In the United States, HIV infection and AIDS have had a tremendous
effect on men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM accounted for 71% of all
HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005 (based on data
from 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting),
even though only about 5% to 7% of male adults and adolescents in the
United States identify themselves as MSM.
At the end of 2005, an estimated 432,325 adults and adolescents were
living with AIDS; of these, 77% were males and 23% were females. Of AIDS
cases diagnosed in 2005 among male adults and adolescents, 58% were
attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and 18% were attributed to
injection drug use. MSM continue to bear a disproportionate burden of
HIV-infection and AIDS.
Blacks had the highest AIDS rate in 2005 with 54.1 cases per 100,000
people, 9.1 times the rate for whites, and accounted for 48% of
estimated cases among adults and adolescents diagnosed with AIDS in 50
states and the District of Columbia. For female adults and adolescents,
in 2005 the AIDS diagnosis rate (AIDS cases per 100,000) for
non-Hispanic blacks (45.5) was nearly 23 times higher than that for
non-Hispanic whites (2.0).
The estimated number of AIDS cases diagnosed among females in 2005 was
similar for Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, but the rate for
Hispanics (11.2) was more than 5 times higher than for non-Hispanic
whites.
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