The diffusion of HIV/AIDS and HIV infection in an archetypal textile county

This study examines the geographical diffusion of the annual reporting of both newly diagnosed cases of HIV-AIDS and HIV-positive persons in a textile manufacturing county that typifies the “mill culture” of the American South. Nearest-neighbor analysis helps in identifying clusters of cases over time. As the HIV-AIDS epidemic progresses from the late 1980s into the 1990s, newly identified clusters of cases increasingly converge closer together. We also identify clusters of reported HIV-positive persons with the realization that the information is under-representative of the population not clients of public health facilities. The relative risk to African-Americans is much higher than other groups in spite of lower proportion than found in large metropolitan areas. The risk to females also continues to grow, especially for African-Americans. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.