34. Maayan, S., Shinar, E., Aefani, M., Soughayer, M., El Khoudary, R., Rahav, G., and Manny, G. HIV/AIDS among Palestinian Arabs. Israel Journal of Medical Sciences 1993; 29 (supplement): 7-10.

Twenty-four HIV-positive Palestinians who presented for medical care in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip between 1987 and 1992 were studied. Risk groups were known for 79% of the individuals: 11/24 were expatriates, 4/24 were heterosexuals, 5/24 were transfusion recipients, and 6/24 were homosexual. While few Palestinians were infected more were inflicted with stage 4 symptomatic disease (8/17 or 47%) than were Israelis (24/91 or 26%). The incidence rate of HIV among 50,000 Palestinian blood donors between 1987 and 1992 was also studied. Only three (0.006%) were found to be infected. The authors point to the data as being incomplete because the blood donor population was relatively small so it might not be representative of the general Palestinian population. Also, screening results were not uniformly reported by most Palestinian blood banks.