Race, Evolution, and Behavior

Sexual Potency, Hormones, and AIDS 179
that the virus had entered and spread disproportionately among the racial
groups. Because of political sensitivities, many African and Caribbean countries
report only a fraction of their actual number of AIDS cases and strenuously
deny that AIDS may have originated in Africa (Norman, 1985; Palca,
1991). Negroid countries, relative to others, have an enormous AIDS problem.
In some areas, 25 percent or more of the 20-40-year age group are infected
with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In African and Caribbean countries the AIDS virus is transmitted predominantly
through heterosexual intercourse (Figure 8.1). The age and sex distributions
of HIV infection rates is similar to that of other sexually transmitted
diseases with higher prevalence among younger sexually active women. At
the other extreme, it is a characteristic feature of AIDS in China and Japan
that most sufferers are hemophiliacs. An intermediate amount of HIV infection
is apparent in Europe and the Americas, where it has occurred predominantly
among homosexual men.
The pattern of whites intermediate to blacks and Orientals is also well documented
within the United States (Figure 8.2). As of July 1, 1988, blacks
amounted to 12 percent of the U.S. population and accounted for 26 percent
of adult and 53 percent of pediatric cases of AIDS. Whites amounted to
80 percent of the population and accounted for 59 percent of adult and 23
percent of child cases, with Hispanic populations intermediate. Oriental populations
did not exist in the figures, which included those from California and
Hawaii.
By April 1, 1990, the global figures had grown to 237,110 showing an 18month
doubling time and a crystallization of the racial pattern. I (Rushton
1990a) calculated the figures on a per capita basis to find that blacks in Caribbean
countries had developed as large an AIDS problem as had Africans and
African-Americans, a point ignored by most commentators. The three most
affected countries in the world were Bermuda, the Bahamas, and French
Guiana. Moreover, within the United States, blacks had increased their total
share of the figures from 26 to 27 percent, whites had decreased, and Orientals
remained at less than 1 percent.
/1 have collated the most recent data as of January 4, 1994 in Table 8.5
(World Health Organization, 1994). The official statistics show a cumulative
global total of 851,628 cases reported from 187 countries. The number of
cases per 1,000 population are computed to give an indication of the relative
seriousness of the epidemic between countries with different sizes of populations
after excluding countries reporting fewer than 200 cases. The population
size of the country is taken from estimates standardized for mid-1991 (United
Nations, 1992). On this measure Canada has a rate of .320 per 1,000 making it
the 33rd most affected country in the world. Of the other leading countries, 17
are in Africa, 10 are in the Caribbean, 4 are in Europe, and the other is the
United States.