HIV/AIDS Diagnoses

At the end of 2003, an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 persons in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS.^1* In 2005, 37,331 cases of HIV/AIDS in adults, adolescents, and children were diagnosed in the 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting.² CDC has estimated that approximately 40,000 persons in the United States become infected with HIV each year.³

By Transmission Category

In 2005, the largest estimated proportion of HIV/AIDS diagnoses were for men who have sex with men (MSM), followed by adults and adolescents infected through heterosexual contact.

By Sex

In 2005, almost three quarters of HIV/AIDS diagnoses were for male adolescents and adults.

By Race/Ethnicity

In 2005, blacks (including African Americans), who make up approximately 13% of the US population, accounted for almost half of the estimated number of HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed.

Trends in AIDS Diagnoses and Deaths

During the mid-to-late 1990s, advances in treatment slowed the progression of HIV infection to AIDS and led to dramatic decreases in deaths among persons with AIDS. The number of deaths of persons with AIDS fluctuated from 2001 through 2005, but the number of AIDS cases diagnosed during that same period increased.² The reasons for the increase in the number of AIDS diagnoses are unclear but may be due to increased emphasis on testing; the fact that more people are living with HIV and thus are experiencing the development of AIDS; and technical issues in the statistical process used in estimating the number of AIDS diagnoses.

Better treatments have also led to an increase in the number of persons in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) who are living with AIDS. From 2001 through 2005, the estimated number of persons in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) living with AIDS increased from 331,482 to 421,873 -- an increase of 27%.²

* The term HIV/AIDS refers to 3 categories of diagnoses collectively: (1) a diagnosis of HIV infection (not AIDS), (2) a diagnosis of HIV infection with a later diagnosis of AIDS, and (3) concurrent diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS.

References

1. Glynn M, Rhodes P. Estimated HIV prevalence in the United States at the end of 2003. National HIV Prevention Conference; June 2005; Atlanta. Abstract T1-B1101. Accessed January 11, 2007.
2. CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2005. Vol. 17. Rev ed. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2007:1-46. Accessed June 28, 2007.
3. CDC. Guidelines for National Human Immunodeficiency Virus Case Surveillance, Including Monitoring for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. MMWR 1999;48(RR-13):1-28.