Life
CDC reports HIV infections jump among young gay Black men
Stronger Focus Needed on Targeted HIV Prevention and Treatment Investments.
The number of new HIV infections in the United States has remained steady, at around 50,000 cases a year over the past four years, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The new data, published online Wednesday in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, show the largest increases were among bisexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM). Of that group, young, black men had what the agency called “alarming increases.”
“More than 30 years into the HIV epidemic, about 50,000 people in this country still become infected each year,” said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. “Not only do men who have sex with men continue to account for most new infections, young gay and bisexual men are the only group in which infections are increasing, and this increase is particularly concerning among young African American MSM.”
The data look at the period between 2006 and 2009. It’s the first time HIV incidence numbers were calculated using a lab test that distinguishes recent infections from existing infections. The CDC estimates that MSM make up 2% of the U.S. population but 61% of 2009’s new infections. Young men between the ages of 13 and 29 who had sex with men had the highest new infection rate/increase – more than a quarter of all new cases. The agency says while young MSM of all ethnic backgrounds have been hit hard, young blacks were the only group to see significant increases over the four-year period. Infection rates among this population jumped 48% during that time.
The reasons, according to the CDC, aren’t clear. It says individual risk behaviors alone do not account for the increase. It says black MSM tend to have fewer sexual partners, are less likely to do IV drugs and are no more likely to have anal intercourse than other gay men. But the data suggests a number of possibilities for these trends – that young black MSM often don’t know their HIV status, that the stigma of HIV and homosexuality in the black community can often impede the use of prevention services and that often there is limited access to health care services like testing and treatment in the black community.
