[LINK] "Most HIV Infections Come From Undiagnosed or Untreated People: Study"

[rfmcdonald]

U.S. News and World Report is one news source of many sharing news of a recent study suggesting that the overwhelming majority of HIV transissions in the United States--nearly 92%--are a consequence of untreated people passing the virus on.

If an American becomes infected with HIV, chances are he or she contracted the virus from someone who didn't know they were infected or wasn't getting proper treatment.

That's the message of a new U.S. study, which found that undiagnosed and untreated people with HIV may be responsible for more than nine out of 10 new infections.

The findings "highlight the community-wide prevention benefits of expanding HIV diagnosis and treatment in the United States," a team led by Dr. Jacek Skarbinski, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote in the report.

Looking at 2009 data, Skarbinski's team said that about 45,000 new cases of HIV were transmitted that year, adding to the total of more than 1.1 million Americans who were already living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Using national databases, the investigators estimated that more than 18 percent of that total remained undiagnosed, while another 45 percent were aware of their status but were not getting medical care.

Only about one-quarter of HIV-infected Americans had managed to get their viral status under control by using the current standard of care known as antiretroviral therapy, the researchers found. These drugs can lower an HIV patient's viral load to undetectable levels.

Science Daily goes into greater detail and links to the study.