HIV and AIDS in America: A Snapshot

Thanks to Tom for sending along this story from The Body which gives a chilling snapshot of the impact HIV and AIDS continue to have in America:

• More than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S. (an estimated 1,106,400 adults and adolescents), and approximately one in five of those (21 percent) are unaware of their infections.
• An estimated 56,300 Americans become infected each year. On average, that's one infection every 9 ½ minutes.
• More than 14,000 people with AIDS still die each year in the U.S.
• Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for more than half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. each year (53 percent), as well as nearly half of people living with HIV (48 percent).
• While new HIV infections have declined among both heterosexuals and injection drug users, infections among MSM have been steadily increasing since the early 1990s.
• Among racial/ethnic groups, African-Americans face the most severe burden of HIV and AIDS in the nation. While blacks represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for almost half of people living with HIV in the U.S. (46 percent), as well as nearly half of new infections each year (45 percent).
• At some point in their life, approximately one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV, as will one in 30 black women. The rate of new HIV infections for black men is about six times as high as that of white men, nearly three times that of Hispanic men, and more than twice that of black women. The HIV incidence rate for black women is nearly 15 times as high as that of white women, and nearly four times that of Hispanic women.
• Hispanics represent 15 percent of the population but account for an estimated 18 percent of people living with HIV and 17 percent of new infections. The rate of new HIV infections among Hispanic men is more than double that of white men, and the rate among Hispanic women is nearly four times that of white women.