HIV/AIDS in America

Since the HIV/AIDS pandemic first appeared as many as 5000,000 people have perished from AIDS in America, tantamount to the entire population of Washington DC. A recent study in that same city demonstrated an HIV prevalence of a little over three percent among persons thirteen years of age and older. That is a rate corresponding many areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Even though HIV and AIDS affect all sectors of America the impact has been most severe amidst certain groups. In the first years of the pandemic, the most commonly at-risk groups were men who had sex with men, IV drug users, hemophiliacs and Haitians. Every year AIDS continues to directly impact 1000s of gay and bisexual men and IV drug users but it has increasingly become a life-threatening problem among African American men. Recently it has begun to plague Hispanic/Latino community as well. Even so, it is not of necessity individual conduct, but rather the sexual network of a person that influences a person’s HIV/AIDS risk in America.

There are presently over one million people with HIV/AIDS in America with at least 20 percent being unaware of their infection, placing many more a high risk of becoming infected with HIV.