Diagnoses of HIV/AIDS--32 States, 2000-2003.

An estimated 850,000-950,000 persons in the United States are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including 180,000-280,000 who do not know they are infected. To examine trends of diagnoses for 2000-2003, CDC analyzed HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) together as HIV/AIDS (i.e., HIV infection with or without AIDS), counted by the year of earliest reported diagnosis of HIV infection. From 2000 to 2003, in 32 states that used confidential, name-based reporting of HIV and AIDS cases for > or =4 years, the overall annual rate of diagnosis of HIV/AIDS remained stable. However, rates among non-Hispanic black females were 19 times higher than rates among non-Hispanic white females, underscoring the need for continued emphasis on programs targeting females in racial/ethnic minority populations to reduce the number of cases of HIV/AIDS.