According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the good news remains shadowed, however, because of infection increases among women and among minority males.

While sharply declining gay-male infections remain numerically in the lead, heterosexual transmissions--including those in which there has been no drug use--are rising by comparative percentages at a greater rate.

In 1996, the incidence of HIV infections dropped among intravenous drug users and gay males. But among heterosexual men, there has been an 11 percent rise, while among women the recorded increase was seven percent.

"We've got a very serious situation in the United States," says Dr. Arthur Ammann, head of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR). "If you look at the problem in developing countries, it's more heterosexual spread, and rapidly increasing among women. We've got a developing-country situation right here in the United States."

African-American females, particularly, are experiencing infections at an alarming rate, nearly 15 times higher than that of white women. Most are poor and have little knowledge that they've been at risk. Having little opportunity to avail themselves of health care facilities, many discover that they are positive when, after becoming pregnant, HIV-tests are administered.

"The gay community has done a wonderful job of getting the message out," says Dr. Mary Young, a physician at Georgetown University, "But I don't know that we target young African-American women very well."

In the regions of the nation showing the most significant drops, the West (12%) led the way, while the South (1%) showed the least significant decline. The Northeast declined 8 percent, while the Midwest showed a 10% drop.

Currently 235,470 people are reported to be living with AIDS in the United States.

1996 statistics showed an enormous gap between types of cases reported, with heterosexual--male and female-- transmissions totalling 10,110 out of infections totalling approximately 56,730 new cases. The total figure is down from 1995 (60,620) by six percent.

The announcements affecting heterosexuals, according to James Loyce, chief executive officer if AIDS Project Los Angeles, are "a sober wake-up call to Americans that heterosexual AIDS is not a myth."