Burden of HIV highest for blacks, CDC reports - USATODAY.com: Although blacks make up only 13.6% of the U.S. population, they account for 50.3% of all diagnosed cases of HIV, federal health officials reported.
The rate of HIV diagnosis among black men is eight times that of whites, and the rate for black women is 19 times that of whites, finds a new analysis of data from 37 states by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
'What this study confirms is the severe and disproportionate burden of disease borne by African Americans when it comes to HIV,' said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.
Compared to Hispanic men, black men have twice the rate of HIV infection, and black women are four times as likely as Hispanic women to have an HIV diagnosis, according to the Feb. 4 edition of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
