- UNITED NATIONS -- The number
of new HIV diagnoses in 29 US states has risen by more than 5 per cent
over the past four years, a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has revealed. It also warned that a quarter of Americans
living with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, may not be aware of the fact.
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- According to a study released ahead of World Aids Day,
the CDC said the increases marked an "upturn from the previous downward
trend in US infections", and underscored an urgent need for action.
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- Global attention has recently focused upon the crisis
in Africa and the spread of Aids in parts of Asia and eastern Europe.
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- The study said black Americans accounted for more than
half of 102,590 people diagnosed with HIV in 29 states between 1999 and
2002. The rate of Aids cases for blacks was 10 times greater than that
among whites, and three times greater than that among Latinos.
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- But the study also showed "significant" increases
in new HIV diagnoses among Latinos (26 per cent) and non-Hispanic whites
(8 per cent). Diagnoses also increased by 17 per cent among gay and bisexual
men, and by 7 per cent among men overall.
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- The data coincided with recent outbreaks of syphilis
in several metropolitan areas, which were "believed to signal increasing
levels of unprotected sex among gay and bisexual men".
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- The CDC said increasingly risky behavior could reflect
a belief that HIV was no longer a deadly disease, because of treatment
improvements. It could also underline difficulties in maintaining safer
behaviors for an extended period, the CDC said.
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- "These new findings strongly support three key realities,"
said Dr Julie Gerberding, CDC director. "The HIV epidemic in this
country is not over; more often than not the face of HIV in this country
is black or Latino; and gay and bisexual men in several communities are
facing a possible resurgence of HIV infection.
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- "Fighting HIV in America is as urgent as it was
more than two decades ago when the epidemic began."
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- The study is based on reported new HIV diagnoses - when
an individual learns of his or her infection, and not necessarily when
that person became infected. But the study's authors believe that the data
"likely represents actual new infections and not a greater amount
of testing".
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- The CDC estimates that between 850,000 and 950,000 Americans
are now living with HIV: the largest number since the epidemic began more
than two decades ago. It is also estimates that one fourth of the people
living with HIV - approximately 180,000 to 280,000 people - remain unaware
of their infections. An estimated 40,000 new HIV infections occur in the
US each year.
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- "It's clear that we still face enormous challenges
in continuing to confront the AIDS epidemic," said Dr Harold Jaffe,
director of CDC's HIV prevention programmes.
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- © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.
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