According to new data released by Washington, D.C., HIV/AIDS Administration blacks make up a large percentage of HIV/AIDS cases in the city, the Washington Post reports. The report, which is the first update on HIV/AIDS in the district since 2000, is a statistical analysis and not an estimate of HIV prevalence in the district, according to the Post.
More than 80% of the HIV cases diagnosed in the district between 2001 and 2006 were among black men, women and adolescents, the report found. Nine in 10 women who tested positive for HIV were black, according to the report.In addition, about 37% of HIV cases were transmitted through heterosexual contact, compared with 25% that were transmitted among men who have sex with men, the report said.
According to the report, almost 12,500 district residents were known to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2006. The number of HIV cases in the district began declining in 2003, but the decrease likely is the result of underreporting or delayed reporting, the report said.
One in 20 district residents is HIV-positive and one in 50 is living with AIDS, according to Shannon Hader, head of the HIV/AIDS Administration. The city's cumulative number of AIDS cases is more than 17,400, according to the Post.
More than two-thirds of AIDS cases in the district during the past 10 years were among people who progressed to AIDS within one year of being diagnosed with HIV, compared with 39% of AIDS cases nationwide, the report found.
The report also found that more people ages 40 to 49 were being diagnosed with HIV than any other age group. In addition, all of the 36 children in the district who tested positive for HIV since 2002 contracted the virus during birth.
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Source-Kaiser Family Foundation
LIN/P
