The latest on HIV diagnoses.

The 33 states that had name-based HIV surveillance systems in 2001-2004 reported more than 150,000 HIV diagnoses to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during that period. (1) Seven in 10 infected persons were male, the majority of whom (61%) acquired the virus through sexual contact with other men; among women, the most common route of infection was high-risk sexual contact (accounting for 76% of diagnoses). Overall, 51% of infections were among blacks; the proportion was even higher among women (68%). Although the rate of diagnosis among blacks declined by an average of 5% annually between 2001 and 2004, the 2004 rate (76 diagnoses per 100,000 population) was nearly four times the overall average and more than eight times the rate among whites. Eighteen percent of infections were among Hispanics; the infection rate for this group was somewhat above average and showed no significant change over the period. Although the data are not nationally representative, they demonstrate that "the epidemic has continued to concentrate in groups that traditionally have had limited access to prevention services, medical care, and effective therapies."

(1.) Espinoza L, Hall HI and Campsmith ML, Trends in HIV/AIDS diagnoses--33 states, 2001-2004, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2005, 54(45): 1149-1153, <http:// www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmw/ html.mm5445a1.htm>, accessed Jan. 6, 2006