New HIV infections have been falling in the United States, to about 40,000 annually. The estimates were calculated from HIV diagnosis and death figures from 2009 through 2013. The report provides an unusually vivid picture of what's been happening with HIV infections. Since AIDS was first identified more than 30 years ago, medicines have changed it from a death sentence to a chronic threat. In the U.S., infections have long been most common in men who have sex with men. HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is spread mainly through sex and sharing needles for injecting drugs. The CDC released the estimates at a Boston medical conference. Jonathan Mermin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For example, the projection is 1 in 2 for gay black men but fewer than 1 in 2,500 for heterosexual white men. Overall, for the average American, the odds of an HIV infection is 1 in 99 and has been declining.īut the risk varies widely for different groups.
About half of gay and bisexual black men will be diagnosed with the AIDS virus in their lifetime, according to U.S.
