Experts say one in four people with H.I.V. do not know they are infected, so the actual rates could be much higher.*
The number of new H.I.V. infections in men under 30 who have sex with men has increased sharply in New York City in the last five years, particularly among blacks and Hispanics, even as AIDS deaths and overall H.I.V. infection rates in the city have steadily declined.
New figures from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show that the annual number of new infections among black and Hispanic men who have sex with men rose 34 percent between 2001 and 2006, and rose for all men under 30 who have sex with men by 32 percent.
At a time when the number of new cases among older gay men is dropping — by 22 percent in New York City during the same period — AIDS experts are bearing down on what they say is a worrisome and perplexing growth of H.I.V. infection among young men.
As a young, black gay man, Lynonell Edmonds says it seems like a miracle that he has not contracted the AIDS virus. Before he turned 20, he had a haunting realization: in his group of 20 close gay friends, he was the only one without H.I.V.
Mr. Edmonds, now 25, does outreach work for the Harlem AIDS center, trolling Craigslist and other online meeting spots as a “sexpert,” encouraging men to be tested. He and a crew of outreach workers also go to gay nightclubs late at night, with a van carrying H.I.V. tests that can be conducted on the spot. The crew parks the van, which has no obvious signs of its mission, on the street. When they go into the clubs, they make conversation and delicately inquire whether a clubgoer would like to take the test.
Mr. Edmonds said that for many gay black men there is a sense that getting the virus is almost inevitable.
“A lot of guys say, ‘I’m going to get it anyway,’” Mr. Edmonds said.
*Warning: Black males are the least likely group to reveal they have HIV / AIDS. While this warning says that some black girlfriends and wives contract the disease from their Down Low mates, it stands to reason that European American women who date blacks are just as likely to contract it…for the same reason