New HIV cases hit 10-year high: Are warnings not getting through?

New cases of AIDS or HIV infection have nearly doubled among young men in Minnesota in the past four years, suggesting that old warnings may not be getting through to the next generation, health officials say.

Last year, 318 new cases were reported in Minnesota, including 35 among young men aged 13 to 24, according to a report released Monday by the Minnesota Department of Health. By comparison, only 18 cases were reported in that age group in 2002.
The report, released Monday, also showed a sharp jump among men 40 and older.

"Prevention messages may not be reaching our young males as in the past," said Peter Carr, director of the state's sexually transmitted disease section.

Carr said young men may be in denial about "their need to practice safer sex," while older men may be suffering from "safer-sex burnout."

The HIV virus is spread mainly through unprotected sex and shared intravenous needles.

Overall, the report found that the number of newly diagnosed cases rose 5 percent last year, from 304 in 2005 to 318 in 2006.

It's the highest number of new cases in a single year since 1995, when 343 were reported.

At the same time, the report found an unusual spike among Hispanic males, who jumped from 8 percent of new cases in 2005 to 14 percent in 2006.

Trend or exception?

Health officials say they can't be sure if those statistics are one-year blips or part of an alarming upward trend.

"It is higher than it has been in the past," said Luisa Pessoa-Brandao, the HIV-AIDS surveillance coordinator for the Health Department. However, she said, "the numbers fluctuate quite a bit, and they've been around 300 for the last few years."

Still, the upward trend among teenage boys and young men is clearly worrisome, Pessoa-Brandao said: "We have seen a steady increase over the last four years. That is something we are watching and concerned about."

Since the start of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, more than 8,100 cases of AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes the disease, have been reported in Minnesota. Today, officials estimate that 5,600 people are living with HIV or AIDS in the state.

In its annual report on the state's AIDS epidemic, the Health Department also found:

• Women account for 28 percent of new cases.

• Gay or bisexual men account for 64 percent.

• Young men and women (ages 13 to 24) account for 18 percent.

• One in three people were "late testers" -- they had already progressed to full-blown AIDS by the time the infection was diagnosed. Typically, that means they've carried the virus for eight to 10 years by that time, officials say.

• Racial minorities and African immigrants continue to have disproportionately high rates of infection.

African-Americans make up 45 percent of new male cases and 68 percent of new female cases. However, the numbers among African-born women have been dropping steadily since 2003.

Widespread testing

The Health Department says that widespread testing could help discover HIV infection sooner and reduce transmission. They note that widespread testing of pregnant women has helped cut the rate of transmission from infected mothers to children from 25 percent to less than 1 percent.

"This shows that there is some potential for positive results in offering routing HIV testing to other populations," Carr said in a statement released Monday.

Lorraine Teel, head of the Minnesota AIDS Project, said the new report shows that "HIV continues to be a serious health threat for gay and bisexual men, reinforcing the need for targeted prevention efforts."

She also called for more funding for sex education programs to help with AIDS prevention.