CDC: New U.S. HIV cases undercounted

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A study released Saturday suggests estimates of the number of new U.S. cases of human immunodeficiency virus every year have been low for at least a decade.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said there were 56,300 new HIV infections in 2006, The New York Times reported. The agency's previous estimate was about 40,000 new cases annually.

HIV causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.

The study was released at the annual international conference on AIDS, held this year in Mexico City.

In a separate historical analysis, CDC researchers said the number of new HIV infections appears to have been stable since the late 1990s and that 40,000 has been a consistent underestimate.

Dr. Philip Alcalbes, a Hunter University epidemiologist, said the CDC study, if valid, means that about 15,000 people newly infected with HIV were not counted every year for at least 15 years.

"Therefore, there are roughly 225,000 more people living with HIV in the United States than previously suspected," he said. "The previous estimate was 1 million to 1.1 million."