Risky Behavior Continues to Fuel Likely AIDS Upsurge in California

New surveys by state and University of California (UC) researchers indicate that the risky sexual behavior that leads to AIDS is again on the rise among Californians.

Reported rates of unprotected sex, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM), have recently increased, said Dr. George Lemp, director of UC's AIDS Research Program. Among those men, HIV infection rates have increased threefold, he said. HIV infections had been dropping steadily for many years.

"We may well be on the threshold of a new upsurge in overall HIV rates, or it may already have arrived without our being aware of it. We're trying to get a firmer handle on it right now," Lemp said.

While the number of California men being treated for injection drug use fell from nearly 50,000 in 1982 to 40,000 in 2002, the number of cocaine/crack users seeking treatment nearly doubled, from less than 38,000 to more than 73,000, the state survey said.

Thanks to the availability of antiretrovirals, the number of Californians living with AIDS grew from 5,000 in 1987 to about 55,000 today. Including those with fully developed AIDS, an estimated 127,000 men and women in the state are HIV-infected.

"Recent data indicate increasing infections among African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. In these groups, women as well as [MSM] are most affected," said Drew Johnson, state chief of HIV education and prevention.

Back to other news for July 8, 2004