[Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in a rural milieu. Case of Dabou and its surroundings].

In the beginning, the rural zones had been considered as exempt from penetration by the HIV. During the early to the mid 1980's, AIDS prevalence rates ranged from 1 to 7% in this rural area. The study of prevalence rates in the coastal region of the Ivory Coast shows an epidemic of catastrophic proportions developing at an alarming rate. Rates of over 15% (up to 21.9%) have been found. All of which demand the maintenance and further development of appropriate social and sanitary infrastructures able to match the needs of a rural population who from now on are faced at the edge of a human holocaust attributable to the AIDS virus.