Hispanics make up 22% of new HIV, AIDS cases

Though Hispanics comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006.

Officials do not have a precise tally of HIV infections nationwide, because many states have not reported figures to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 22 percent, a figure that has not been previously released, includes 33 states and Puerto Rico, but not California, where more than 37 percent of the population is Hispanic.

So far, the toll of AIDS in the nation's largest and fastest growing minority population has mostly been overshadowed by the epidemic among blacks and gay white men. Yet in major U.S. cities, as many as one in four gay Hispanic men has HIV, a rate on par with sub-Saharan Africa.

Language difficulties, cultural barriers and, in many cases, issues of legal status make the Hispanic community unique. For those who arrived illegally, fear of arrest and deportation presents a daunting obstacle to seeking diagnosis and treatment.

"Migrants tend to be lonely, separated from their family or partners," said CDC epidemiologist Kenneth Dominguez. "They do not have health insurance. They may turn to drugs or alcohol. All of these put a migrant at higher risk."