More Americans Are Infected with AIDS Than Previously Thought

A recently revised report regarding AIDS statistics in the US has raised the transmission rate of the HIV virus to an alarming 40 percent higher than previously thought. Before the study was revised, it was believed that 40,000 new cases of the infection were reported each year. Since the revision, those numbers have increased to a staggering 56,000 new cases reported each year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated that there is no new epidemic of the disease on the rise. The change in results comes from a new way of analyzing and reporting data. Worldwide, some 30 million people are infected with the disease and two million succumb to AIDS related complications each year. The US portion of those statistics stands at one million people being infected with the virus and 15,000 to 18,000 AIDS related deaths each year. The five states reporting the highest number of AIDS infections, from highest to lowest, were: New York, Florida, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

The CDC reports that 28,000 - or 53 percent of new infections each year in the US are among men who have sexual contact with men while 17,000 new infections are contributed to the heterosexual sector of society, with 15,000 of those being women. African Americans seem to be particularly susceptible to the transmission of the virus, with an incident rate an estimated seven times greater than the incident rate among whites. In 2004, AIDS was the number one cause of deaths for African American females between the ages of 25 and 34.

Recent studies indicate the high numbers of new infections among gay and bisexual men stem from riskier sexual behavior, compounded by the illusion on the scientific front that AIDS is treatable. The CDC warns that AIDS remains an incurable disease and that patients often times do not respond to or tolerate the treatments very well. Heterosexual people with high-risk sexual behaviors also contributed to the numbers, as did IV drug users. The Internet has been cited as a reason for the increase in risky sexual behaviors from both sectors of the population, acting as a venue for like minded and oblivious people to connect and engage in those behaviors without being sure of each other's HIV status.

Perhaps what's most disturbing in these findings is the number of people who aren't even aware they are infected with the virus and unknowingly pass it on to others. Of the estimated one million present cases of AIDS in the US today, 25 percent of those aren't even aware they are infected. Since these are only estimates, the number of people unknowingly endangering the lives of the masses could be much, much higher. AIDS activists insist that a vaccination is essential to preventing the spread of the disease. However - education, fidelity, regular testing, refraining from IV drug use, and using condoms are all key in ending the epidemic.

Arguably, the most tragic part of the AIDS epidemic is the number of lives that might have been spared by a thin layer of latex.