H.I.V. Risk Greater for Young African Brides
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN

ATLANTA, Feb. 28 — Teenage brides in some African countries are becoming infected with the AIDS virus at higher rates than sexually active unmarried girls of similar ages in the same areas, the director of Unicef and other United Nations officials said here on Saturday.

The studies are the first to show such differences among married and unmarried young women, the officials said at the closing of a two-day international meeting on women and infectious diseases. The officials said the findings pointed to an inadequacy in programs that focus on abstinence among teenagers as a main means of preventing H.I.V. infection because they failed to take into account fully the risk of transmission in marriage.

The young brides are apparently acquiring H.I.V., the AIDS virus, from their husbands, who tend to be many years older and were infected before marriage, the officials said.

While many people around the world may conclude that being married and faithful protects them from exposure to AIDS, that is not necessarily true, said Dr. Paul DeLay, an official of the United Nations AIDS program. In many parts of the world, a married woman who is faithful runs the highest risk of exposure to the AIDS virus, he said, if she has "a philandering husband."