According to a new federal study, one in five sexually active gay and bisexual men are carrying the HIV virus, and almost half of those don’t even know it. The study, released Thursday, is the largest to look at gay and bisexual men who are at high risk for contracting the virus.
More than 8,000 men were tested, and 44% of those infected didn’t realize it.
The study is part of a government effort to concentrate on a particular group of Americans when applying HIV-AIDS education and prevention, men who have sex with men and other certain high risk groups. This is due to the fact that while less than half of 1 percent of Americans are infected with the HIV virus, certain groups are at a much higher risk factor.
According to the study, black men had the highest infection rates, at 28%, followed by Hispanic men at 18% and white men at 16%. For those who didn’t realize they were infected, black men again had the highest percentage rate, at 60%, followed by 46% for Hispanic men and 26% for white men.
