Today is World AIDS Day

AIDS.gov reports: The first cases of what would later become known as AIDS were reported in the United States in June of 1981. Since then, 1.7 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have been infected with HIV, including over 615,000 who have already died and more than 1.1 million estimated to be living with the disease today.

Every 9½ minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV. The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic spans the nation with HIV diagnoses having been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. dependencies, possessions, and associated nations.

HIV in the United States: Fast Facts

• More than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S.
• One in five living with HIV is unaware of their infection.
• MSM of all races remain the group most severely affected by HIV.
• By race, African Americans face the most severe HIV burden.

CDC estimates that more than one million people are living with HIV in the United States (U.S.). One in five (21%) of those people living with HIV is unaware of their infection.

Despite increases in the total number of people living with HIV in the U.S. in recent years, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. However, new infections continue at far too high a level, with an estimated 56,300 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.

More than 17,000 people with AIDS still die each year in the U.S. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) 1 are strongly affected and represent the majority of persons who have died. Through 2008, more than 617,000 people with AIDS in the U.S. have died since the epidemic began.

HIV/AIDS among the Queer community:

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) of all races remain the population most severely affected by HIV.

• MSM account for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the U.S. each year, as well as nearly half (48%) of people living with HIV.
• While CDC estimates that MSM account for just 4% of the U.S. male population aged 13 and older, the rate of new HIV diagnoses among MSM in the U.S. is more than 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women.
• White MSM account for the largest number of annual new HIV infections of any group in the U.S., followed closely by black MSM.
• MSM is the only risk group in the U.S. in which new HIV infections have been increasing since the early 1990s.

HIV among Latinos from the CDC:

In 2009, Latino men accounted for 79% (7,400) of new infections among all Latinos. The rate of new infections among Latino men was two and a half times as high as that of white men (39.9/100,000 vs. 15.9/100,000).

In 2009, Latino men who have sex with men (MSM)3 accounted for 81% (6,000) of new HIV infections among all Latino men and 20% among all MSM. Among Latino MSM, 45% of new HIV infections occurred in those under age 30.

While Latina women accounted for 21% (2,000) of new infections among Latinos in 2009, their rate of HIV infection was more than four times that of white women (11.8/100,000 vs. 2.6/100,000).

Other AIDS-related headlines:

--> Obama announcing new steps to combat AIDS:

President Barack Obama is renewing the U.S. commitment to ending HIV and AIDS on Thursday, setting goals for getting more people access to life-saving AIDS drugs and boosting spending on treatment of the virus in the U.S. by $50 million dollars.

Senior Obama administration officials said the president will set a goal of getting antiretroviral drugs to 2 million more people around the world by the end of 2013. In addition, the U.S. will aim to get the drugs to 1.5 million HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent them from passing the virus to their children.

Obama will announce the new initiatives at an event in Washington marking World AIDS Day. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will also speak at the event via satellite. (Via AP)

--> Complacency in US a major barrier to the end of AIDS:

The Kaiser Family Foundation, in a survey released in June, found a "declining sense of national urgency and visibility of HIV/AIDS." It ranked seventh among national health concerns, after cancer, obesity, the uninsured, heart disease, health care costs and diabetes.(Via USA Today)