HIV infections are rising in the United State’s Latino population, bordering on a public health crisis, The Washington Post reports (washingtonpost.com 7/23).

According to the article, Latinos make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population but represented 22 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2006. However, the reported 22 percent only includes 33 states and Puerto Rico while omitting some states that have not reported figures to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). California—where Latinos make up more than 37 percent of the population—is one state not included.

“Officials need to stop downplaying or ignoring what’s happening among Latinos," said Oscar De La O, president of Bienestar, a Latino AIDS service organization. “We are at the center of the storm.”