Studies show rates of HIV infection in young black men who have sex with men to be higher than any other demographic group in Wisconsin.

A report from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services revealed that men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for 72 percent of diagnosed HIV cases in 2011, 19 percent of which were from African American MSM. African American and black men account for only about three percent of the state’s population.

The median age at which black MSM contract HIV dropped from 30 years to 24 years, which means black MSM are becoming infected at increasingly younger ages, the report said.

Additionally, the report said one in three black MSM between the ages of 15 and 59 is HIV positive, a rate three times higher than Hispanic MSM and six times higher than white MSM.

Bill Keeton of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin said in a statement that the report shows AIDS disproportionately affects communities of color and MSM.

While AIDS is prevalent throughout the state, it impacts Milwaukee the most, as over half of all new cases were diagnosed in the city last year, Keeton said.

He also said in the statement the AIDS Resource Center is building new care facilities and expanding their programs to provide treatment for the increasing numbers of HIV patients.

Mari Gasiorowicz, Epidemiologist in the Wisconsin Division of Public Health said the report confirms trends in HIV rates in black MSM that the state has been seeing for several years already.

“Wisconsin has a good reputation nationally, in terms of serving people well and not having a waiting list for treatment,” Gasiorowicz said.

Gasiorowicz explained that treatment options in Wisconsin now go beyond traditional preventative care for individuals and small groups, and instead targets large, high-risk populations. Some services are funded publicly, while others like preventing needle exchange are privately funded.

She also said Wisconsin has introduced linkage programs, which engage the family or friends of an HIV infected person in the patient’s care to ensure they attend treatment sessions, and social media campaigns to spread awareness of HIV’s prevalence.

One of the reasons black MSM have higher rates of HIV than other groups is because they often have sex with other black MSM, which increases the likelihood they will develop HIV, Gasiorowicz said. She also said people tend to have sex within their own racial and demographic groups.

University of Wisconsin Medical School Professor Ryan Westergaard said the report did not mean black MSM engage in riskier sex or have sex more often, but have limited access to protection and treatment.

“This is really becoming alarming in most populations, especially in men under 30,” Westergaard said.

Black MSM may be more reluctant than their Hispanic or white counterparts to seek preventative services or even identify as gay, perhaps due to homophobia within their communities, Westergaard said.

He said the disparities in Wisconsin are striking when compared to other states, but this may be due to better data obtained on the black MSM population.