25 years After the First Report of AIDS, CDC Reports Rise in Communities of Color

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September 15, 7:01 PM

by Angela Spears, Health Examiner

 

 

Living with AIDS.  A former English teacher and contractor. 

CDC has created an HIV incidence surveillance system in selected areas of the United States as a component of its national human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) reporting system. The new system has the ability to distinguish recent from long-standing HIV infection and estimate the number of new HIV infections occurring each year in the United States. CDC conducted a detailed analysis of data from the new surveillance system.

The results indicated that, in 2006, of new HIV infections among males, 72% were in MSM. Among MSM with new infections, 46% were white, 35% were black, and 19% were Hispanic. Among MSM aged 13--29 years, the number of new HIV infections in blacks (5,220) was 1.6 times the number in whites (3,330) and 2.3 times the number in Hispanics (2,300). Among females, the predominant HIV transmission category was high-risk heterosexual contact, which accounted for 80% of new infections. The new incidence data will help guide local, state, and national intervention measures tailored to those populations at greatest risk for HIV infection.

The distribution of new HIV infections in 2006 demonstrates that, more than 25 years after the first report of AIDS, the disease continues to affect the MSM population more than any other in the United States. Although MSM represented the most new infections in the white, black, and Hispanic populations, the age distribution of persons with new infections suggests important differences by race and ethnicity. Among black and Hispanic MSM, most new infections were in persons aged 13--29, whereas, among white MSM, most new infections were in persons aged 30--39 years. 

 

 Graph courtesy of the CDC.

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