Indiana: AIDS Cases on the Increase, Especially Among Minorities

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, Indiana University students lined the streets and sidewalks around Dunn Meadow in Bloomington on Monday with 500 luminaries in remembrance of Hoosiers who have died from HIV/AIDS. Sponsored by the IU chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign and the Community Action Group, the event was designed to call attention to the continuing battle against the epidemic.

Cases of HIV/AIDS have risen sharply in the state between 1999 and 2002. In 1999, 312 HIV and 358 AIDS cases were diagnosed in Indiana. Last year, 314 HIV and 484 AIDS cases were diagnosed. And for the first nine months of 2003, an additional 274 HIV and 379 AIDS cases were reported -- slightly ahead of 2002's pace.

HIV/AIDS is becoming increasingly common among Indiana's black and Hispanic populations. "AIDS is becoming much more a disease of minorities," according to Michael Butler, director of the state Department of Health's division of HIV and STDs.

One-third of new cases involve black residents, although they comprise just 8.3 percent of the state's population. Likewise, black women account for 43 percent of the new AIDS cases among women, said Butler. Hispanics, who make up less than 1 percent of Indiana's population, account for about 4 percent of the new cases.

According to Butler, three out of four new cases in Indiana are attributable to unprotected sexual contact, compared to 13 percent resulting from shared needles. From 1982 through the end of September 2003, Indiana has reported about 4,000 HIV and 7,300 AIDS cases.

Back to other news for December 2, 2003