HIV touches many U.S. households

ATLANTA, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Approximately half of 1 percent of the U.S. household population between the ages of 18 and 49 are living with HIV, a government report said Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics report was based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 1999 to 2006.

The report does not include data on the number of individuals newly infected with HIV. The report said key findings on HIV prevalence in 1999-2006 include:

-- Men ages 18 to 49 are more likely to be infected -- 0.7 percent -- compared to women -- 0.2 percent.

-- Two percent of non-Hispanic black adults ages 18 to 49 were infected with HIV compared to 0.23 percent of white adults and 0.3 percent of Mexican-American adults.

-- Adults aged 18 to 49 who are infected with the herpes simplex type 2 virus are more than 15 times likely to also be infected with HIV. An estimated 2 percent of herpes simplex type 2 positive adults ages 18-49 also have HIV.