Updated interactive maps by AIDSVu break down HIV data by city, county and state as well as by different demographic groups. The maps illustrate that where you live makes a big difference in terms of your HIV risk.

They also highlight the disparities among young people ages 13 to 24 (they accounted for more than 25 percent of new infections) and African Americans (45 percent of new infections), according to an AIDSVu press release.

Nearly two thirds of all new HIV diagnoses in 2015 occurred in 2.5 percent of U.S. counties. And the five cities with the highest rates of new diagnoses are located in the South: Miami, Florida; Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Atlanta, Georgia.

This year’s AIDSVu maps and resources illustrate the following key trends:

  • Southern states experience the greatest burden of infection and deaths: The Southern United States is home to nearly 37 percent of the country’s population, but these states account for more than half of all new HIV diagnoses (52 percent) and deaths among persons diagnosed with HIV (49 percent).

  • Racial disparities in HIV infection continue, with African Americans most impacted: While making up just 12 percent of the U.S. population, African-American persons accounted for 45 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in 2015.
     
  • HIV diagnoses among youth continue to rise: While the number of new HIV diagnoses among all persons in the U.S. decreased by 18 percent between 2008 and 2015, new diagnoses among youth (aged 13 to 24) increased by 2 percent.

Patrick Sullivan, MD, of Emory University and principal investigator of AIDSVu, said the maps tell the story of the long-term disproportionate impact of HIV in the South and the areas where new patterns of transmission are emerging.

The information presented by AIDSVu is important, Sullivan said, because “using local data will allow policymakers and researchers to stay aligned with the realities of where HIV is entrenched and where it is emerging, to strengthen surveillance and to provide responsive prevention strategies to mitigate these serious risks.”

Now in its seventh year, AIDSVu is a project of Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in partnership with Gilead Sciences. Check out the interactive maps and the related information here.