Cases of HIV are higher among particular groups in Minnesota including young adults and minorities, a new report has revealed.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released a new report showing that the cases of HIV/AIDS went higher in some populations in 2015 compared to the previous year.
Although the total number of HIV cases detected in 2014 and 2015 did not show a significant gap, MDH was able to identify notable increase of cases for some groups.
HIV By The Numbers
The report says that there were a total of 306 and 294 new HIV/AIDS cases in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Since 1982, the total number of cases reported in MDH is 11,007. At present, there are about 8,215 individuals infected with HIV/AIDS living in Minnesota.
For the latest report, all eyes were turned to the drastic increases of HIV/AIDS cases among certain populations. Among these groups include young adults aged 20-29 years old, which exhibited an increase of 24 percent, leaping from 87 cases in 2014 to 108 in 2015. These particular cases were heavily noted in the Twin Cities urban locations, in persons of color and in men who have sexual relations with the same gender.
Injection drug users also saw a significant increase in HIV/AIDS cases, with an 86 percent increase or a rise of 14 to 26 cases from 2014 to 2015. This rate is mostly noted in non-Hispanic males, people aged 20 to 39 years old, residents of Twin Cities and men who engage in sexual intercourse with other men.
Lastly, the reports states that 58 percent of new cases were composed of people of color. For females, more than 50 percent were born in Africa and for males, more than a quarter were African-Americans and non-Hispanics.
Access To Care
"We are seeing higher HIV infection rates in communities with limited access to HIV testing and prevention programs due to longstanding social, medical or income disadvantages," says health commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger.
Ehlinger says the rates of HIV/AIDS can be decreased by enhancing access through broader collaborations for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care within the widely-affected communities.
HIV Preventive Measures
Health authorities say HIV is now very preventable. Among the effective strategies to avoid the disease include safe sex practices by using condoms appropriately, limiting sexual partners and barring from sharing needles for tattoo, piercing and drugs administration purposes.
People with high risk of acquiring the disease can also now get a prevention pill called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by prescription.
Ehlinger also says that individuals who are already diagnosed with the disease should also know that receiving treatment can significantly halt the spread of HIV.
Checkout the full report [pdf] of MDH.
