A Chicago Department of Public Health surveillance report from early December contained largely positive news about the city's HIV/AIDS outreach efforts—including declines in infection rates amongst IV drug users and African Americans—and also indicated that significant challenges remain, especially among men who have sex with men ( MSM ).
[Charts viewable at www.windycitymediagroup.com/pdf/
"We're seeing consistent fruits of our efforts because we're seeing little blips up, and a consistent decline" in other areas, said Deputy Commissioner Nanette Benbow of CDPH's HIV/STI Services Division.
In 2013, male-to-male sexual contact remained the leading mode of transmission, leading to 75 percent of new infections, according to the report. Uptown and Edgewater had the highest average HIV infection diagnosis rates with 132.2 cases per 100,000 individuals and 100.8 cases per 100,000 individuals, respectively. Uptown and Edgewater also had the highest prevalence rates in the city, with 2,372 cases per 100,000 individuals ) and 2,360.2 cases per 100,000 individuals respectively. Thirty-nine percent of new diagnoses in 2013 were between the ages of 20-29.
"MSM is becoming such a significant part of the epidemic," said Benbow. "It's always been the majority, but now it's three-quarters of the epidemic. That has to be our key focus, and it is in many ways and it is nationally. It's really different from the way it used to be. I remember when it was 55 [or] 60 percent. Now the majority of those increases are happening in that population."
She added that CDPH is currently evaluating proposals from community partners that can tackle the issue more aggressively.
"We're trying from a lot of different angles," Benbow noted. "We're looking at social media and a lot of different marketing campaigns to address that. They are a key population of focus in our HIV prevention [request for proposals], and they're key in our testing efforts and interventions."
Black individuals continue to be significantly impacted by the epidemic. The rate of new HIV diagnoses in Black Chicagoans—64 cases per 100,000 individuals—was more than twice that of Hispanics ( 28.1 cases per 100,000 individuals ) or Caucasians ( 28 cases per 100,000 individuals ). High infection rates among gay Black men continues to be a concern.
But Benbow added that, overall, the number of HIV infections—as well as new syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia infections—amongst Black persons in general had declined. Benbow gave partial credit to aggressive testing and care linkage efforts on the South Side.
"That really is serving a broad representation of African Americans, not only MSM and youth, but also African American women, heterosexual men, etc.," she said. "We know that linking and retaining to care is key to preventing new infections and preventing new transmissions, so that intervention has been helpful."
Twenty-four percent of new HIV diagnoses were diagnosed with AIDS within 12 months in 2013. Over the past five years, AIDS cases have declined by about five percent annually.
Infections amongst IV drug users continue to decline significantly, Benbow noted, adding, "Our partners have been doing this for years. They've had stable funding. A lot of it [also] has to do with drug consumption patterns. Those studies are harder to come by—might there be less injection drug use in general? That information would be good to have."
The complete report can be downloaded at bit.ly/12Qlrd5 .
