HIV-AIDS Rate in D.C. ‘Higher Than West Africa’

At least 3 percent of residents in the nation’s capital are living with HIV or AIDS and every mode of transmission is on the rise, according to a report to be released Monday by D.C. health officials.

The findings in the 2008 epidemiology report by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration point to a severe epidemic that’s impacting every race and sex across the population and neighborhoods.

“Our rates are higher than West Africa,” said Shannon Hader, the administration’s director, who used to spearhead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work in Zimbabwe. “They’re on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya.”

The report, obtained by The Washington Post, updates a landmark 2007 study that discovered the epidemic had moved from affecting a mostly gay population to a general one, and that it disproportionately affected blacks.

The study found that the number of HIV and AIDS cases jumped 22 percent from the 12,428 reported in 2006. Almost 1 in 10 residents between 40 and 49 are living with the virus, and black men had the highest infection rate at almost 7 percent, the report said. It added that 3 percent of black women in D.C. have HIV.

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“This is very, very depressing news, especially considering HIV’s profound impact on minority communities,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health’s program on infectious diseases. “And remember: The city’s numbers are just based on people who’ve gotten tested.”

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