The HIV transmission
rate in the nation's capital is as high as that of Uganda
and parts of Kenya, where the virus is at epidemic levels.
About 3,000 people in
every 100,000 Washington, D.C., residents are HIV-positive,
according to a report released Monday by Mayor Adrian Fenty.
The D.C. department of health's HIV/AIDS
administration director Shannon Hader told
The Washington Post
that these levels are the highest in the nation, and higher
than parts of West Africa, "where the disease is
considered to be a crisis."
The count shows a 22%
increase since 2006, bringing the total number of Washington,
D.C., residents with the virus to 15,120 people.
The groups most
affected by this are African-Americans, white gay males, and
Latinos. Men who have sex with men of all races made up 51% of
those with HIV. Nationally, the rate is about 60%. The majority
of gay and bisexual men with HIV were between the ages of 20
and 49. Transmission is most fueled by both heterosexual and
homosexual sex as well as drug use.
Of those with HIV in
heterosexual relationships, about half believed that their
partner was in a sexual relationship with another person, and
about the same number of people were not aware of their
partner's HIV status.
Fenty, with Hader and
department of health director Pierre Vigilance, unveiled plans
to combat the skyrocketing rate of HIV transmission in the
city.