It began as a rare flu for five Americans, but by the end of 1981 more than 100 cases of what would become known as AIDS had been reported in the U.S.
The AIDS crisis in America is as critical now as it was 30 years ago. An estimated 400,000 Americans are living with AIDS ( more than 34,000 diagnosed in 2009 alone ) and over the last three decades more than one million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has been studying AIDS for more than 30 years and part of their research includes tracking individual cases reported in all 50 states to provide accurate statistics for funding. Since the early 1980s, the CDC had been able to monitor the patterns of HIV infection by analyzing the number of reported cases of AIDS, since HIV reporting is still not a federal requirement.
See related illustrations at the links:
www.windycitymediagroup.com/pdf/AIDSiNAmericaChartCDC2011.pdf
www.windycitymediagroup.com/pdf/aidsvu-number-county-overall.pdf
www.windycitymediagroup.com/pdf/aidsvu-rate-county-overall.pdf
AIDS statistics hit a high point in 1993 when the CDC refined guidelines for AIDS diagnoses to include any individual with fewer than 200 T-cells. Scientists began better understanding and correctly diagnosing AIDS through the early to mid-1990s, which accounts for the spike in statistics during the 1990s. The numbers began to decline in the U.S. around 1996 when the ( HAART ) anti-retroviral therapy regiment became more widely available. Due to better HIV medications fewer patients have progressed into AIDS, so those specific statistics no longer accurately reflected HIV trends in the U.S. These days, AIDS-specific statistics are used to pinpoint where private and national funding is lacking and also where drug therapy has failed.
When broken down regionally, the U.S. AIDS statistics paint a picture of where the epidemic is most severe. From 2007 CDC reports, the Northeast AIDS rate shows a rising trend. A quarter of all new AIDS diagnosis came from the Northeastern region. New York State is the highest AIDS populated state in the country. New York City also has the highest number of people living with AIDS. Though this region's numbers are on a rise, neither Boston nor Philadelphia were among the top five highest AIDS cities. Almost half of the new AIDS cases were reported in the Black community, while the rest were split evenly between the white and Latino communities.
"HIV/AIDS remains mostly an urban disease," says the CDC, as a majority of diagnoses occurred in cities with populations higher than 500,000. The Midwest remains on the decline, reporting the least amount of AIDS cases in the U.S. Only 11% of new cases came from the Midwest, however Chicago is still a very big hub for the epidemic.
AIDS mortality rates in the Midwest are also very low. This could be because of the relatively low incidence rate of AIDS outside urban centers. Most AIDS cases are among urban populations but rural case rates are going up, too. In rural areas AIDS is seen heavily in the Black and gay men's communities and more prevalent in men than women. Midwestern AIDS rates are split almost down the middle between Black and white where only 11% of AIDS cases are within the Latino population.
Regional diversity shows how AIDS flourishes in rural, low-income areas like the South. AIDS rates in the South are rising steadily, consequently the South has some of the highest AIDS-related mortality rates in the U.S. AIDS in the South has hit the Black community especially hard. In 2003, the six states considered the "deep South" ( Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina ) reported a 35.6% rise in the number of AIDS cases, contributing to the overall four percent increase for the entirety of the South.
According to the CDC by 2007 the South accounted for 40% of all citizens living with AIDS, On the CDC's list of highest AIDS populations by state, Florida and Texas ranked within the top five. CDC also ranks major U.S. cities' AIDS populations and Miami and Washington, D.C. are also among the top five. In Washington, D.C. AIDS has hit a crisis-level: it is estimated that three percent of residents are living with HIV/AIDS. The high incidence reports in the South are the result of poor awareness and limited access to low-cost healthcare.
As for the West, 17% of new AIDS cases were reported there. Only a fifth of people living with AIDS are from Western states. Los Angeles is still the second most AIDS populated city with San Francisco just behind it at third, making California the second most AIDS populated state. Whites and Latinos vastly outweigh the Black population in the West in AIDS diagnosis. The West also includes many low AIDS reporting states like Wyoming, which reported 114 cases in 2009.
Men who have sex with men still make up the largest group of people with AIDS. In 2007 alone 47% of all new AIDS cases were the result of male-to-male sexual contact ( MSM ) . Over 30 years, more than half of all reported cases of AIDS have been in men who have sex with men ( MSM ) .
In 2008, 17,940 MSM were diagnosed with AIDS, a six percent increase from 2005. CDC officials attribute the high rates among MSM to a number of social issues, including internalized to overt homophobia which contributes to low self-image issues. Low confidence and support surrounding sexual orientation are found to have profound impacts on sexual health decisions and safe sex practices.
Other reasons such as racism, poverty and homelessness can also interfere with access to healthcare. Complacency towards AIDS from the current generation and common misconceptions are also contributing factors to the rise in MSM AIDS statistics, officials said. The young MSM community is one the CDC targets annually and nationwide with awareness campaigns to promote HIV testing and access to resources.
An even more specific U.S. group seeing a large increase in AIDS cases are young Black MSM. Between 2004 and 2007 young Black MSM showed the largest increase in HIV/AIDS cases in America, accounting for 62% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the U.S.
Research shows that in communities where the gay stigmas are very strong, the rates of HIV/AIDS increase. On Aug. 15, 2011 at the CDC National AIDS Prevention conference it was noted that the young Black MSM HIV/AIDS numbers increased by 48%, the largest increase of all ethnic groups.
In September, Black gay activists along with the CDC are rolling out a new awareness campaign in five major American cities where young Black MSM HIV/AIDS are particularly high. The "Testing Makes Us Stronger" campaign will focus on positive images of Black gay men. Despite the high numbers, Dr. John Su of the CDC said, "Young Black men are doing more to prevent HIV/AIDS than any other group."
Though 75% of Americans living with AIDS are men, Black and Latino women living with AIDS are also on the rise in the U.S. There are more than three times as many Black women living with AIDS in the U.S. than white or Latino women. For women of color, AIDS diagnoses are on an increase and the primary source of transmission is unprotected heterosexual contact and needle-based drug use.
Over the past few years, more Americans between 30 and 50 have developed AIDS, showing a significant increase for the age group in both males and females. In 2009 studies showed that the highest rate of new HIV infection was among the age group between 40-44.
The rises in AIDS in older people is also very strong in the Black and Latino communities. Twenty-nine percent of all people living with AIDS are over the age of 50. Many things can account for AIDS in the older population, one is that many of the signs and symptoms of AIDS mimic natural aging and can be overlooked. The older generation is also not as informed as the younger ones and does not consider themselves to be at as great of a risk. Unprotected sex and drug use are still the two leading transmission routes.
Though the rate of increase of reported AIDS cases is declining, this does not accurately reflect HIV trends overall, since HIV itself is not reported and tracked. In fact, more people are living with HIV in the U.S. than ever before.
With better medications and more accessible healthcare, it is easier to maintain HIV, but without crucial HIV/AIDS funding and awareness the rates of infection will continue to rise. In a statement from the AIDS prevention conference in Atlanta in August, the CDC's Dr. Jonathan Mermin said, "We cannot allow the health of a generation to be lost to a preventable disease."
See maps about HIV/AIDS in America at: aidsvu.org/map.
