According to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV and AIDS diagnoses rose significantly in young men who have sex with men (MSM) between 2001 and 2006, particularly African-American men, The New York Times reports (nytimes.com 6/27).

The report showed that new HIV/AIDS diagnoses among MSM had an annual increase of 12.4 percent, compared to a 1.5-percent annual increase for men overall. Among African-American MSMs, the annual increase was around 15 percent.

The report also found that diagnoses among injection drug users declined by 9.5 percent over that time period, and new HIV infections attributed to high-risk heterosexual contact fell by 4.4 percent.

“It’s a grim report,” said Dr. Ronald Stall, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh. “It means roughly speaking that about half of the American AIDS epidemic is occurring among a few percent of the adult population. And the terrible trends we’re seeing among white gay men are even amplified further among minority men.”