDS virus in long-term relationships; including how to handle a man's control over the male condom.

"That's the Achilles' heel of the epidemic for women, because that's exactly where women want and do feel safe and don't actually think about protecting themselves -- which is why I think one of the things we need to do is develop new tools that womencan use successfully in long-term partnerships," Heise said.