Modern Health Observation

The U.S. federal capital, Washington, suffering an AIDS epidemic to record a 3% of HIV-positive, especially among black adults 40-49 years according to a study released Monday by health services in the city.

In late 2008, 3% of the population over 12 years had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, according to this study.

In comparison, the rate of infection in Washington, which has about 600,000, is higher than the poorest countries and least developed countries such as Burkina Faso and Ukraine (1.6% of HIV-positive, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations Environment Programme AIDS).

Those most affected are blacks and adults 40 to 49 years (about 7% of HIV-positive in both groups). White women (0.2%) and Hispanics (0.7%) are less affected.

“For some, 3% of the population of a city that lives with HIV / AIDS seems a small figure. But in comparison, less than 0.5% of Americans in general have cancer,” says the report of the Department of Health the city.

The study also points out that both UNAIDS and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) reported that an epidemic is “widespread and severe when the percentage of patients among inhabitants of a geographical area beyond 1 %. ”

According to the study, the main modes of transmission are unprotected male homosexual encounters (almost four cases out of 10), unprotected heterosexual encounters (28%) and the use of syringes by drug addicts (18%)