A new study revealed the general HIV diagnosis rate in the United States has dropped by more than 30 percent since 2002, despite a drastic increase in the diagnosis rate of young men who have sex with other men.
Anna Satcher Johnson, lead researcher of the study and epidemiologist at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and her colleagues reviewed the data of HIV diagnoses from 2002-2011 involving participants that were 13 years old and above during the start of the study. The data were collected from every state in America.
Analysts found that during the nine-year study period, there were 493,372 people diagnosed with HIV - a rate that showed a decrease by 33 percent, or 24.1 per 100,000 to 16.1, in 2011.
An improvement was seen in almost all demographics, especially for women and those aged between 35-44, as well as men from the same age group. But the HIV diagnosis for those who had male-to-male sexual intercourse in the age groups of 13-24 and 45 above increased. Officials saw a drastic climb of 132.5 percent in younger males.
"Among men who have sex with men, unprotected risk behaviors in the presence of high prevalence and unsuppressed viral load may continue to drive HIV transmission. Disparities in rates of HIV among young men who have sex with men present prevention challenges and warrant expanded efforts," the authors wrote.
Researchers believed that the alarming increase of HIV diagnosis rate for younger men was due to negligence, as younger people tend to hold off on getting tested. The findings of the study can be used to improve awareness concerning HIV, developing prevention programs, and testing initiatives.
The study was published in the July 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and presented during the International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia.
