Report: New HIV Cases in 2005 Are Rhode Island's Fewest in Five Years

According to data analyzed by Rhode Island's Department of Health and released by the Rhode Island Community Planning Group for HIV Prevention, in 2005 the state saw its fewest new HIV cases in the last five years. At a Red Ribbon Rally ahead of World AIDS Day, the community group revealed findings including the following:

• 2,712 AIDS cases have been reported in Rhode Island since 1982.
• The majority of cases (76 percent) were men, with 44 percent between ages 30-39; 56 percent were white.
• Among AIDS cases, intravenous drug use was the most common route of exposure.
• Between 2001 and 2005, 733 new HIV cases were diagnosed.
• In 2005, 124 new cases were reported, 30 percent fewer than the 178 cases in 2004. The 2004 figure was high; in the previous three years, numbers of new cases ranged from 134 in 2003 to 149 in 2001.
• People ages 13-24 accounted for 13 percent of all HIV cases in the state between 2000 and 2005. Of those cases, 63 percent were African-American and Hispanic youth.

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