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HIV and AIDS in the United States: A Picture of Today’s Epidemic
Adolescent Women
The impact of HIV on younger women is particularly notable. More than 6 in 10 new HIV infections
among women (including white and Black women and Latinas) were among those aged 13-39 in 2006-32%
were 13-29 and 31% were aged 30-39.
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Women of Color
HIV disproportionately affects African-American and Hispanic women. Together they represent less than 25 percent of all U.S.
women, yet they account for more than 79 percent of AIDS cases in women.
Worldwide, more than 90 percent of all adolescent and adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse.
Women are particularly vulnerable to heterosexual transmission of HIV due to substantial mucosal exposure to seminal fluids.
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Hispanic Women and Men
The rate of new AIDS diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino* men is three times that of white men, and the rate
among Hispanic/Latina women is five times that of white women [4].
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HIV/AIDS in the United States
The latest estimates indicate that at the end of 2003, HIV prevalence— the total number of persons with HIV—was
roughly 1 million (estimated range between 1,039,000–1,185,000) [1]. Approximately one-fourth (24% –27%) of
HIV-infected persons are believed to be unaware of their infection, underscoring the need to expand opportunities
for HIV testing.
An estimated 47% of the persons living with HIV were black, 34% were white, and 17% were Hispanic. Asians/Pacific
Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives each represented roughly 1% of the HIV-infected population.
Males accounted for 74% of the population living with HIV.
The largest population living with HIV (45%) comprised men who have sex with men (MSM), followed by persons
infected through high-risk heterosexual contact (27%), those infected through injection drug use (22%), and
those who were exposed through both male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use (5%).
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AIDS and Oral Sex
“…adolescents engage in oral sex, some data suggest that many adolescents who engage in oral sex do not
consider it to be “sex;” therefore they may use oral sex as an option to experience sex while still,
in their minds, remaining abstinent. Moreover, many consider oral sex to be a safe or no-risk sexual practice.
In a national survey of teens conducted for The Kaiser Family Foundation, 26% of sexually active 15- to 17-year-olds
surveyed responded that one “cannot become infected with HIV by having unprotected oral sex,” and an additional
15% didn’t know whether or not one could become infected in that manner.”
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