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 Across the country, new diagnoses of HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS, fell by about 20 percent between 2005 and 2014. But the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says gay and
bisexual men and people living in the South didn't see the same
benefit.
"There is uneven progress and ongoing severe disparities," said Dr.
Jonathan Mermin, who is director of the National Center for
HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the CDC in
Atlanta.
For example, he told Reuters Health by phone, in 2014, about 70
percent of new diagnoses of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus,
were among men who have sex with men - including those who inject
drugs.
Over the last decade, new HIV infections increased by 24 percent
among Latino gay and bisexual men but fell by 18 percent among their
white counterparts.
Diagnoses also rose by 22 percent among black gay and bisexual men
but leveled off since 2010. Younger black gay and bisexual males,
ages 13 to 24, had an 87 percent increase in new HIV infections, but
that too leveled off and even declined slightly after 2010.
Southern U.S. states, home to a third of the country's population,
accounted for 44 percent of its HIV-infected individuals in 2012.
And HIV patients in those states died at three times the rate of
people living with HIV in other parts of the country.
"We’ve shown great differences among states, especially in the
South, where they are years behind the rest of the U.S. in providing
key preventive services," Mermin said. "That manifests itself in
different health outcomes."
People in Southern states also tended to be less likely to know
their HIV status, according to the report, which was released Sunday
at the beginning of the National HIV Prevention Conference in
Atlanta.
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Jennifer Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the
Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, D.C., told Reuters Health
it's important for people to know if they're infected, because they
can protect their own health and that of others by getting treatment
quickly.
"As soon as someone is HIV positive they should get on
antiretroviral therapy right away," said Kates, who wasn't involved
with the new report.
She said people in the south face a "perfect storm" of problems with
healthcare access and broader socioeconomic issues, including stigma
and discrimination, poverty, lower education levels, greater numbers
of uninsured, and higher rates of non-HIV sexually transmitted
infections.
"These data tell us there is hope for making a bigger difference in
the epidemic, but we need to provide access and treatment to those
who remain at greatest risk," Mermin said.
SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/1N5ntrL CDC, online December 6, 2015.
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