HIV INFECTION RATE AMONG BLACKS DOUBLES

BOSTON -- Blacks are contracting HIV at twice the rate they were in the
late 1980s and early '90s, which researchers and AIDS prevention advocates
attribute to drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care,
according to government statistics.

At the same time, the HIV infection rate among whites has held steady,
causing alarm among some health officials who say the racial gap in the
epidemic is widening.

Other troubling statistics indicate that almost half of all infected people
in the United States who should be receiving HIV drugs are not getting them.

"It's incredibly disappointing," said Terje Anderson, director of the
National Association of People With AIDS. "We just have a burgeoning
epidemic in the African American community that is not being dealt with
effectively."

The findings, released at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference in Boston
Friday, showed an increase in the HIV infection rate from 1 percent to 2
percent of blacks over a decade. White rates remained level at 0.2 percent,
while the overall U.S. rate rose slightly from 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent.

The HIV rates were derived from the widely used National Health and
Nutrition Examinations Surveys, which analyze a representative sample of
U.S. households and contain the most complete HIV data in the country.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared
1988-1994 data with figures from 1999-2002.

However, health officials believe the numbers probably underestimate true
HIV rates in the country because they don't take into account the prison
population or the homeless.

"I think it's very concerning," said Dr. Susan Buchbinder, who leads HIV
research for the city of San Francisco. "I think what we need to look at is
how we can reduce those rates and get more people into treatment."

She recommended a stronger focus on treating drug addiction.

The lead CDC researcher, Geraldine McQuillan, said she was encouraged to
see the HIV rate among younger blacks holding steady at just under 1.5 percent.

"It tells me we're making some headway," she said.

Other national data and published reports studied by the CDC showed that
480,000 HIV-infected people ages 15 to 49 should have been getting
antiviral drugs in 2003, yet only 268,000, or 56 percent, were given such
medication.

Researcher Eyasu Teshale of the CDC said the gap represents "a substantial
unmet health care need."