Private MD News

Report: 3% of DC residents have HIV

Category: HIV

New research to be released tomorrow by health officials will report that at least 3 percent of Washington DC residents have HIV or AIDS, which is a rate that is higher than West Africa.

"They're on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya," said Shannon L. Hader, director of the district's HIV/AIDS administration.

The report, which was funded by the CDC, also finds 76 percent of those infected are black and that three out of 10 people who knew they were HIV positive used a condom the last time they had sex.

In all, the research shows a 22 percent increase in HIV and AIDS cases from the 12,428 reported at the end of 2006.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health's program on infectious diseases, said the report was "very, very depressing news."

"And remember: The city's numbers are just based on people who've gotten tested," Fauci said.

HIV testing is an important step for anyone who may be at risk at contracting the virus, either through sex or intravenously. Many people have found ways to live with the virus through various treatments when it was caught early.