About 200,000 Americans are infected with HIV and don't know it, 850,000 to 950,000 Americans are HIV positive, and 40,000 people are newly infected each year in the USA, says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If these figures are accurate, it means that about one quarter of all Americans who are HIV positive don't know it.
25 years ago today, AIDS was first mentioned as 5 Los Angeles males were identified. At that time the five men were mentioned, but not the name of their illness and how or why they got ill.
At first everyone thought AIDS only infected gay men and drug addicts who used syringes. However, over the last couple of decades various groups have become infected. In the USA and much of the developed world the number of people becoming infected with HIV has been growing among heterosexual women and older people.
Here are some facts (USA):
-- Today 25% of new infections are among women
-- 67% of female infections are among African-American women
-- 17% of female infections are among Caucasian women
-- 15% of female infections are among Hispanic women
-- In 1985 3% of infections resulted from heterosexual sex
-- In 2004 31% of infections resulted from heterosexual sex
-- Washington D.C. has the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the USA
The HIV test involves a mouth swab. Results appear in about 20 minutes.