11 (More) Facts About HIV and AIDS

1. Young people are at a higher risk of contracting HIV because they are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior, including substance use and unprotected sexual activity.
2. In 2009 in the U.S., 39% of all new HIV cases were of young people 13 to 29 years old, even though this age range only accounts for 21% of the entire population.
3. According to the Center for Disease Control, 20-24 year olds had the highest rate of diagnoses of any age group in 2009.
4. Injection drug users represented 9% of new HIV infections in 2009.
5. There are over 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS today.
6. Each year, more than 18,000 people with AIDS die in the U.S.
7. Over 566,000 people have died so far of AIDS-related causes.
8. It is estimated that prevention efforts have averted more than 350,000 HIV infections at a savings of $355,000 per lifetime HIV treatment recipient.
9. Late detection is still a problem: 67% of HIV diagnoses occur over 1 year after infection.
10. HIV/AIDS has had a severe impact on all regions of the country, but the majority of people diagnosed in 2009 were from urban areas. The cities that have been hardest hit are Miami (FL), Jacksonville (FL), Baton Rouge (LA), New York City, and Washington DC.
11. Since the beginning of the epidemic, about 1.7 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have been infected with HIV.

Sources:

CDC