Choose the best meaning for the word underlined in the following sentence:
The incidence of new HIV infections has dropped in the past decade due to increased awareness of how to mitigate the transmission of the disease.

Incidence means occurrence and is the correct answer.
People with obesity tend to have a high incidence of sleep apnea.
Virulence refers to how harmful or severe a disease is. Although this word would seem to fit given the context clues, the word “incidence” is best defined as an occurrence, so it is still our best answer.
Ebola is a disease with high virulence. It can take over a host with infection extremely quickly.
Ubiquity means that something is very common or appearing everywhere.
Smartphones have become ubiquitous because they are so common in society now.
A symptom is an indication of a problem.
Sneezing is a symptom of the common cold.