On Sunday, health officials reported that new HIV infections in gay black men are likely to finally get stable. As a whole, new cases of HIV have been dropping in the United States, but the number was rising in gay and bisexual black men. In that group, the AIDS virus is very much common.

However, according to the latest figures released on Sunday, since 2010, the number of new diagnosed cases in gay and bisexual black men hasn't gone up much, the rise was less than 1%. For that group’s younger men, who used to have had disturbing infection rates, new diagnoses have shown a 2% drop.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which presented the latest figures at a conference in Atlanta, the group accounted for nearly 10,000 of the 40,000 new HIV cases diagnosed previous year.

Dr. Jonathan Mermin from the federal agency said that the latest figures have brought some hope, but as per another HIV expert, the numbers are hardly news to be happy about.

According to the head of a national group for doctors who treat AIDS and HIV, Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emory University, stabilizing at 10,000 was not a reason for celebration.

For decades, government and private agencies have been putting in a lot of efforts to boost HIV testing and endorse safe sex and prevention. But del Rio said that a huge part of the credit must to medical care enhancement.