2015 HIV Surveillance Report

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention published the 2015 HIV Surveillance Report. It is available online at https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2015-vol-27.pdf.

The HIV Surveillance Report, which CDC has published regularly since 1982, includes detailed information about diagnosed HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas. Together with supplemental reports and analyses published throughout the year, the report provides federal agencies, health departments, nonprofit organizations and other partners the data they need to monitor HIV infections, focus prevention efforts, and allocate resources.

This edition of the report marks an important departure from prior years, made possible by improvements in HIV surveillance methods and data sources. The report presents all diagnosis, death, and prevalence data without statistical adjustments for delays in reporting of cases to CDC. Such adjustments were long needed to compensate for reporting delays of data.

Today, however, reporting of case information is more timely; significantly less time is needed to identify duplicate cases from multiple states; and systems for national data processing have been substantially strengthened, enabling unadjusted data to provide a reliable assessment of the impact of diagnosed HIV infection.

Health and Wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth

Today, CDC released the first nationally representative data on the health risks faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students. These data highlight the need for accelerated action to protect the health and wellbeing of our vulnerable youth.

Findings from the report Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12 – United States and Selected Sites, 2015 show that LGB students experience physical and sexual violence and bullying at levels multiple times higher than that of their heterosexual peers. For example, LGB students are significantly more likely to report:

• Being forced to have sex (18% LGB vs. 5% heterosexual)
• Sexual dating violence (23% LGB vs. 9% heterosexual)
• Physical dating violence (18% LGB vs. 8% heterosexual)
• Being bullied at school or online (at school: 34% LGB vs. 19% heterosexual; online: 28% LGB vs. 14% heterosexual)

These experiences can place LGB students at substantial risk for serious outcomes:

CDC Report: Lifetime Risk of HIV Diagnosis in the United States

A CDC study released in February 2016 provides the first-ever comprehensive national estimates of the lifetime risk of
an HIV diagnosis for several key populations at risk and in every state. Overall, the likelihood that an American will be
diagnosed with HIV at any point during his or her life is now 1 in 99, an improvement from a previous study using 2004-
2005 data that reported lifetime risk at 1 in 78. Despite overall progress, this study reveals stark disparities by race, risk
group and geography.

Lifetime Risk of an HIV Diagnosis Varies by Mode of Transmission


More from the CDC.

Travel Warning: Protect Yourself from Zika Virus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health travel alert for people traveling to or from countries and regions where Zika virus is spreading. The list includes:

Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Venezuela. 

There have been no reports of locally-transmitted cases within the United States, but infected travelers have returned to the U.S. from these regions.

Zika virus is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes. The resulting disease is usually mild and does not require hospitalization, but may cause birth defects in babies whose mothers were infected while pregnant. There is no vaccine to prevent or drugs to treat it, but if you have to travel to the affected regions, you can follow these recommendations to avoid mosquito bites that transmit Zika virus and other diseases.

Find more information on the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of Zika virus.

These are The Most Sexually Diseased Cities in the USA

Despite our puritan heritage, Americans really love to have sex. It turns out, a lot of us like to have sex without protection, too. Using publicly available data sources, we’ve mapped sexually transmitted diseases across most maj2or cities in the USA. The military helped cities rank strongly in the top 10, with Norfolk Naval Base, Ft. Hood, and Ft. Bragg all pushing their cities to the top.


This map about STD statistics was created and produced by RentApplication.com. "You may share and embed this map with proper attribution."

Uptick in Births in 2014

The annual number of births in the United States increased in 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The 3,985,924 babies born in 2014 exceeded 2013 births by 53,743—a statistically significant 1 percent increase. The increase was the first since 2007, when births reached an all time high of 4,316,233.

Drilling down into the numbers reveals a dramatically changed pattern of childbearing in the United States... For women aged 20 to 24, the birth rate fell to a new historic low. For women aged 25 to 29, the birth rate was essentially unchanged from the record low reached in 2013.

The action is occurring among women aged 30 or older.

More from the Demo Memo.

Holy Smokes: Number of American Smokers Dwindles, CDC Reports

What a drag for cigarette companies.

Cigarette smoking among adults in America is at its lowest level on record, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Wednesday.

The rate of people smoking dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 17.8 percent in 2013, the lowest rate since the CDC’s Nation Health Interview Survey began keeping records in 1965. Despite an increase in the U.S. population, the total number of adult smokers dropped from 45.1 million in 2005 to 42.1 million in 2013.

More from Newsweek.

Ebola: Information & Resources

Ebola is all over the news right now. And with so much conflicting information and varying reports out there, it’s hard to know where to go to get the facts. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a lot of resources available so you can be properly informed, and keep yourself and your family safe.

• Like CDC on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, where they post about Ebola regularly and update about current cases.
• CDC also has a full page devoted to Ebola information on their website. It features the latest outbreak news-- and includes resources for people living or traveling abroad, healthcare workers, and airline personnel.

• These resources are also available in Spanish.

Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Tobacco Use

In honor of CVS banning the sale of tobacco products in its 7,600+ stores by October 1:
Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Tobacco Use. From the 2014 report:

In the last 50 years, 31 Surgeon General’s Reports have been released, increasing our understanding of the devastating health and financial burdens caused by tobacco use. We now know that smoking causes a host of cancers and other illnesses and is still the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing 443,000 people each year.

U.S. Women’s Use of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services; Recent Trends in Births and Fertility Rates

From Guttmacher Institute:

Seven in 10 U.S. women of reproductive age, some 43–45 million women, make at least one medical visit to obtain se
xual and reproductive health (SRH) services each year. Uninsured women are significantly less likely than either privately or Medicaid-insured women to receive SRH services. Approximately 25 million women receive contraceptive services annually.

The number of women having either a Pap test or pelvic exam each year fell from 41 million in 2002 to 39 million in 20
06–2010, consistent with recent changes in cervical cancer screening recommendations.

The number of women receiving STD testing, treatment or counseling each year doubled from 4.6 million in 1995 to 9.8 million in 2006–2010, reflecting both an increase in routine chlamydia screening now recommended for all sexually active women younger than age 25, as well as an increase in the reported incidence of chlamydia.

The number of women receiving any SRH service who went to a publicly funded clinic for that care rose from 7.3 million (17% of those receiving care) in 1995 to 10.2 million (23%) in 2006–2010, mirroring concurrent increases in the number of women in poverty and in need of publicly funded contraceptive services. Compared with women receiving services from private doctors, women going to publicly funded clinics received a wider range of SRH services and were more likely to have conversations about contraception during annual gynecologic visits.

From National Center for Health Statistics:

The provisional count of births in the United States for the 12-month period ending December 2012 was 3,958,000, essentially unchanged from the 3,953,593 births (preliminary total) for 2011. The trend in the number of births was down, having declined steadily from the historic high of 4,316,233 in 2007 through 2011 but slowing from 2010 to 2011, and is essentially flat from 2011 to 2012. The provisional fertility rate in the United States for 2012 was 63.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44, unchanged from the rate in 2011. Like the number of births, the trend in the fertility rate
was down, having declined steadily from the recent high of 69.3 in 2007 through 2010 but slowing from 2010 to 2011, and is unchanged from 2011 to 2012.

US abortions fall five percent, according to the CDC

From here:

According to the latest report from the CDC, U.S. abortions fell by five percent during the recession and its aftermath, a phenomenon that most likely, insist some researchers, owing to the greater diligence with which women use contraception during tough economic times...

Experts such as Duke University assistant professor in public policy and economics Elizabeth Ananat told the AP that the recession most likely led many women to believe that they simply couldn't afford to get pregnant.

Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2011

From the National Center for Health Statistics

The age-adjusted death rate decreased from 747.0 deaths per 100,000 population in 2010 to 740.6 deaths per 100,000 population in 2011. From 2010 to 2011, age-adjusted death rates decreased significantly for 5 of the 15 leading causes of death: Diseases of heart, Malignant neoplasms, Cerebrovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis. The age-adjusted death rate increased for 6 leading causes of death: Chronic lower respiratory diseases, Diabetes mellitus, Influenza and pneumonia, Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, Parkinson's disease, and Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids. Life expectancy remained the same in 2011 as it had been in 2010 at 78.7 years.

Consumption of Diet Drinks in the United States

From the National Centers for Health Statistics:

About 20% of the U.S. population aged 2 years and over consumed diet drinks
on a given day during 2009‒2010. The percentage consuming diet drinks
was similar for females and males at all ages except among adolescents aged
12‒19. The percentage consuming diet drinks increased with age for both
males and females.

Births: Final Data for 2009

National Center for Health Statistics - [PDF]