NYC HIV spreading at triple the U.S. rate

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Nearly 4,800 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006 -- three times the national rate, New York City Health Department officials said.

The Health Department has tracked the number of people newly diagnosed each year but, in most cases, hasn't been able to distinguish recent infections from those that occurred years earlier.

Health Department researchers used a new formula developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using the total number of new HIV diagnoses made during 2006 -- 3,863 in New York City -- and a laboratory test to distinguish recent from long-standing infections.

The new incidence estimate shows that 72 of every 100,000 of New Yorkers were newly infected in 2006, compared to 23 per 100,000 nationally.

African-American New Yorkers and men, especially those who have sex with other men, were the groups at greatest risk in 2006. Men made up more than three-quarters of new infections in New York City, as they did nationally. The incidence rate among New York City men was 117 per 100,000, while the rate in women was 33 per 100,000. Nationally, the incidence rates were lower: approximately 34 per 100,000 men and 12 per 100,000 women.