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According to a latest research, U.S residents affected with HIV virus, who are born in some other country, are more likely to be Hispanic or Asian and to have acquired the virus through heterosexual sex.

For the research, the researchers examined the data from 191,000 plus HIV positive people across 46 U.S states and five territories between 2007 and 2010. It was found that 16.2 percent of those were born in a foreign country.

Also, the analysis of the data revealed that the California, Florida, New York and Texas had the highest numbers of foreign-born people with HIV and also the highest number of HIV cases overall.

Most of the recently diagnosed HIV patients were found to be males of which, 77.7 percent were U.S. born, and 73.5 percent were foreign born.

According to a report in Health Day, of the overall HIV diagnoses, foreign-born people accounted for: 3.3 percent of the more than 55,000 diagnoses in whites; 10 percent of the more than 86,000 diagnoses in blacks; 42.2 percent of the more than 42,000 diagnoses in Hispanics; and 64.3 percent of the nearly 2,000 diagnoses in Asians.

The study revealed that 39.4 percent of HIV positive foreign-born people contracted the virus through heterosexual sex 27.2 percent of U.S. born people contracted the disease4 in the same way.

However, the data did not show if the foreign-born patients got the virus before or after arriving in the U.S.

"These findings demonstrate the diversity of the HIV-infected population born outside the United States, presenting many clinical and public-health challenges," concluded H. Irene Hall, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and colleagues, according to Health Day.

"This study and other studies suggest that [foreign-born people in the United States] are in need of appropriate education and outreach, testing and treatment, and mental-health services, including specialized services for those who experience traumatic events in their home countries or during the immigration process, substance treatment for those addicted to drugs [and] HIV care for those who are infected," Dr. Mitchell Katz, of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and deputy editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

"Although these lessons may apply regardless of country of origin for HIV-infected persons, the effectiveness of these messages and interventions will require culturally relevant delivery to each specific population of immigrants," he added.

Possible explanation given by the researchers for the figures revealed by the study is that language and cultural barriers may be preventing  people born in foreign countries from learning about HIV prevention and from having access to HIV testing and attaining medical care.

The study appears online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.