The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published new findings last week that shows the incidence of new HIV infections in the United States in 2006 was roughly 40 percent higher than had been estimated.
According to the report published in the Journal of American Medicine Association (JAMA), the incidence rate for 2006 was approximately 56,300-substantially higher than the previous estimate of 40,000 annual new infections.
Current CDC estimates place the number of Americans are living
with the AIDS virus at around 1.1 million. Although logic predicts this number to actually be 1.54 million, given the new findings, CDC don't think it will change dramatically. The plan to update the estimate shortly.
The CDC states that these numbers do not reflect an actual increase in the numbers of HIV infections, but that new technology and methodology they developed gave them more accurate numbers. In fact, a CDC historical trend analysis published as part of this report suggests that the number of new infections has actually been stable since the late 1990s, with estimates ranging between 55,000 and 58,500 during the three most recent time periods analyzed.
The estimates show that gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities still comprise a majority of the new HIV infections at 53 percent of all cases, with an additional 4 percent attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use. Disturbingly, the rate among this demographic has been steadily rising since the early 1990's. Prior data reported increases in high risk behavior, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men, and this report confirms that information.
When the data is analyzed by ethnic group, black Americans account for 45 percent of the new HIV infections in 2006, yet only comprise 13 percent of the US population. Further analysis finds that new infections among blacks are at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group, but they have been roughly stable since the early 1990s, a small victory if you are looking for some optimism in this report.
No matter how you break down the numbers, the news is not good. This study is a stark reminder that the AIDS epidemic is far from over, even though new drugs have been proven to make HIV/AIDS more of a chronic condition than the death sentence it once was.
Individuals who wish to engage in high-risk activity (keep in mind that 31percent of new cases resulted from heterosexual contact and 12percent from injection drug use) must take more precautions to protect themselves and get tested regularly. The CDC has a special website (www.hivtest.org) that allows you to search for HIV testing sites in your zip code. Don't wait; get tested today.
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