Young black gay men appear to be the hardest hit population when it comes to AIDS in the United States being followed by white gay men in their 30’s and 40’s, Hispanic gays and black women, the latest federal report on the subject published in the Sept. 12 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reveals.

Last month, during the 17th International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City, scientists all over the world stressed the idea that AIDS remains largely a disease of gay and bisexual men. The biggest percentage (46%) of HIV/AIDS infections in 2007 in US has been reported among men with homosexual orientation. Black Americans are seven times more likely to be infected than whites. Afro-Americans are the most exposed male human beings to HIV infection (annual rate of change 14.9 percent), followed by Caucasians (9.4 percent annual increase) and Hispanics (7.9 percent).

The new report made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based on data collected in 2006 in 22 US states, appear to reach to the same results made public last month. Overall, “the male-to-male sexual contact transmission category represented 72 percent of new infections among males, including 81 percent of new infections among whites, 63 percent among blacks and 72 percent among Hispanics,” the report said.

But the incidence of HIV infections among black males aged 13 to 29 was “alarming,” as they were 1.6 more likely than whites and 2.3 more likely than Hispanics to contract the virus, according to the findings.

“The number of new HIV infections among young black men who have sex with men is alarming,” Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention said during a teleconference.

The report found that 48 percent of new infections among black men were among those aged 13 to 29 compared with 31 percent for whites and 21 percent for Hispanics.

Also, the report found that black women bear the heaviest burden of HIV infections. More exactly, the incidence of HIV among them was 14.7 times higher than for white women, while the incidence of HIV among Hispanics was 3.8 times higher than that for white women.

The researchers however couldn’t give a clear explanation for this high rate of infection among young black men.

“A range of issued contributes to disproportionate HIV risk for African-Americans, such as poverty, stigma, lack of access to health care, and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases. Black women face additional challenges such as power imbalances in sexual relationships with men. This may affect their ability to protect themselves by measures such as using condoms,” Richard Wolitski, PhD, acting director of the CDC’s division of HIV/AIDS prevention, said.

In order to stop HIV from spreading, Fenton said there is tremendous need for programs reaching each new generation early in their lives in order to teach them how to prevent HIV spreading and also “strategies for keeping (older gay men) HIV-free for life.”

About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, according to the revised estimate of HIV’s toll in the United States. CDS’s estimates reveal that the HIV epidemic is worse than previously known. The number of new infections is 40 percent higher than earlier projections.