30 Years Later: AIDS Still Impacts Homosexuals Most

  Thirty years after the US Govt. first began taking aggressive steps to impact the AIDS virus, very little has changed in the demographics of who is impacted. Here's a study by the Center For Disease Control..

  Annual HIV infections and diagnoses are declining in the United States. The declines may be due to targeted HIV prevention efforts. However, progress has been uneven, and annual infections and diagnoses have increased among some groups.

HIV Infections

There were an estimated 37,600 new HIV infections in 2014. Among all populations in the United States, the estimated number of annual infections declined 10% from 2010 (41,900) to 2014 (37,600).

HIV Diagnoses

In 2016, 39,782 people received an HIV diagnosis. The annual number of HIV diagnoses declined 5% between 2011 and 2015.

Source: Singh S et al. (CDC). HIV incidence, prevalence, and undiagnosed infections in men who have sex with men. Presentation at Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, 2017, Seattle, WA.
* Includes infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use.

Estimated New HIV Infections in the United States by Transmission Category, 2014

This info was compiled by the Center For Disease Control.

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  Gay and bisexual men are the population most affected by HIV. 
  In 2016:

• Gay and bisexual men accounted for 67% (26,570) of all HIV diagnoses and 83% of diagnoses among males.
• Black/African Americand gay and bisexual men accounted for the largest number of HIV diagnoses (10,223), followed by Hispanic/Latinoe (7,425) and white (7,390) gay and bisexual men.

  Trends among gay and bisexual men have varied by race. From 2011 to 2015:

• Among white gay and bisexual men, diagnoses decreased 10%.
• Among African American gay and bisexual men, diagnoses increased 4%.
• After years of sharp increases, diagnoses among young African American gay and bisexual men (aged 13 to 24) stayed about the same.
• Among Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men, diagnoses increased 14%.

 

•   Heterosexuals and people who inject drugs(PWID) also continue to be affected by HIV. In 2016:

 

• Heterosexual contact accounted for 24% (9,578) of HIV diagnoses.
• Women accounted for 19% (7,529) of HIV diagnoses (primarily attributed to heterosexual contact [87%, or 6,541] or injection drug use [12%, or 939]).
• PWID accounted for 9% (3,425) of HIV diagnoses (includes 1,201 diagnoses among gay and bisexual men who inject drugs).

From 2011 to 2015:

• Diagnoses among all women declined 16%.
• Among all heterosexuals, diagnoses declined 15%, and among PWID, diagnoses declined 17%.

 By race/ethnicity, African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are disproportionately affected by HIV.

In 2016:

• African Americans represented 12% of the population, but accounted for 44% (17,528) of HIV diagnoses. African Americans have the highest rate of HIV diagnoses compared to other races and ethnicities.
• Hispanics/Latinos represented 18% of the population, but accounted for 25% (9,766) of HIV diagnoses.
• HIV diagnoses are not evenly distributed geographically. The population rates (per 100,000 people) of people who received an HIV diagnosis were highest in the South (16.8), followed by the Northeast (11.2), the West (10.2), and the Midwest (7.5).

Living With HIV

  An estimated 1,122,900 adults and adolescents were living with HIV at the end of 2015. Of those, 162,500 (15%) had not received a diagnosis.
  Young people were the most likely to be unaware of their infection. Among people aged 13-24 who were living with HIV, an estimated 44% didn’t know.
  In 2014, among all adults and adolescents living with HIV (diagnosed or undiagnosed),

• 62% received some HIV medical care,
• 48% were retained in continuous HIV care, and
• 49% had achieved viral suppression (having a very low level of the virus).

  A person living with HIV who takes HIV medicine as prescribed and gets and stays virally suppressed can stay healthy and has effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to HIV-negative partners.

AIDS Diagnoses and Deaths
  In 2016, 18,160 people received an AIDS diagnosis. Since the epidemic began in the early 1980s, 1,232,346 people have received an AIDS diagnosis.
  In 2014, 6,721 deaths were attributed directly to HIV.

Estimated New HIV Infections in the United States by Transmission Category, 2014

New HIV Diagnoses in the United States for the Most-Affected Subpopulations, 2016