WASHINGTON — One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware they are infected, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday.
The study tested more than 8,000 men in 21 cities — including Denver — in 2008, the most comprehensive such study by the CDC.
It found that young, sexually active gay men and those in minority groups are least likely to know their health status, even as infection rates are climbing among men who have sex with men, while the rates of other at-risk groups — heterosexuals and intravenous drug users — are falling.
The findings were published Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report and were released ahead of National Gay Men’s HIV Awareness Day on Monday.
A CDC official called for a sharper focus on testing. “This study’s message is clear: HIV exacts a devastating toll on men who have sex with men in America’s major cities, and yet far too many of those who are infected don’t know it,” said Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.
Cities in the study include Baltimore, where the prevalence rate among men who have sex with men was highest at 38 percent, and Atlanta, where it was lowest at 6 percent. In Denver, the rate was 16 percent.
A CDC spokeswoman said the study’s findings were similar to those of a National Health Behavioral Study conducted from June 2004 to April 2005, when one in four gay men tested positive for the virus.
In the earlier study, 46 percent of gay black men tested positive, compared with 40 percent in the larger 2008 study. Black gay men outpaced white and Latino men in both studies.
In the earlier study, Latinos represented 18 percent of the infected, compared with 23 percent in the most recent study. White men made up 21 percent of the infected in 2004-05 and 20 percent in the more recent study.
