Blacks are 59% of HIV/AIDS cases in Cleveland, Ohio

NewsNet5:

When HIV/AIDS first hit the nation's radar, it was known as a gay, white man's disease. But 25 years later, the face of AIDS has changed.

The lives of black people across the country have been devastated by HIV/AIDS, and it's hitting the population in Cleveland as well, reported 5 On Your Side's Danita Harris.

The disease has infiltrated the black community at an alarming rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blacks make up more than half of the new HIV/AIDS infections in the country.

Cleveland reflects that statistic. Currently, there are 2,458 HIV/AIDS cases and more than 1,400 of them involve black patients, Harris reported. That translates to 59 percent.

The disease has many faces, but the predominant one seems to be that of a black woman, since one in six Clevelanders with the disease fit into that demographic.

Tracey Jones of the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland said there is a severe lack of communication about the disease within the black community.

"There's no discussion about HIV/AIDS because that means if you're discussing HIV, you've done something. One of the stigmas that are attached to HIV, you are somehow unclean. You have received this as punishment for something that you've done," said Jones.

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