U.S. HIV Transmission Rates Have Dropped Nearly 20 Percent in Just 6 Years

Some great news coming out of the CDC this week and it appears that PrEP is having a greater impact than originally expected. HIV Plus Magazine writes,

“New numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that annual HIV infections in the United States fell 18 percent between 2008 and 2014, a rapid decline after nearly two decades of stagnation.

According to the report, which was presented at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, the CDC analyzed HIV diagnoses data and post-HIV diagnoses T-cell counts from the National HIV Surveillance System between 2008 and 2014.

Researchers found that HIV transmission rates declined 56 percent among injection drug users, 36 percent among heterosexuals, and 18 percent among men who have sex with men between the ages 13 and 24.

While all other groups saw a rapid decline during these six years, MSM were the only high risk group that didn’t. Instead, they remained stable, which is a major improvement from years prior when the rates of HIV were on the rise.

So what’s the reason?

The CDC says prevention strategies like PrEP played a major role in preventing new diagnoses in the last several years. ”

This is some good news but we need to continue to fight to find a cure and eradicate this disease once and for all. Also, additional outreach and education needs to done in minority communities and we should be targeting gay and bisexual millennials of any race.

In addition, we must hold this new President and his administration accountable. According to recent reports, all evidence points to Trump having zero plans to battle HIV.