1 in 22 blacks will get HIV, CDC report says

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2) ESCALATING HIV/AIDS RATE – By 2002, it was increasingly clear that HIV/AIDS was a dominant health threat to African Americans, especially to growing numbers of black women. Throughout the 2000s, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued statistics revealing HIV infection rates trending highest among African Americans. According to the Minority Nurse Newsletter (Fall 2003), African Americans accounted for half of all new reported HIV infections in 2001. Black women specifically accounted for almost 64 percent of all new infections among women in 2001. In 2004, according to the CDC, HIV infection was the leading cause of death for black women, ages 25-34. High contraction rates through heterosexual interaction among African American women pointed to bisexuality among African American men, helping fuel the down-low hysteria of seemingly “straight” African American men sleeping with both men and women. J.L. King’s 2004 memoir On the Down Low addressed this issue, even earning the author an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Organizations such as the L.A.-based Black AIDS Institute and The Balm in Gilead, which black churches, as well as books like Not in My Family, featuring HIV/AIDS-related essays from a cross-section of black America, and African American radio leaders like Radio One continue to raise awareness about the devastation of HIV/AIDS in the African American community.

ATLANTA (AP) — Health officials estimate that 1 in 22 black Americans will be diagnosed with the AIDS virus in their lifetime — more than twice the risk for Hispanics and eight times that of whites.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the numbers Thursday. The report says the lifetime risk is 1 in 52 for Hispanics, and 1 in 170 for whites.

Asian-Americans had the lowest lifetime risk, at about 1 in 222.

The data is not considered surprising. Earlier research has shown blacks, especially, have a high risk of HIV infection.

The estimates are based on 2007 death certificates, population figures and HIV surveillance data from 37 states and Puerto Rico. They update similar calculations reported two years ago.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.