Researchers say there may be more cases of HIV than once thought

Every year thousands of new cases of HIV are reported in the U.S., but now researchers say there may be more cases than first thought.

A new test conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is able to help distinguish recent HIV infections from others acquired many years ago.

HIV is hard to detect for people who have acquired the disease within the past few months,
and this test allows researchers to determine whether a person has been infected within the past five months.

Currently there are more than 1,000,000 people living with HIV in the U.S.

Let us break those numbers down for you:

• Fifty-three percent of all new infections occur in gay and bisexual men.
• African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but account for 45 percent of new cases.
• Hispanics make up 17 percent new cases and whites 35 percent.
• In 2005, North Carolina ranked 13th in the U.S. for the number of aids cases.
• New Hanover county had more than 500 cases of HIV and AIDS in 2006.

Lea Yetter, NHC Community Health Center, said, “It’s very frightening and you want to educate people without scaring them, but i think it’s important for people to understand that there is no cure.”

Yetter works for the Community Health Center and she educates specific groups at risk about AIDS and HIV prevention. Her sessions are free.

If you would like to sign up call 910-343-0270.