ATLANTA — The HIV/AIDS rate in certain parts of the city of Atlanta, particularly downtown ATL, is as bad as some third-world African countries, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has just reported.

According to the CDC, one in 51 Georgians will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. In 2014 Georgia’s population was just over 10 million people. In 2013, Atlanta’s metro population was 5.6 million.

“Downtown Atlanta is as bad as Zimbabwe or Harare or Durban,” via a statement from Dr. Carlos del Rio, co-director of Emory University’s Center for AIDS Research.

In 2014 it was reported that Atlanta had the fifth highest rate of new HIV infections. And it continues to climb unabated.

Other data in the study suggests that the Southern region of the United States as a whole presents the highest risk of contracting HIV. Men who have sex with men had a 1 in 6 risk of getting the disease while heterosexual men possessed a 1 in 473 risk.

Gay black men in particular had a higher risk than their counterparts in other ethnicities. Black men who have sex with men had a 1 in 2 risk, Hispanic men a 1 in 4 risk and white men a 1 in 11 risk.

Increased heroin use in the suburban Atlanta could compound the problem and make HIV spread even more than it already has and is expected to, WXIA reported.