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HIV incidence on the rise among young black MSM in US
Prejean J. PLoS ONE. 2011;6:e17502.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017502.
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Despite overall stability in HIV incidence in the United States between 2006 and 2009, the incidence increased by 48% among young black men who have sex with men, according to new data from CDC researchers.
“New national data on HIV infections show overall stability in recent years, but stability is not acceptable,” Joseph Prejean, PhD, of the division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, told Infectious Disease News. “The headlines may have disappeared, but HIV hasn’t disappeared for gay and bisexual men and the sharply rising infections among young, black gay and bisexual men are particularly alarming.”
CDC officials updated the estimated HIV incidence in the United States in 2006 and developed additional HIV incidence estimates for 2007 through 2009 with the use of surveillance data from 16 states and two cities.
Compared with 48,600 new HIV infections in 2006 (95% CI, 42,400–54,700), there were 56,000 new infections in 2007 (95% CI, 49,100–62,900), 47,800 in 2008 (95% CI, 41,800–53,800) and 48,100 (95% CI, 42,200–54,000) in 2009.
Although researchers did not observe a significant increase in overall HIV incidence between 2006 and 2009, they documented a 21% (95% CI, 1.9–39.8) increase in incidence among those aged 13 to 29 years. Specifically, they observed a 34% (95% CI, 8.4–60.4) increase in young MSM overall, and a 48% increase among young black MSM (95% CI, 12.3–83).
In 2009, MSM accounted for 61% of new infections. This was followed by 27% heterosexual contact and 9% injection drug use.
“For [black] and [Hispanic] communities, HIV remains one of the most glaring health disparities,” Prejean said. “The National HIV/AIDS Strategy and CDC’s new strategic approach will help increase the impact of the nation’s prevention efforts. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy directs the nation’s efforts toward the very challenges revealed by these data.”
“With the continued growth in the number of people living with HIV due to effective treatment, it will make it increasingly difficult to reduce new HIV infections — put simply, the more people living with HIV means the greater potential to transmit the virus to others,” he said. “Continuing to add tens of thousands of people infected with HIV to the mix each year could soon lead to increases in new infections and massive new costs to the nation’s health care system.” – by Ashley DeNyse
Disclosure: The CDC provides funding to state and local health departments to conduct surveillance of HIV disease in accordance with their own disease reporting regulations.
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