More HIV among black women than previously thought

The incidence and prevalence of HIV among African-American women is much higher than previously thought in several "hotspots" around the country, according to a new study carried out by a national team of experts and led by Sally Hodder, MD, from the New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Hodder presented the findings of the study at the "19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)". Their study - "HPTN 064 Women's HIV Seroincidence Study (ISIS)", from the HIV Prevention Trials Network - found that from a cohort study of 2,099 adult females, the HIV positive rate was 0.24%. 88% of the women in this study were African-American. Their rate is five times higher than the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimate for black women. Their findings showed that HIV rates of their sample population were not that different from those found in sub-Saharan Africa - Congo 0.28% and Kenya 0.53%. The researchers explained that their findings underscore the considerable HIV transmission that currently exists within some US populations, including adult African-American females at risk. The study focused on six geographical areas in the USA, which are known to have higher HIV rates, as well as above-average levels of poverty. Dr. Hodder said: "We have known that black women in the US are disproportionately impacted by HIV, however, the magnitude of this disparity in areas hardest hit by the HIV epidemic underscores the gravity of the problem." 66% of all new female HIV infections occur in black women in the USA - however, only 14% of US females are African-American. Approximately one quarter of all reported new HIV infections in America are female cases. The HIV death rate (adjusted) among African-American adult females is 15 times more than for Caucasian women, the authors reported. Dr. Hodder said: "Despite prevention efforts in the last 30 years, the reality is that we still have ongoing HIV transmission in the US that requires focusing prevention efforts." Dr. Hodder also presented details on 2002-2009 data gathered in Newark, and how the team created a model to predict which interventions are most likely to be successful in controlling the HIV epidemic. They recommend the following interventions: The widening of HIV testing Reducing the time from infection to testing Finding ways of reducing the drop-out rate from treatment programs Better treatments that suppress viral loads among infected patients According to the model, a combination of the four interventions would be more successful - the model predicts it would reduce HIV infection incidence by 39% and death rates by 45.8%. It also predicts that if just one approach were pursued, the results would be less than half as effective.