Health
Annual U.S. HIV infections higher than earlier estimates
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 25, 2008
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Aug. 3 that about 56,300 people in the United States become infected with the AIDS virus each year. The agency previously had put the number at about 40,000 new HIV infections each year.
The increase is due to a more precise method for estimating annual HIV incidence, said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. "These data, which are based on new laboratory technology developed by the CDC, provide the clearest picture to date of the U.S. HIV epidemic, and unfortunately we are far from wining the battle against this preventable disease," Dr. Gerberding said.
The new estimate was published in a special HIV/AIDS issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association released at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.
A separate analysis suggested that the number of new infections was likely never as low as the previous estimation of 40,000 and has been roughly stable overall since the late 1990s.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/08/25/hlbf0825.htm.
