AIDS in the Circle City

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Given my educational background, it is no wonder that I assumed the number of AIDS cases to be so small.  On the first day of class, I guessed that the number of cumulative AIDS cases in Marion County, Indiana, to be about 600.  Now, I am no rube.  I understand that even in Indiana there are gay men and drug users and all of that.  So I did realize that we must have some AIDS cases.  Turns out, Marion County has been home to 4,880 people diagnosed with AIDS.

In the United States, the AIDS rate, calculated by taking the total number of AIDS cases divided by the total population and multiplying by 100,000, is 339.  This means that for every 100,000 people, 339 of them are infected with HIV/AIDS.  In Indiana, this rate is much lower, at 124.  The bad news, however, comes when looking at the rates for Marion County and my zip code, 46250.  Marion County is home to the most diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS in the state, and with a population of only 860,454, boasts an AIDS rate of 567. This rate is almost double the national rate, meaning there is a problem. My home zip code with a population of 17,080 and 68 cumulative AIDS cases has an astonishing rate of 398.  Not only is this much higher than I had anticipated, it is much higher than the national rate.  Although this difference may not be a statistically significant, it is still troubling to see that my small zip code in the suburbs of Indianapolis would have such a high rate.