AIDS Epidemic in Some US Cities Worse than Sub-Saharan Africa countries

By Katie Drummond

(March 1) -- Despite advances in prevention and treatment, rates of HIV/AIDS in some parts of the U.S. are higher than those in sub-Saharan Africa, say the authors of a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

 AIDS advocacy efforts in the U.S. have waned in recent years, after medical innovations helped sufferers live longer, minimized obvious symptoms and alleviated the widespread social panic that characterized the early spread of the disease.

Globally, though, the spread of AIDS has yet to be curtailed: 33 million people are afflicted, including two-thirds of those living in sub-Saharan Africa.

But what might come as a real surprise is news that rates across some parts of the U.S. have yet to decrease. In fact, they're right up there with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in global hot spots, where the health scourge continues largely unabated.

Rates of HIV among adults in Washington, D.C., for example, now exceed 1 in 30 -- higher than reported rates in Ethiopia, Nigeria or Rwanda. In New York, rates are higher among blacks (1 in 40) and injection-drug users (1 in 8). More on AOL.