Blacks Account for More Than Half of New HIV Diagnoses: CDC

THURSDAY, Feb. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Blacks are diagnosed with HIV more often than any other group of Americans, and while their death rate from the disease is declining, it is still higher than in other racial/ethnic group.

Those are the findings of two new U.S. government studies reported Thursday. The findings show the need to redouble efforts to provide black Americans with better HIV prevention, diagnosis and care, the researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said.

The first study involved an analysis of data from CDC-funded HIV testing in 61 regions across the country in 2013. Blacks accounted for 45 percent of people tested for HIV, the largest proportion of any racial/ethnic group.

Blacks also accounted for nearly 55 percent of all new HIV diagnoses. Among blacks diagnosed with HIV, gay men accounted for about 37 percent of the new diagnoses, according to the…