Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Monday August 30, 1999
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the poll of boys and men aged 15 to 22 found that 7 percent were infected with HIV and 3 percent became infected every year.
"Few of the HIV-positive men we found knew they were infected before we tested them, even though many had had an HIV test in the past year," Linda Valleroy of the CDC said at a National HIV Prevention Conference that brought an estimated 2,000 scientists to Atlanta.
"Unsafe sex was very prevalent. We found that 41 percent of the young men we sampled had had unprotected anal sex in the past six months. If not infected, they were likely to become so with these levels of unsafe sex," she said. Valleroy said HIV infection rates were "quite alarming" among blacks aged 15 to 22 and young men of mixed race.
"We found that 14 percent of the African-Americans were already infected, with four percent becoming newly infected each year. We found that 13 percent of the young men of mixed race were already infected, with five percent becoming infected each year," she said.
Researchers interviewed and tested a sample of 3,492 young men at street locations, social organizations and businesses in Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
"There is a critical need to reach young men who have sex with men, with early and sustained prevention efforts tailored to their specific needs," Valleroy said.
"We stress early because HIV incidence doubles between adolescence and the early 20s. We stress sustained because each year brings a new cohort of children entering adolescence and then young adulthood," she said.
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