HIV now an epidemic among blacks in the US

At the current rate of HIV infection in the US, more than half of all young gay black men could be infected with the virus in the next ten years.

Nearly 6 percent of black men under the age of 30 become infected with HIV each year in the United States – a terrifying statistic that is leading to increased efforts to get unwilling Americans tested.

Gay and bisexual black men account for one in four new HIV infections in the US, even though they only make up one in 500 Americans overall. A gay black man has a 60 percent chance of being infected with the virus by age 40, but is 22 percent less likely to get treatment if he is HIV-positive.

If the trend continues, more than 50 percent of all young black gay men will be infected with HIV in 10 years, claims Kenneth Mayer, a medical research director at Boston’s Fenway Health.

“This is extremely concerning,” he told USA TODAY. “Here we are, this far into the epidemic, and we have these rates.”