US: CDC Data Reveals Wide Gaps in HIV Treatment

Roughly half of the people living with HIV in the United States were not virally suppressed and more than a third were not receiving treatment for the infection, according to new CDC data released this month stemming from 2015 and 2016.

The model-based data, which highlights the gaps in HIV care nationwide, further noted that 14.5 percent of the 1.1 million people with HIV were undiagnosed. Folks without a suppressed viral load made up 49 percent of HIV-positive individuals, and 37 percent of all HIV-positive folks were not receiving care.

The CDC’s estimated population breakdown of the HIV data indicated that 645,000 of the 1.1 million people with HIV in America during the timeframe of the study were men who had sex with men. The next largest group was straight women, who made up 194,200 of the total people infected. Straight men trailed behind at 87,500.

When divided up by age, there was a clear pattern: HIV infections were most prevalent among adults above the age of 55, but decreased with every age demographic from that point on down. Those above the age of 55 constituted 405,500 of the people with HIV compared to 258,000 of people between 45 and 54. Meanwhile, 65,200 people between the ages of 13-24 were infected — but that group also experienced the highest transmission rate.

Despite the range of data about various demographics, the CDC notably did not provide any race or ethnicity-based statistics. In a separate report about PrEP, an HIV prevention medication taken daily, the CDC noted that black and Latino gay and bisexual men at high risk of acquiring HIV were 10 to 14 percent less likely to take the pill than high-risk white men. Black and Latino men also were less aware of PrEP than white men. Read more via Gay City News