According to a new study by the Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), HIV diagnosis rates are the highest in the Deep South region of the US.

The Southern states in that region that were targeted in the study are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

In the targeted states, people who are African American, female and between ages 13-24 are most likely to be diagnosed and living with HIV. More than a quarter of the people diagnosed and living with HIV live in rural or suburban areas in those states.

Heterosexual contact had a higher percentage, as means of transmission, than any other region in the country, while injection drug use had a lower percentage, as means of transmission, than any other region.

The study also found that the death rate of people with HIV in that region is higher than any other region in the country. Among the targeted states, Louisiana had the lowest survival rates after diagnosis, followed by Mississippi.

The full report can be found here.