Gay Black Men Lead HIV Pack

Bad news for black men. New CDC research confirms that America’s black men who have sex with men are “more than twice as likely to be infected with the AIDS virus than their white counterparts,” according to the Baltimore Sun. While one may assume there’s a disparity in safe sex practices, researchers claim condom rates remain relatively the same between races.

The problem may find its roots elsewhere:

…New studies point to possible reasons [for skewed infection]. Black gay men in one study were more likely to be currently infected with a sexually transmitted disease, which can make them more likely to catch or transmit HIV.

Blacks were also less likely to be taking anti-retroviral medications, which can lower the concentration of virus in the bloodstream, and with it the chance of transmitting it to others.

Sun reporter Jonathan Bor reports that while most states see a decline in HIV infection among their resident gays, Maryland’s seen a sharp increase in queer infections. Eight percent of Baltimore’s infected population contracted the virus last year: the highest rate of any city CDC surveyed.

State AIDS administrator Heather Hauck lamented the state’s lackluster resources, “I believe we have not been able to direct adequate resources to all of our population in Maryland. We do not have the resources to do adequate prevention for everyone.” First order: anti-retroviral drugs.