According to data from the Louisiana Office of Public Health, diagnoses of HIV in the New Orleans metropolitan area has increased by 9 percent from 2007 to 2008. Between 1997 and 2006, HIV diagnoses among all men in Louisiana were shown to have declined.

Among black men of all ages, new HIV diagnoses increased by 4 percent from 2007 to 2008, but increased 23 percent for black men age 20 to 24 and 30 percent for those age 45 to 54.

According to an article in the Times Picayune, the reasons behind the findings are “complex,” and include risky sexual behavior, a “declining sense of concern among young people about AIDS and the stubborn cultural stigma of homosexuality in the black community.”

More information at www.nola.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1246080080318390.xml&coll=1.