Colo. blacks, Hispanics face growing AIDS risk

Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 2, 2006 at midnight

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A quarter-century after AIDS burst into public awareness, the scourge is a minor footnote in the non-gay white community in Colorado, but a growing threat in the black and Hispanic communities.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment typically does not categorize AIDS exposure by ethnic group or gender, but, at the request of the Rocky Mountain News, the department's Health Statistics section broke down the numbers.

It has been reported that women are the fastest growing risk group for AIDS in Colorado, but these new numbers show the sharp differences across ethnic groups.

Black women here are 31 times more likely to acquire the AIDS virus than white women, according to the health department.

Among men who say they are not gay, black men have a 35 times greater risk than white men.

In terms of raw numbers, there are many more cases among whites, but whites make up a much greater segment of the population.

About one in six Coloradans is Hispanic, but Hispanics comprise one-fourth of all people living with AIDS. The risk factor for Hispanic women is five times greater than for non-Hispanic white women.

AIDS community leaders say it has a lot to do with cultural taboos and with "the down low" - referring to men who live public lives as husbands and fathers but who secretly have sex with other men, then come back home and put their partners at risk.

While certain men in all ethnic groups engage in that high-risk behavior, it is a greater problem in the Hispanic and black communities because of greater cultural taboos against homosexuality, says Deirdre Maloney, executive director of the Colorado AIDS Project.

"When the state gathers information about people's risk factors, it's always self-reported," Maloney said. "A black male may be having sex with other men but may not identify as gay. In communities of color, there is a lot less discussion about gay culture."

That lack of discussion means many people have less understanding of the risks of acquiring and transmitting the AIDS virus, she said.

Shannon Conn, executive director of Women's Light Health Center in Aurora, agrees.

"Being gay in the African American community or the Hispanic community carries more of a stigma than in other communities," she said.

Cultural differences make it harder for black women in Colorado to ask the hard questions and negotiate about condom use and safe sex, she said.

Adding to the risk in the black community is the disproportionate number of black men in Colorado prisons, where AIDS is often transmitted, Maloney said.

By contrast, sex between a man and a woman in the white community has a quite low risk for AIDS.

Of the 1.5 million or so white women in Colorado older than 18, just seven acquired AIDS over the past 12 months through sex.

Blacks make up just 3.8 percent of the state's population, but during the prior 12 months, 16 black women acquired AIDS through sex.

About 6,000 Coloradans have the AIDS virus; another 4,500 have died of AIDS.

Virtually all Coloradans living with HIV or AIDS are on protease inhibitors and other medications that represent the state-of-the-art in treatment.

Over the past year, 318 Coloradans were newly diagnosed with AIDS.

Heterosexual contact is the fastest growing exposure category, with 55 new AIDS cases the past year.

Despite the disparities in risk, Colorado AIDS Project says it is essential that all Coloradans get the message that they may be at risk and that there are steps to take to mitigate or eliminate the risks.

"We're trying to get white gay men re-energized around the cause," Maloney said. "And among the community of color, we want to get them energized for the first time."

There is a special emphasis on women.

"We're trying to arm women with information to ask questions and to protect themselves if they have sex," Maloney said. "People don't always disclose their past."

As another World AIDS Day passed Friday, some 40 million people worldwide are living with AIDS or its virus.

Some 4.9 million people contracted it in the past year.

In Colorado, no child under 12 acquired AIDS the past 12 months, and just one teenager did. No one acquired it via blood products and no mother passed it along to her newborn.

HIV in Colorado

New HIV/AIDS cases, October 2005 through September 2006*

• GAY CONTACT

White gay men 114

Black gay men 15

Hispanic gay men 35

Asian gay men 6

• HETEROSEXUAL CONTACT

White men 4

Black men 10

Hispanic men 7

Asian men 2

White women 7

Black women 16

Hispanic women 9

Asian women 0

Coloradans living with AIDS

Gay or bisexual men 3,871

Gay and drug user 543

Injecting drug user 516

Heterosexual contact 423

No specified cause 639

Mother with risk 28

Blood transfusion 24

Hemophilia 11*Source: Colorado Department Of Public Health And Environment Note: Gay-Men Category Refers To New Hiv Cases; Heterosexual Contact Refers To New A ...

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