While San Francisco has seen a small shift in new HIV cases toward gay and bisexual men of color, gay white men are still the group most impacted by the epidemic in the city. Sandy Schwarcz, director of the HIV/AIDS epidemiology section of the Department of Public Health, who presented the data for the first time March 22 at a meeting of the HIV Health Services Planning Council, noted that the small shift to men who have sex with men (MSM) of color in San Francisco "is not like the East Coast, which has an epidemic among African American MSM IDUs [injection drug users]. We don't."

The data are based on HIV cases reported between July 1, 2002-Feb. 29, 2004. The figures are preliminary. Of the 4,971 reported HIV cases, 803 were newly diagnosed; 4,168 were newly reported but diagnosed in the past.

Schwarz said that whereas whites make up 69 percent of newly reported HIV cases, they comprised only 53 percent of new diagnoses. African Americans accounted for 15 percent of new cases but 19 percent of new diagnoses. Latinos represented 11 percent of new cases and 15 percent of new diagnoses. Other minority groups comprised 5 percent of new cases and 9 percent of new diagnoses. Transgenders made up 2 percent of new cases and 4 percent of new diagnoses. While new AIDS cases and deaths continued to decline, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS is increasing, possibly due to HAART.

MSM account for 72 percent of AIDS cases, while MSM IDUs comprise 12 percent. The data show AIDS still disproportionately affects white and African-American gay men. San Francisco's AIDS caseload is an estimated 9,500 cases.

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