ATLANTA — Some encouraging news out of the federal Centers for Disease Control today regarding black Americans living with HIV.

For years, black Americans infected with the AIDS virus died at much higher rates than whites or Hispanics. But a new CDC report reveals that the death rate among blacks with HIV dropped 28 percent between 2008-2012, more than the overall decline of 22 percent among people living with the virus.

The death rate fell for whites and Hispanics but not as dramatically, and blacks still have much higher rates of HIV infection and death than other Americans.

The highest rate of death among people with HIV were those over the age of 55 because they might have been living with HIV longer, had more HIV-related complications or ultimately died from other causes. The state with the highest death count was Florida.

Blacks comprised 47 percent of people who received an HIV diagnosis in the United States in 2012. By category of transmission, people infected through injection drug use had the highest death rate.

In general, blacks with HIV are less likely to have their infection diagnosed, the report said.

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