Reported new cases of HIV infection in Minnesota reached 325 in 2007 compared to 318 new cases in 2006 and 304 cases in 2005, according to a new report from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), “HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report – 2007.”

Since MDH began tracking AIDS in 1982 and HIV in 1985, a total of 8,504 cases have been reported, including 2,912 people that have died. There are an estimated 5,950 people aware of their HIV status currently living in Minnesota. On average, MDH received a new reported HIV case every 27 hours in 2007 and averaged about 300 new annual HIV infections over the past five years.

“We haven’t seen the annual number of cases reach more than 320 since the mid-1990s,” said Peter Carr, director of the STD and HIV Section at MDH. “Our annual number of reported cases declined in the late 90s until 2001 when we began to see a slight but steady increase in the yearly number of cases.”

Health officials noted that one of the largest increases seen over the past six years has been among males, ages 13 to 24, where cases have doubled since 2001. There were only 18 new cases reported in 2001 compared with 38 in this age group in 2007.

Health officials noted that higher rates among communities of color may be due to cultural and language barriers, social stigma, racism, and lack of access to health resources and care.

To help find undiagnosed HIV infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed new HIV testing guidelines. The new guidelines call for health providers to routinely provide HIV testing during general health screenings and exams.

“A good example of how well these screening guidelines work is the routine HIV testing of pregnant women,” said Carr. “These screenings and the resulting treatments have dramatically reduced the rate of transmission from infected mothers to their infants – from 25 percent to less than 2 percent. This shows the benefit of offering routine HIV testing to other populations.”