Revised Estimates May Show HIV Infections on The Rise In U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to revise their estimate of how many people are infected by HIV each year. Revised numbers, which will be based on new testing technology and an assessment of statistical assumptions, will not be released until early 2008.

Previous estimates from the federal health agency indicated that around 40,000 new cases of HIV occur annually in the United States. Advocacy groups claim the revised estimate could show 55,000 or more new cases of infection. The revised number may indicate an actual rise in infections, or flawed former estimates.

In November, the United Nations substantially reduced its estimate of the number of people living with HIV worldwide from 40 million to 33 million. The agency, UNAIDS, reported that about 2.5 million people will be infected with HIV in 2007, a 40 percent drop from 2006.