HIV Infection Among Young Black Men Who Have Sex with Men—Jackson, Mississippi, 2006-2008, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58 MMWR 77 (2009)

This article provides the results of a survey of risk behavior and HIV testing behavior among young African-American men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Jackson, Mississippi area who received HIV diagnoses between 2006 and 2008. In the United States, African American MSM account for a disproportionate number of new cases of HIV and AIDS, and in 2006 more new AIDS cases among these men were diagnosed in the South than in all other U.S. census regions combined. The survey results revealed that 69% of the participants had unprotected anal intercourse during the year before their diagnosis, but only 10% of the participants thought they were likely or very likely to acquire HIV in their lifetimes. Twenty-one percent of participants reported having no HIV test during the two years before their first positive test, and 17% reported having one test. The article concludes that targeted interventions that decrease HIV risk behaviors among African-American MSM should be developed, implemented, and evaluated to reduce HIV transmission.