Rochester area sees steady increase in HIV cases

The number of reported cases of HIV in Monroe County, the seat of Rochester, New York, has been increasing over the last four years, the Rochester City Newspaper reports.

Particularly alarming, the county’s Health Department told the news source, is that almost 50 percent of the new cases this year have been in individuals aged 25 and under.

Approximately three quarters of the cases reportedly involve African-American men.

Marguerite Urban, the county medical director of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), told the paper that an estimated one third of the area’s new HIV cases were diagnosed in individuals who were not only unaware of their infection, but unaware that it had progressed to AIDS.

She concluded that a law under consideration, which would require physicians to ask patients age 13 to 64 if they wish to take an HIV test, may improve the rate of transmission.

The importance of early detection underscores the need for those at risk to consider STD screening methods, such as online testing services. Over 56,000 Americans are infected with HIV every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.