HIV Rates Higher Than Thought

NYT reports the CDC has revised its estimate of the number of new HIV rates in 2006 upward from roughly 40,000 to 56,000. Racial disparities remain pronounced.

The C.D.C., the federal agency responsible for tracking the AIDS epidemic in the United States, said its new monitoring system provided more precise estimates than were previously possible of new infections in specific populations. Infection rates among blacks were found to be seven times as high as for whites (83.7 per 100,000 people versus 11.5 per 100,000) and almost three times as high as for Hispanics (29.3 per 100,000 people), a group that was also disproportionately affected.

Apologies if I'm a broken record, but for those who haven't read it yet, consider taking the time to read Johnson and Raphael's forthcoming Journal of Law Economics article which explains the black/white AIDS disparity as due to disproportional imprisonment rates among Black/White males.