US HIV Epidemic a Continuing Reality

While much of the media attention and funding focuses in the global pandemic—particularly on hardest hit sub-Saharan Africa–reality is that the US HIV epidemic is an ongoing reality.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1.1 million people in the US age 13 and older are living with HIV infection and almost 1 in 6 (15.8%) don’t know they are infected.  The US has about 50,000 new HIV infections per year.   Over the past decade the number of people living with HIV has increased while the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable at around 50,000.

Every 9.5 minutes someone in the US is diagnosed with HIV

HIV/AIDS is not evenly distributed across the US.   Generally HIV and AIDS are concentrated in urban areas.    In 2009, the number of adults and adolescents living with an HIV diagnosis was highest in the South.   In 2010, blacks accounted for the largest proportion of AIDS diagnoses in the South, Northeast and Midwest.

Men who have sex with men, particularly young African American men, are most seriously affected by HIV, accounting for 78% of new infections in 2010.

Hispanics/Latinos represent 16% of the population but accounted for 21% of new HIV infections in 2010.   In 2010 the rate of new HIV infections for Latino males was 2.9 times that for white males and the rate of infections for Latinas was 4.2 times that for white females.

African Americans continue to experience the most severe burden of HIV compared with other races and ethnicities, representing about 12% of the US population but accounting for 44% of new HIV infections in 2010.   Unless the course of the epidemic changes, at some point in their lifetime an estimated 1 in 16 black men and 1 in 32 black women will be diagnosed with HIV infection.

Note:   Statistics taken from www.aids.gov.