HIV/AIDS: New Numbers Released

The CDC now estimates the new HIV infection rate is about 56,000 people a year, up 16,000 from the 40,000 that has been estimated for years.

Ouch.

New technology and methodology developed by CDC show that the incidence of HIV in the United States is higher than was previously known. However, the incidence has been stable at that higher level for most of this decade. HIV incidence is the number of new HIV infections occurring during a certain time period, in this case, the year 2006.

These findings, published by in a special HIV/AIDS issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that was released August 3, 2008, show that in 2006, an estimated 56,300 new HIV infections occurred – a number that is substantially higher than the previous estimate of 40,000 annual new infections. It should be noted that the new incidence estimate does not represent an actual increase in the numbers of HIV infections. Rather, a separate CDC historical trend analysis published as part of this study suggests that the annual number of new infections was never as low as 40,000 and that it has been roughly stable since the late 1990s (with estimates ranging between 55,000 and 58,500 during the three most recent time periods analyzed).

(from the CDC announcement)

And the breakdown by risk factor:

Thanks to the LifeLube blog for the heads up -- and don't forget to read the excellent press release the AIDS Foundation of Chicago put out.