A new report of the AIDS epidemic produced by
researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed some
pessimistic results. The number of people infected each year with HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS, is now estimated to be 56,300 - 40 percent higher than
the previous estimate, according to the latest CDC results. The CDC spends
about $750 million a year on AIDS prevention. Dr. Kevin Fenton, who heads the
CDC's AIDS branch, said 15,000 to 18,000 Americans die every year of AIDS.
Infection rates haven’t exploded radically
since 1998. But rates are high for men who have sex with men. Dr. Julie
Gerberding, director of the CDC, told the New
York Times, "We are not effectively reaching men who have sex with men
and African-Americans to lower their risk."
More than a quarter of gay men in countries
like Jamaica, Kenya, and Ghana, are also infected, according to the United
Nations. The sad thing is that gay populations have been ignored due to
discrimination. It’s high time this stopped, Peter Piot, the executive director
of New York-based UNAIDS, the agency that coordinates care and research,
explained. “In many countries homosexual activity is against the law,” Piot
said in an interview at the meeting. “It is underground and impossible to
organize these programs.”
New blood tests are now able to tell when the
infection occured.
Globally, 33 million people are infected with
the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS and 2 million die of it each
year. In the U.S.A. however the rate of new HIV infections has declined about
80 percent at least for ntravenous drug users. The rates for the ones involved
in heterosexual activities are quite stable.
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