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HIV and STD statistics in the United States

Jul 15, 1999

Can you please tell me how fast HIV is spreading in the US? Is it something that we should be very woried about? If there were 50 people in a room howmany could possible be HIV possitive if you have any %? Also, what other STDs are being spread rapidly? What is the most common one? What is the most infectionous one? How in fectionous is HIV compared to other STDs? Thank you for your time you are doing a great job.

Response from Mr. Sowadsky

Thank you for your questions.

In regard to the spread of HIV in the USA:

Since we do not have nationwide HIV reporting, we do not have very good data regarding the recent spread of HIV in the United States. But based on limited data from the states that do have HIV reporting, it is estimated that the number of new infections is remaining relatively stable at approximately 40,000 cases per year. Note that the rate of new infections is not going down over time.

Several years ago, it was estimated that between 650,000 to 900,000 Americans had HIV. But since the death rate is now going down (due to better treatments), there are more people living with HIV now, so we can expect this statistic to increase over time. But again, since we do not have nationwide HIV reporting data, we cannot give a reliable statistic as to the true prevalence of HIV in the USA.

In addition, we are concerned about the recent rise in gonorrhea cases among Gay/Bisexual men indicating more unsafe sex among Gay/Bisexual men. If more Gay and Bisexual men are practicing unsafe sex, this may lead to a subsequent increase in HIV cases.

In regard to other STDs in the USA:

The most recent data indicates that there are an estimated 15 million new cases of STDs per year in the United States. STDs commonly found in the USA include chlamydia, herpes, genital warts, viral hepatitis, and others. For more information about STDs, read the following posts from our website:

Are people now practicing safer sex more often? HIV vs. STD Just How Common are STDs?


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