NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York City's rate of HIV infection is about three times the national rate, according to estimates released Wednesday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Rapid HIV test swabs incubate at the Iris House in New York in 2007. The agency estimates that 72 of every 100,000 New Yorkers -- a total of 4,800 individuals -- contracted HIV in 2006, more than triple the national rate of 23 per 100,000. The findings are based on new lab technology and a newly derived statistical model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lab technology enables health officials to determine whether HIV-positive individuals contracted the virus within the past five months, and the statistical model allows researchers to then make projections about a population's infection rate.
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Agency estimates 72 of every 100,000 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006
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Expert: Demographics of the city contribute to the high rate of HIV infection
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The city launched a three-year initiative to give HIV tests to untested Bronx adults
Freidan said the study showed that 36 percent of gay and bisexual @placeholder men who had five or more partners in the previous year did not use condoms consistently.