Oct. 9, 2014 - HealthDay News.
CDC report also finds just 37 percent have the virus under control
Even though Hispanics in the United States become infected with HIV at rates triple those of whites, less than half of Hispanics with the virus are receiving adequate treatment, a new report finds.
The report, based on 2010 U.S. government health data, finds that while 80 percent of HIV-infected Hispanics do receive care soon after their diagnosis, only about 54 percent continue that care and only about 44 percent receive the virus-suppressing drugs they need to stay healthy.
The researchers, led by epidemiologist Zanetta Gant of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also found that only 37 percent of the more than 172,000 HIV-positive Hispanic adults in the United States have the virus under control. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The findings "underscore the need for enhanced linkage to care, retention in care, and viral suppression for Hispanics or Latinos," Gant's team writes in the Oct. 10 issue of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Rates of care and viral suppression were similar for men and women and across age groups, the CDC team noted. But Hispanics who contracted HIV through the use of illicit, injected drugs had lower rates of care compared to other groups. Continue reading…
