Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was diagnosed in the United States in the late 1970s. Since then, AIDS has killed more than 204,000 Americans - half of that number in the past few years alone. Another 185,000 of the 1 million infected with the HIV virus are expected to die within the next year. Nearly half of those diagnosed with the virus are blacks and Latinos. Women and youth in rural southern communities now constitute the fastest growing segment of people with AIDS. Despite such alarming numbers, the federal and state governments have been slow in implementing programs to stop the spread of AIDS.