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AIDS rates higher than thought for African-American women

Posted at 11:31 PM, Mar 11, 2012
and last updated 2012-03-11 23:31:42-04

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was March 10, and with it came with some pretty disturbing news for African American women.

AIDS researchers say African American women in six major cities have infection rates that are five times higher than anyone thought.

They made the announcement at a researcher’s conference on Thursday.

Experts also say this suggests there are urban hot spots for HIV acquisition.

The cities involved are Baltimore; Atlanta; the Raleigh-Durham area; Washington, D-C; Newark, New Jersey and New York.

The Centers for Disease Control says 66 percent of the women newly infected each year are black even though they only make up 14 percent of the American female population.

CNN contributed to this report.