Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - December 2, 2004
Fred Tasker, ftasker@herald.com
New HIV diagnoses remained stable in the United States at about 40,000 a year between 2002 and 2003, but new data released Wednesday from 32 states hinted at a resurgence among men -- especially gay men.
"Actual diagnoses have changed little among females, while it's up 5 percent in males," Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, director of the HIV/AIDS prevention program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "The number of diagnoses among men who have sex with men increased 11 percent over the past four years."
Valdiserri cautioned that the study, which was conducted by the CDC, is imperfect because it includes only the 32 states that have conducted confidential, name-based HIV/AIDS case reporting for at least four years. They include Florida but not California or New York, and comprise only 49 percent of the nation's AIDS cases. California and New York will be added in the next two years.
"But," he added, "when you pair this with trends we released earlier this week in syphilis, which is up again for the third straight year after a decade of decline, we think it's a major problem."
Spikes in syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases are often precursors to increases in HIV cases because both result from risky sexual behavior, experts say.
"It's male-to-male sex in most cases," Valdiserri said. "We have numerous reports of increases in high-risk behavior in men who have sex with men."
Several studies at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in July said new anti-AIDS drugs have induced complacency among young men and led to increases in unprotected anal sex, drug use and multiple partners. The CDC report also indicated that sharp racial and ethnic disparities remain in HIV diagnoses.
"Of 125,800 newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases in these states from 2000 to 2003, 51 percent were among African Americans, even though they represent just 13 percent of the population in these 32 states," Valdiserri said.
White non-Hispanics, who make up 72 percent of the population, made up 32 percent of new diagnoses.
Hispanics, who make up 11 percent of the population, made up 15 percent of new diagnoses.
African-American men had the highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2003, at 103.4 per 100,000 population -- seven times that of white men, the report said. African-American women had a rate of 53 cases per 100,000 population -- 18 times the rate of white non-Hispanic women.
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