INTRODUCTION: Person-to-person transmission of HIV and other communicable diseases may be associated with human geographic mobility. This article evaluated the incidence of transmissible opportunistic diseases among AIDS cases that had been reported by municipalities in the Brazilian border area. METHODS: Brazilian border area municipalities were grouped into three cultural regions; the source data was AIDS cases registered with the Ministry of Health from 1990 to 2003, which were classified according to CDC-adapted, Rio de Janeiro/Caracas and death criteria; detected communicable opportunistic diseases were categorized into groups according to transmission: 1) inhalation agent; 2) contaminated water and/or food ingestion, and 3) interpersonal contact. The descriptive evaluation considered cultural region, years of schooling, sex and age group. RESULTS: Different AIDS incidence patterns were observed among groups of opportunistic diseases in each cultural region. The extreme southern region showed the greatest incidence of AIDS; the absolute incidence of female cases was greatest in the category of heterosexual transmission; the number of male cases was greatest among intravenous drug users; transmission was most frequent in the interpersonal contact group, particularly incidences of candidiasis; tuberculoses and pneumonias were most frequent in the inhalation agent transmission group; the contaminated water/food ingestion transmission group showed an unchanged pattern of absolute incidence. CONCLUSIONS: The Brazilian border area is a very important and heterogeneous geographic phenomenon; AIDS programs must recognize different cultural geographies.
AIDS; Brazilian border area; Opportunistic diseases; Geography of hunger
