Nearly one in five gay men are HIV-positive

Nearly 20 percent of homosexual males are HIV-positive, information in a report found in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the report, over 8,000 men in 21 different U.S. cities were evaluated and questioned.

Of those men, 44 percent of men having the HIV virus did not know they had it. The Center for Disease Control suggests sexually active gay men to receive HIV testing at least once per year.

In this study, Baltimore was the city with the highest rate of gay males being HIV infected — 38 percent — and Atlanta had the lowest rate at 6 percent.

A similar study was performed from June 2004 to April 2005 and statistics showed nearly 25 percent of gay men were HIV-positive. However, the percentage of HIV-positive minorities has increase significantly in only a few years.

Additional HIV-positive statistics of gay males include: blacks — 28 percent, Hispanics — 18 percent, white — 16 percent.

Of men who tested positive but had no knowledge of being infected, 59 percent black, 46 percent Hispanic, and 26 percent white men. Also, 63 percent of men between ages 18 and 29 did not know they were HIV-positive.